Me decepcione un poco al leer este libro, pero debo reconocer que es entretenido, este bien estructurada la trama. Fue el tono de novelita de revista de mujeres lo que no me gusto. La relacion entre los personajes me parecio un poco inverosimil. No es el libro que le cambiara la vida a nadie, pero entretiene. Especialmente a quienes les gusta el ajedrez.

Considero a Arturo Perez-Reverte como el Alejandro Dumas del siglo XXI. Sus novelas, para mi gusto, van más allá de lo espectacular y cautivante. Desde la primera oración te quedas prisionero de este narrador maestro. Cuando empiezo a leer, pocas cosas hay en el mundo capaces de hacerme soltar el libro. Leí la Tabla de Flandes de principio a fin, sin parar. Literalmente. Las historias de este genio español son tales que es como comer un manjar tan exquisito que quisieras que nunca acabe. No voy a contar aquí de qué se trata el libro. Baste decir que es una lectura maravillosa, sorpresiva y que lleva el arte de la narración a un nivel de éxtasis y suspenso para el lector que sólo puedes encontrar en autores sobrehumanos como Dumas, Julio Verne, Victor Hugo y Mark Twain. Aparte de La Tabla de Flandes, recomiendo intensamente la lectura de La Carta Esférica, La Piel del Tambor, El Club Dumas, El Maestro de Esgrima y la "atípica" (dentro del universo Perez-Revertiano) trilogía del Capitán Alatriste. Recomiendo este libro (y todas las novelas del autor) sin absolutamente ninguna reserva.

I bought this Spanish version for my sister-in-law, who is Spanish. I absolutely loves Perez-Reverte's novels and have read them all and The Flander's Panel is still my absolute favorite of the lot. I wanted someone to read it in the original language, hence the gift. I hope I'm not missing much by reading the translations.

Saramago has become one of my favorite writers ever since I read "Blindness." After that novel, I read "The Gospel According to Jesus Christ," "The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis," and "Baltasar and Blimunda," all beautifully translated by Giovanni Ponteiro. It is therefore not surprising that I wanted to learn more about the author of those excellent novels. "Cuadernos de Lanzarote" provided me with the opportunity of learning more about Saramago: his defense of the Portuguese language, his love for Lanzarote, his compassion for stray dogs, his perception of history, his hatred towards the homogenizing European Union, his political postures. I have to admit, however, that I became somewhat impatient at times with his emphasis on literary prizes (especially the Nobel prize), but I can excuse him only because from the very beginning he warns the reader that he would indulge in narcissistic exercises. Those who like Saramago's writing will find value in this delightful book.

No importa cuán árido sea el tema, Pérez-Reverte se hace cargo de darle la vida necesaria, para que cada letra tenga autonomía en el relato. No es lo mejor del autor. Pero en esas breves páginas se descubre al periodista Arturo, al que tuvo que cubrir guerras y vivir entre balas y bombas sin ser parte de la lucha. Con esta historia se describe a la perfección cómo es la batalla interna de cada periodista que va al territorio comanche del país que venga en chance. Aquí se cuenta que a veces la noticia no es la guerra, o sí, pero hay que saberla contar. Y en eso no hay quien le gane a Pérez-Reverte. Usted llegará incluso a sentirse culpable cuando se le salga una carcajada mientras la cámara enfoca a un caído. Lo mismo le ocurre al periodista de guerra, que no tiene más remedio que seguir riendo.

Having read the terrific Club Dumas I was quite anxious to sink my teeth into another Perez-Reverte novel, and although this one has a number of good things to say for it, in the end I felt a little disappointed.

It's the story of an aging fencing master, clinging to his traditions and to his dignity, in 1868 Madrid. He ekes out a living teaching his dying art to a very few wealthy children, and is mostly subsidized by a wealthy playboy. The backdrop is the political unrest in Spain at the time. Into this mixture comes a mysterious, young, beautiful woman, who demands that he give her fencing lessons.

