What do you think?
Rate this book
Captain from Castile
A new edition of the mid-20th century popular classic of a Spanish nobleman who accompanies Cortez to conquer Mexico.
648 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1945
43 people are currently reading
878 people want to read
About the author
Samuel Shellabarger
71 books44 followersAKA:
John Esteven
Peter Loring
Samuel Shellabarger was an American educator and author of both scholarly works and best-selling historical novels. He was born in Washington, D.C., on 18 May 1888, but his parents both died while he was a baby. Samuel was therefore raised by his grandfather, Samuel Shellabarger, a noted lawyer who had served in Congress during the American Civil War and as Minister to Portugal. Young Samuel's travels with his grandfather later proved a goldmine of background material for his novels.
Shellabarger attended private schools and in 1909 graduated from Princeton University, where he would later teach. After studying for a year at Munich University in Germany, he resumed his studies at Harvard University and Yale University. Despite taking a year off to serve in World War I, he received his doctorate in 1917. In 1915 he married Vivan Georgia Lovegrove Borg whom he had met the year before during a vacation in Sweden. They had four children, but the two boys died: one as an infant and the other serving in World War II. Shellabarger himself died of a heart attack in Princeton, New Jersey, on 21 March 1954.
Having already published some scholarly works and not wanting to undermine their credibility by publishing fiction, Shellabarger used pen names for his first mysteries and romances: "John Esteven" and then "Peter Loring." He continued to write scholarly works and to teach, but his historical novels proved so popular that he soon started using his own name on them. Some of them were best-sellers and were made into movies.
John Esteven
Peter Loring
Samuel Shellabarger was an American educator and author of both scholarly works and best-selling historical novels. He was born in Washington, D.C., on 18 May 1888, but his parents both died while he was a baby. Samuel was therefore raised by his grandfather, Samuel Shellabarger, a noted lawyer who had served in Congress during the American Civil War and as Minister to Portugal. Young Samuel's travels with his grandfather later proved a goldmine of background material for his novels.
Shellabarger attended private schools and in 1909 graduated from Princeton University, where he would later teach. After studying for a year at Munich University in Germany, he resumed his studies at Harvard University and Yale University. Despite taking a year off to serve in World War I, he received his doctorate in 1917. In 1915 he married Vivan Georgia Lovegrove Borg whom he had met the year before during a vacation in Sweden. They had four children, but the two boys died: one as an infant and the other serving in World War II. Shellabarger himself died of a heart attack in Princeton, New Jersey, on 21 March 1954.
Having already published some scholarly works and not wanting to undermine their credibility by publishing fiction, Shellabarger used pen names for his first mysteries and romances: "John Esteven" and then "Peter Loring." He continued to write scholarly works and to teach, but his historical novels proved so popular that he soon started using his own name on them. Some of them were best-sellers and were made into movies.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
February 27, 2010
I have a special place in my heart for this book. It was the first movie my mother ever took me to...I was six months old. Many years later, I was living in Hannover, Germany in very stressful circumstances, when, one day, a package arrived. It was from my Mom...a selection of her favorite historical novels (Shellabarger, Thomas B. Costain, Rafael Sabatini) and among the treasurers was Captain From Castile. I sat down to finally read this book I'd heard about all my life. I read it in one sitting. Then started from page one and read it again. It's a wonderful story (and much richer than the movie they made of it. Although Caesar Romero was a very dashing Cortez.)
January 7, 2018
This was another amazing book by Samuel Shellabarger! I have to admit that I didn't like it AS much as The Prince of Foxes, but it was similar in many ways and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The writing was gorgeous and we really get a sense of what it was like to live in both Spain and Mexico during the 1500s, and in particular, to witness the brutalities of both the Spanish Inquisition and the conquest of Mexico under Hernan Cortes (who is one of the main characters). Pedro de Vargas was a great protagonist to follow, and I didn't mind that there were rarely any other point of view characters (one chapter or two for Catana, Luisa, Pedro's father, and the Spanish King, but that was it). We follow a large part of Pedro's life in Spain and Mexico, and although it covers a period of many years, as readers we don't get a sense of missing out or being "told" things, but really see the characters and events evolve ourselves.
