A PURITY OF BLOOD

Simon Vance admirably colors this second adventure of seventeenth-century Spanish swashbuckler Captain Alatriste. When Alatriste agrees to rescue a young woman from a nefarious priest, near disaster ensues. Alatriste must fight for their lives amid a conspiracy during the Inquisition. While the story is compelling, Perez-Reverte's style in the Alatriste series is more long-winded and ponderous than in his modern suspense novels. He is lucky to have such a fine narrator to enliven the proceedings. Simon Vance's wise pacing breaks up long sentences and lifts the action. He also voices the characters, including stoic Alatriste, so thoughtfully and distinctly that the book often sounds as if it's being read by several actors. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 06]