There's really three things going on here. The first and most successful is the character study of the protagonist. He is 56, has spent his life as a single man after only one brief and disastrous affair with a married woman, and defines himself by the rigid code of honor he developed in his youth, and which he recognizes as becoming outdated. He is clearly defined and an excellent character. I very much enjoyed the descriptions of his dress, and his dwelling also. His fencing room is golden-hued, with the sun shining on the wooden floor through floor-length windows, and is filled with ancient and deadly weaponry hanging from the walls.

The second aspect is the mystery. The woman appears in his life, rekindling notions of love in his aging heart, then drops him for his benefactor. Shortly after, his benefactor turns up dead, from a deftly placed sword stroke, and the woman vanishes. This sounds more intriguing than it is. It begins rather belatedly, and for some reason never really catches fire with the reader.

Perhaps the reason it never quite catches fire is because of the third and least successful aspect of the novel, which is the historical fiction. The events in Spain at the time are conveyed to us by a group of friends that our hero meets every day in a café. None of them are terribly interesting, and none of them ever do anything other than sit around and express their views. On top of this, the events which are being discussed are those which are occuring in 1868 Madrid, events which probably don't rank too high among the most significant of mankind. These café meetings occur often and are somewhat lengthy and really become a drag on the narrative.

And that I think is the problem. The historical aspect is not conveyed creatively, but instead pedantically, and the whole novel suffers as a result. It just isn't quite what it could have been. Nevertheless, it's still entertaining--believe me, Mr. Perez-Reverte is a very gifted writer--and I will eagerly continue to read his other novels.

Although this is the fourth of Pérez-Reverte's book to appear in English, it actually predates The Flanders Panel, The Club Dumas, and The Seville Communion. Originally published in 1988, this earlier book is an entirely historical thriller set in Madrid in 1868 amidst Spain's September Revolution, which apparently heralds the end of the monarchy as plots abound and the Bourbon Queen Isabella II is rapidly losing control and influence. One of the novel's flaws is that this period of turmoil is so chaotic and confusing that, although the reader knows the political machinations and plots will somehow prove integral, it's presented rather tediously and is hard to follow. On the whole, the prose is not nearly as rich and accomplished as in his other books.

The story follows an aging fencing instructor, Don Jamie, whose personal code of honor defines him as he attempts to live outside the "real" world around him. He is a rigid and exacting "maestro" to the few remaining pupils he has (guns have all but supplanted swords), and an amusingly old-fashioned expert to the wealthy nobleman he spars with every day. His only other human contact is with a group of yammering men who gather every day in a café to argue politics-and whose main function is to deliver the political background the reader requires to understand the rest of the story (although as indicated above, their arguments are not very effective in this).

Don Jamie is a portrait of a faded gentleman, with all his best experiences behind him, he almost revels in his self-constructed persona of a man of honor (and little else). When a beautiful woman comes to his door and demands instruction in the male-only art of fencing, it catapults him into a dark intrigue. It's another flaw of this early Pérez-Reverte work that readers will see what's coming almost from the moment she first steps onto the page, and only the details need to be revealed. Indeed, those who have reader his intricately plotted other books, will likely be disappointed by the relative simplicity of the story. What is perhaps more intriguing are the timeless questions raised about honor and its role in a world where honor means little. Don Jamie's disengagement from the world around him has tragic consequences, so is he a failure for clinging to tattered ideals, or should he be lauded for his commitment? In that sense, this book has a more moral center than any of Pérez-Reverte's others.

One other minor flaw is the lack of a fencing glossary or any diagrams. The terminology of fencing and its maneuvers are so integral to the story and so arcane to most modern readers that the publisher does both the book and the reader a major disservice by not providing any supplementary material. For those with access to a video store with a good selection of international titles, the book was made into a film in Spain called El Maestro de Escgrima.

