In his spirited sixth outing, Pérez-Reverte's 17th-century sword-for-hire, Captain Diego Alatriste, enlists as a mercenary on the Spanish slave galley Mulata, cutting a bloody swath through the corsairs of the Mediterranean. Overshadowing battles at sea and raids on land is the escalating conflict between Alatriste and Íñigo Balboa, the captain's former page, now 17 and desiring to make his own way in the world. Though lacking the intrigue of previous installments, this episodic book moves smoothly from duel to duel and climaxes with a savage sea battle. With swords a-slashing and muskets a-blazing, Pérez-Reverte once again effortlessly channels Rafael Sabatini in this witty and--alas--final novel in a marvelous series. (Sept.)

In Pérez-Reverte's latest adventure featuring utterly honorable soldier of fortune Capt. Diego Alatriste (following The Cavalier in the Yellow Doublet), the captain and his faithful foster son and chronicler, Íñigo, take work aboard a Spanish galleon. Two important things happen: first, the galleon docks at Oran, a rundown Spanish outpost in northern African, where our pair spring old colleague Sebastián Capons from perpetual duty and encounter the Moor Gurriato, who attaches himself to the captain. Second, Íñigo, has grown up enough to chaff under Alatriste's strictures and leaves him—though make no mistake, the captain still has his back. These intriguing developments flicker by with little elaboration, for this is less a novel than a meditation on what a soldier's life was like in the "civilized world" in the early 1600s: absolutely ruthless and absolutely bloody. Pérez-Reverte seems intent on reminding readers that in its fading Golden Age Spain was tough but honorable, unlike the "mean French, the squalid English, or the brutish Germans." Linked to this is the idea that a truly noble man will coolly accept "a certain and irrevocable destiny." VERDICT This tautly written story will work best for those interested in military and historical adventure.—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal