Pérez-Reverte's Pirates of the Levant

The sixth book in Arturo Pérez-Reverte's Alatriste series continues the adventures of the "Spanish musketeers". After having found themselves in a position at the end of the previous installment of the series where they deem it best to stay away from Spain for a while, Alatriste and his companions travel to Naples and take part in some very exciting sea adventures.

Alexandre Dumas' The Vicomte de Bragelonne

Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers is one of those novels that everyone sees as a must-read – or if they are not readers, then they have seen at least one film version of this classic tale. But when it comes to the two sequels in the d’Artagnan Romances, Twenty Years After and The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later, even most readers are relatively unaware of them. I’ve previously written about the two first novels, and they are the ones I was familiar with from the past as well. The third novel in the series is a new experience for me, although I’ve seen parts of it turned into movies before – The Man in the Iron Mask, that is.

J.D. Davies' Gentleman Captain

There are many authors writing about the Age of Sail, but most of them concentrate their attention to the 18th century. The master of the Age of Sail genre is naturally Patrick O'Brian who brings alive the friendship between Captain Aubrey and Stephen Maturin in a way that has been never-before-seen in Literature. The only failing of the novels from my perspective is that they are set in the wrong century.

Alexandre Dumas' Twenty Years After

Whereas Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers has been turned into a plethora of movies and is read far and wide, its sequel, Twenty Years After, seems to be far less known. This really is a pity, for the novel is actually far superior to The Three Musketeers for several small reasons. In the modern day, when darker, grittier stories are preferred, Twenty Years After should really be increasing in popularity.

Attending the Hakkapeliitta Fair

The first weekend of August was once again the time to visit the Hakkapeliitta Fair - an event commemorating the Finnish light cavalry that served in the Swedish army under King Gustavus Adolphus during the 30 Years War in the early 17th century. It is practically the only occasion when we can put on our cavalier costumes and not get strange looks when we walk outside our apartment.

How to turn a great fantasy series into an exercise in boredom?

There are great works of fantasy, mediocre works of fantasy and bad works of fantasy. The great naturally include authors like J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Howard and Guy Gavriel Kay, while the mediocre include worthwhile authors the likes of Dave Duncan and Raymond E. Feist. The bad (but still published) authors are many and I will not name them here for fear of detracting the reader from the topic of this short article. But even worse than being bad are the authors who start well, but drop the ball somewhere along the way, just like Robert Jordan did with "The Wheel of Fire" series that came to a screeching halt after about the third novel and only recovered after the death of the author when another author finished the story for him (from about novel ten onwards).

Review of The Three Musketeers (1948)

Having read several people praising the 1948 version of The Three Musketeers as the best film adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' novel, I decided to dig it up and watch it for myself. I think I've seen it before once, but that was when I was still in my single digits and the memory was mixed with all other swashbuckling films that I saw at that age. Thus, I decided that I needed to refresh my memory to make my own judgement of the film adaptations of the Dumas' novel.

Adventures of Captain Alatriste by Pérez-Reverte

For a few years now, I've enjoyed Pérez-Reverte's Alatriste novels at a suitable pace so as not to catch up with his writing speed too quickly. Unfortunately, the author has been writing the latest additions to the series with three year gaps, and my hunger for the period is too great for me to delay that long.

Novelisation of the Conan the Barbarian (2011) movie

After seeing the movie - a clear flop as a Conan movie, but a decent action flick in its own right - I wished to read the novelisation. I was perhaps driven to the novel by morbid curiosity, but I also wanted to see if it would fix at least some plot holes and failed characterisation that we saw in the movie. Stackpole was familiar to me from his previous Star Wars novels, so I hoped for more than I would have from a completely unknown name. The following may contain some spoilers to those who have not seen the movie yet.

The Three Musketeers in an Alternate Universe

The Three Musketeers (2011) is a film that really should not be viewed as historical fiction. Rather, it is an example of historical fantasy, where realistic historical aspects are mixed with fantastical creations in the style of airships and biker leather jackets. In short, if you go in the theatre with an open mind, not expecting the movie to have much to do with Alexandre Dumas' classic story or actual history, you might well expect to be entertained. Unfortunately, the movie has other shortcomings that detract from the experience even when one's expectations are as low as that.