The Fencing master was a bit of a surprise, as it finds success more as a character study and exploration of personal ethics, unlike earlier novels Flanders Panel and Club Dumas, which were intricate and playful mysteries. Nontheless, this was a satisfying and enjoyable read. The book is built around a memorable figure, the fencing master, a Quixote like man of remarkable ethical consistency and dignity, but with a self awareness and sense of irony lacking in the man from La Mancha. Riverte also treats us to thrilling fencing sequences, political and moral intrigues of 19th century Spain, and a femme fatale to rival m'lady in the Three Musketeers. A worthy novel from one of the most interesting and intellectually diverse writers working.

100 pages into "The Club Dumas," I thought that the book simply required too much knowledge of "The Three Musketeers," antique book-binding, and French history for me to possibly enjoy it. Fortunately for me I had to read it for a class, and once I'd finished it I felt it was one of the better books I've read in some time. The beauty of "The Club Dumas" lies in its complexity and self-consciousness. It's a book about books, which any book-lover can appreciate, but gives even the most fervent reader new insights into books as stories and entertainment versus books as objects. The "detective" of this mystery, Lucas Corso, circulates in the world of antique book-dealing, tracking down first editions and manuscripts for the book-fetishizers of the world. Perez-Reverte clearly understands this sort of obsession: the virginal quality of an uncut book, the tactile sensuality of a book's binding. But while Perez-Reverte clearly can appreciate books as objects, his own novel reveals continually deepening layers of meaning and significance. Of central interest is the afore-mentioned debate between books as objects and books as entertainment, and this is carried out more and more as we near the end of the book and realize that at the central conflict between the "hero" and "villain" of the book boils down to this very debate. This is all not even to mention the strong presence of demonism, cabbalism, and morality in the novel. Perez-Reverte attempts to include a pretty wide consideration of the world and history for something as simple as a detective novel, but he manages to pull it off magnificently. Even if you find yourself perplexed by his literary and historical references, you'll probably enjoy this book; and if you are an afficionado of Dumas, Napoleon, book-collecting, or demonism, this book is a must-read.

Arturo Perez-Reverte is a mystery/thriller writer with a decidedly intellectual bent. When I first started looking for his work, I expected it to be in the general fiction or literature section of the book store, but finally found it listed under mystery. This is a wonderful book for people who like books in the way that antique people like the antiques roadshow on PBS. It revels in the details of book-making, old texts, and bindings. Lucas Corso, the main character, is trying to discover the link between a fragment of a Dumas manuscript and a possibly Satanic text.

Though the movie version, the Ninth Gate, goes whole hog on the occult angle, the book is more about the Dumas manuscript and its connection to the other book. This makes the movie really irrelevant to the enjoyment of the book, other than if you liked the general idea of the movie, then this book is surely for you.

If you like to go to second hand book stores, or you enjoy talking about an old book, or if you go to garage sales to look through the old books, then Club Dumas is your type of book. I like Perez-Reverte's ability to go off on small tangents as part of the story, as when he digresses to discuss the ways to restore an old book or insert pages to complete it ... this may not appeal to everyone, but he doesn't use anything that isn't essential to an understanding of the plot.

It doesn't hurt to know a little Latin and to have read Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers, but it is by no means a prerequisite for delighting in Arturo Perez-Reverte's meta-thriller The Club Dumas. Like the best kind of intellectual puzzles, the novel features a scattering of charts, diagrams, and pictures which invite the reader to actively participate in the solving of the mystery. Holding it all together is a sweeping and self-referential narrative that always amuses and entertains. Protagonist Lucas Corso is a savvy, pragmatic dealer in the exclusive and erudite world of book collecting. He is paid to find rare editions for collectors and to authenticate found fragments of original manuscripts. When, in the course of his searching, he also starts discovering dead bodies and links to satanic practices his mission becomes magnified greatly. The solution to textual mysteries takes on greater implications when his own life and the cast of characters around him start to resemble something out of a 19th century action-adventure book. Perez-Reverte is wily in the way he explores the themes of literature as taking on a life of its own and being the key to the ultimate mysteries. By employing a kind of intertextual motif he forces us to examine anew the way we, as readers, interpret and contextualize

