The King's Gold
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- €3.99
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- €3.99
Publisher Description
In this fourth instalment, Captain Alatriste becomes involved in a mission to save the King of Spain's gold... Swashbuckling adventure and high octane action.
The year is 1626, and a battle-weary Captain Alatriste and his companions sail home from the on-going war in Flanders. He returns to a Spain that is rotten to the core, as gold from the Americas floods into the port of Seville, brought by the country's infamous treasure fleet.
As various factions within the Court vie for supremacy, certain interests are creaming off undeclared profits from the galleons' cargo, thus depriving the royal treasury of its lifeblood. Indeed some of the booty is finding its way into the hands of the same rebel provinces Spain is fighting to suppress.
The King and his most trusted advisor, the Count-Duke Olivares, have become aware of one such plot and have decided to teach the perpetrator a lesson. Once more, they must call upon Captain Alatriste's blade in a dangerous adventure that will bring the captain face to face with his nemesis, and with a ruthless man who has designs on the throne...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
P rez-Reverte, a former war correspondent, continues his popular Captain Alatriste series with a fourth swashbuckling volume (following The Sun over Breda). Diego Alatriste, a wily veteran of many 17th-century military campaigns, and his sidekick, Inigo Balboa who narrates have returned to Seville after fighting in the siege of Breda. With funds short, Alatriste accepts a dangerous mission to intercept a load of smuggled gold and deposit it in the royal coffers. Trolling the criminal underworld of Seville, Alatriste recruits a band of ruffians, and disguised as pirates, they prepare to slip aboard the ship transporting the gold, surprise and subdue the crew and beach the vessel. What Alatriste doesn't expect to find on board is his old adversary Gualterio Malatesta and a large contingent of mercenaries. Fans of the series have come to expect historical authenticity, crisp prose, complex characters, exotic settings and plenty of sanguinary action. They won't be disappointed.