Generally speaking, readers are forced to choose between intelligent, character-driven, quality literature and dumbed-down, mindless, plot-driven fiction.
Arturo Perez-Reverte is one of the few writers who finds a happy medium between the two. Yes, his books center around an exciting plot, move at a healthy pace, and leave little time for the reader to think about character development or artistic merit. And yet, his books are more than just mind candy. They are smart, suspenseful thrillers that will leave you feeling at least satisfied if not wholesomely enriched. The Seville Communion is no exception.

Set in modern-day Seville, this is the story of Father Lorenzo Quart, sent by the investigative arm of the Vatican's foreign affairs ministry to investigate two mysterious deaths in an old, neglected church that local banking executives want abolished, so the land can be used for more lucrative development purposes. A feisty old priest and a local aristocratic woman lead the efforts to keep the church alive. And an anonymous computer hacker is breaking into the Pope's personal computer system to deposit messages warning the Holy See that this old church will do what it must to protect itself and ensure its survival. Perez-Reverte creates a cast of colorful characters - Quart, the ruggedly attractive priest whose vow of chastity never seems to be his top priority, Macarena, the elegant aristocrat who always seems to be seducing him, and many more. Set against the backdrop of Seville, a city filled with old world charm and beauty, this novel has the feel of a period piece even though it is set in modern day, complete with cell phones and computer hackers.

Though The Fencing Master, in my opinion, is his best work, The Seville Communion is an excellent read, an exciting whodunit for intelligent readers.

This is a terrific intelligent thriller. Lorenzo Quart is a member of the Vatican thought police - handsome, stylish, slightly distant and aloof - think George Clooney in a dog collar. He is sent to investigate some mysterious goings on in a decaying old church in Seville. A major bank wants to buy the church for redevelopment. Against them are the church's old curmudgeonly priest; the sexy wife of the lead banker; and the American nun dedicated to restoring the church. Two people have died - accidentally or murdered? - in the church. Quart finds himself in deeper than he ever could have imagined. The book starts slowly but gathers pace. It isn't just a mystery. It also deals with the life of a cleric - the temptations of sex, and the threat to inner faith; and with the clash in Spain between the thrusting new European ethic and the traditional Andalucian values of church family and old money. It also is wonderful in evoking the beauty of Seville - you want to be there sipping a fino sherry in a cool bar and gazing deep into the eyes of Macarena Brunner (the beautiful bankers wife)/Lorenzo Quart (the handsome priest)(delete according to taste).

The range of opinions in the reviews of Pérez-Reverte's The Seville Communion is wide and interesting.

The author stands the Church's high bureaucratic inertia and high monetary wants against the wants and needs of a small number of Sevillans. The characters, while rich enough for the job at hand, are more lightly drawn than P-R's other works (such as The Club Dumas). Maybe some of the divergence of reviewer opinion can be traced to this.

I found more than the "beach read for intellectuals" label had lead me to expect. For example, though seen as simplistic or evil by some, comic relief is by a tragicomic trio of inepts whose values are strong but a bit too conveniently adaptive; their ethos is found lacking but maybe no more than the Church's. Another: You will probably not forget Lorenzo Quart (or, oddly, Father Priamo Ferro) for a long time.

This book is not pretentious. P-R is not and, at least here, doesn't even try to be Eco. The only rose here is an attractive flower. Of the nearly 30 reviews I read before buying the book most, despite the variability, recommend reading the book. I would add my voice to theirs.

If you have not read Perez-Reverte before, start with The Flanders Panel, or The Seville Communion, or The Club Dumas. If you have read some of this author before, you will recognize the m.o.: This time he gives us great detail about the life of a merchant seaman, ancient cartography, and jazz music. Much like The Fencing Master, this book is slow the first half, then picks up around page 200 and is off to the races, with a Perez-Reverte style twist at the ending. I would place this ahead of The Fencing Master, behind the others. It wasn't great, but I enjoy reading his work and was glad I read it.

Perez-Reverte's literary mysteries, as wonderful and entertaining as they tend to be, all follow a somewhat similar template, one that is faithfully reproduced here. It all starts with a somewhat highbrow subject-chess and painting restoration in The Flanders Panel, antiquarian books in The Club Dumas, the Vatican and Catholicism in The Seville Communion, fencing in the Fencing Master-which is represented here by cartography and sailing. Then he adds a hero who is an expert in the subject, and somewhat of a loner, removed from the mundane world around him or her. The expert/hero is activated by powerful persons whose interest in the hero's area of expertise is ultimately revealed to be linked to some murky historical episode which proves vital to the story. And finally there is a ending that is often surprising or ambiguous. That this template works over and over is a testament both to the skill with which Pérez-Reverte weaves his plots, and to his ability to carry the reader deep into the details of whatever subject happens to be the focus of that book.

In this book, Pérez-Reverte presents a fairly compelling hero, Coy, a born to the ocean, jazz loving sailor at loose ends. He's quickly embroiled in a treasure hunt led by the beautiful and always in control Tanger, who's in a race with a slimy Gibralterian professional treasure hunter and his sadistic Argentine dwarf enforcer. Simpler than any of his previous books, the story both directly and indirectly references the Dashed Hammett classic, The Maltese Falcon. As in that tale, most of the suspense is created by lack of information, which is slowly released to Coy in dribs and drabs, as well as the question of who's double-crossing who. This makes the main characters conversations a shade too melodramatic at times to be realistic, but this is balanced by his naunced capturing of Coy's total attraction to Tanger and her manipulation of it.

As so much of the book involves Coy and Tanger crouched over old maps, or discussing them, one wishes the publisher would have included some reproductions to help the reader out. Similarly, it would have helped a great deal to have an illustration of the two maint ships being hunted for, as there are pages upon pages describing their duel. This is rather frustrating, as without some basic knowledge of sailing and its terms, the reader is unlikely to be able to follow chunks of the writing. The book takes a bit too long to get going, although when it does, it is quite suspenseful, although the clues are a little more visible than usual in Pérez-Reverte's work. Unfortunately the ending doesn't live up to its buildup, and one suspects this eminently filmable thriller will have its climax tweaked for the big screen. All in all, it's not among his best, but still entertaining and highly readable.

There are many things to admire about this novel, but I'll confine myself to just a few areas. Other reviewers have summarized the plot, and the negative reviews generally seem to get hung up on either the pace (not "thrillerish" enough) or the ending. If you like literate mystery, though perhaps not quite thriller (it's not heavily plotted enough for that), this book will be the kind that you pass on to the like-minded. There are parallels drawn especially to Moby Dick, but also to the works of Conrad, Stevenson, and other Melville sea novels.

I finished the book quickly, and I enjoyed the attention to the historical story at the center of the plot. The narrator and point of view, which seems to put others off, make the story more interesting to me (and its accompanying allusion to Melville). I came away from this book promising to re-read Club Dumas and to find Perez-Reverte's other books ... pretty high praise from me.

After having read the "Club Dumas" without having been able to put it down, I compulsively reached for the Flanders Panel.

It is also a very well written, enjoyable book to read. Perez-Reverte's style is not presumptuous, and at the same time, filled with rich details woven into a great plot line and real characters.

However, the detailed representations of the chess game may make it a difficult read for some. If you don't enjoy the game analysis (for the author actually employs diagrams and move lists), I suggest you skip those sections. The story will still make sense, although a lot of the symbolism will be lost. If you enjoy the game, by all means, read this book. I had not played in a long time, but the book made me dust off my chess set. Perez-Reverte succeeds in bringing the game, and a murder plot symbolized in the chess pieces, to life like the "Flanders Panel" brought the depicted scene to life with its realism.

The idea is fantastic. A painting has a chess game, reverse solving which leads to the solution of an ancient murder. But the author does not stop there - he wants to strech the plot into modern times instead of leaving well enough alone. The last half of the book was not beleivable - some of the writing and ideas were beautiful but the story lost its reason for being after the initial mystery was solved. But the first half was exactly right! I was involved in the chess moves, found the connection between the chess game, the painting and the characters very real and in general had a great time reading it. The sheer enjoyment of the first 135 or so pages carried me the whole way through, but in retrospect I wish the author waould have stopped sooner - I would have then considered it a masterpeice

I've read most of Perez-Reverte's texts, and "The Flanders Panel" -- his debut -- is vintage material. Often compared to the work of Italian intellectualist-author Umberto Eco, Perez-Reverte engages new themes and topics in each work, delving into them with a passion and interest that I can't help but find impressive -- in each case, the details are sufficient to let the characters pass for experts, but not overwhelming or boring.

In TFP, the topics du jour are art restoration, historical intrigues, and chess, and the three blend together to create a sinister and satisfying thriller -- I took this one down in about four hours, while on vacation at the beach, and was hooked as soon as the real action started. (Give it about 20-25 pages before you put it down the first time.)

Using the process of a chess game to drive the action of the book, Perez-Reverte manages to make an often-dull game vibrant, exciting, and threatening. I'm a chess fan, myself, but you don't have to be to get into, wrapped up in, or to the end of this book. Diagrams are included to show each move in the "game" that unfolds, and the action on the board is mirrored in real life -- a sinister murder for each piece captured on the table. The characters are believable and well-written, and P-R's prose, as usual, flows well and feels good going down.

If anything disappoints, it might be the ending. Like "The Club Dumas", another fantastic intelli-thriller, the ending feels a bit rushed, and less complete than you're led to expect... it IS plausible, and it ISN'T obvious, and that's enough to make it passable. A rushed ending, however, does not kill a good read, and that, in the end, is what TFP is: a nice, quick, engaging and intellectual thriller, and a nice debut for a promising author. If the comparisons to Eco are inaccurate, it is because Eco tends to give excessive thought and explanation to each theme in his novels, while Perez gives you just enough background info to get you excited, and then runs with it.

BOTTOM LINE: A good strong intellectual thriller for those who find Mary Higgins Clark and her kind just a bit too formulaic. Perez-Reverte scores.

Lo confieso: soy una fanática de los libros de Pérez-Reverte.
Me encantó "El Maestro de Esgrima", el primer libro que leí de este autor, y adoré "La Tabla de Flandes", uno de los mejores misterios que he leído nunca; "El Club Dumas" me sigue pareciendo una verdadera joya, y "La Piel del Tambor" es una maravilla. Y precisamente por eso, la decepción sufrida a manos de "La Carta Esférica" fue tan abismal y dolorosa.
No parece escrito por Pérez-Reverte. El libro es aburrido, sus protagonistas parecen títeres huecos manejados por un titiritero aficionado y primerizo, que parece refugiarse en una trama tediosa y larga, para acabar en un final obvio y sin sentido.
Es una verdadera lástima, pero el libro no vale la pena.

Pérez-Reverte olvidó a sus lectores, esa es la única explicación.

Olvidó que los que lo leíamos, lo hacíamos para entretenernos, no para marearnos en la borda de un barco que a poco andar ya se sabe que se va a hundir.

Me he comprado un Titanic de papel.

Lleno de información irrelevante y descripciones inutiles. Los pensamientos poco aportan muchas veces a la historia, dilatando eternamente el final.....

Si necesito aprender de nautica, me compro un libro de nautica.

Dentro de lo mas pobre de Perez-Reverte.

Patente de corso is a selection of the articles that Perez Reverte has published in magazines and newspapers. Not very interesting because the articles are very centered in the day by day situation. Of course there are some very good articles (specially when Perez Reverte attacks other writers), but other are mediocres. Better if you buy the novels, not this book.