There was one thing I felt that there should have been more said of near the end, or at least reflected on the part of Pedro, was about the natives that he encountered in Mexico and how they were treated by the Spanish (ie, terribly). There was brutal fighting on both sides, but many Spaniards saw the natives as sub-human beings to dupe or just be rid of so that they could get their gold and the land they wanted. Pedro often doesn't share these thoughts, but he still never seriously questions that the Spaniards have the right to take over another nation's land for their own. At least for most of the book, he is a friend of Coatl's, but even then he doesn't see him on the same level as him, and I think it would have been ideal for his character evolution and just overall justice of the book if this continued and Pedro came to regard the natives differently, even if he wasn't able to do much about the prevailing views of the Spanish toward them. At times, Pedro recognizes the parallels between the brutalities happening in Spain in the Spanish Inquisition and the conquest of Mexico, but it was not much more than a passing remark, so I thought this should definitely have been highlighted, especially near the end of the story. But I didn't have a lesser opinion of Pedro because of this, since this a consequence of the time period he is from and it isn't reasonable that every moral and just protagonist have the same views as people would nowadays. He did change in many other ways, coming to view the court life and the way that people can buy and bribe their way into anything in Spain to be hollow and not the kind of life he wants to pursue. Though I won't mention his views on Catana vs Luisa because that would give too much away!
So overall it was a wonderful story, brutal but exciting, and with memorable characters and amazing descriptions.
There was one thing I felt that there should have been more said of near the end, or at least reflected on the part of Pedro, was about the natives that he encountered in Mexico and how they were treated by the Spanish (ie, terribly). There was brutal fighting on both sides, but many Spaniards saw the natives as sub-human beings to dupe or just be rid of so that they could get their gold and the land they wanted. Pedro often doesn't share these thoughts, but he still never seriously questions that the Spaniards have the right to take over another nation's land for their own. At least for most of the book, he is a friend of Coatl's, but even then he doesn't see him on the same level as him, and I think it would have been ideal for his character evolution and just overall justice of the book if this continued and Pedro came to regard the natives differently, even if he wasn't able to do much about the prevailing views of the Spanish toward them. At times, Pedro recognizes the parallels between the brutalities happening in Spain in the Spanish Inquisition and the conquest of Mexico, but it was not much more than a passing remark, so I thought this should definitely have been highlighted, especially near the end of the story. But I didn't have a lesser opinion of Pedro because of this, since this a consequence of the time period he is from and it isn't reasonable that every moral and just protagonist have the same views as people would nowadays. He did change in many other ways, coming to view the court life and the way that people can buy and bribe their way into anything in Spain to be hollow and not the kind of life he wants to pursue. Though I won't mention his views on Catana vs Luisa because that would give too much away!
So overall it was a wonderful story, brutal but exciting, and with memorable characters and amazing descriptions.
January 21, 2025
You don't run across many well-written and un-biased historical epics like this! Well, I haven't anyway. Generally, the author has an agenda and to a certain extent that is to be understood and expected. But as a reader, it is weary. I want a good story which tells the truth as best the author can tell it.
In Captain from Castile Pedro de Vargas, the hero, escapes Spain because his family is threatened when his father refuses to sell land to a disreputable neighbor who has ingratiated himself with the local representatives of the Inquisition. Going first to Cuba, Pedro lands a job on ship with Captain Cortés on its way to Mexico and the infamous expedition to the Aztecs. The action in the story never stops. I found myself putting the book down a few times, it was so intense. But then, I am not used to reading books like this anymore; others may have no trouble with it.
Shellabarger does not glamorize the violence, but he doesn't shy away from it either. It was a terribly violent episode in history, a clash of cultures. They were led by two men, Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca, a Spanish conquistador and Moctezuma Xocoyotzin, the ninth emperor of the Aztec Empire. Neither intended to back down, but they operated by very different rules, which neither ever really understood.
Reading this book was very good to help me see how differently the two leaders saw themselves, each other, their people and the conflict. Also, it was interesting to see how they changed their minds and tactics as one event after another occurred. It is a fascinating story, quite apart from the novel's story about our hero and his struggles. I know now that unless Europeans had been content to remain in Europe for the rest of history, something like what happened in 1519 was inevitable. The Aztec culture was so violent and abominable in the eyes of Europeans, never mind the gold, it would have presented something unconscionable and unendurable for long. The Aztec way of life could not have existed side-by-side with any type of European settlement. It wasn't a question of Spanish Catholics; Protestants, theists and even those with no religion would have found the human sacrifice and cannibalism practices just as reprehensible. The gold just provided a stronger motive and quicker more decisive resolution. This is not to excuse some of the things which Cortés did; he attributed them to expediency and by military standards of the day some were, but they troubled the consciences of his men and were later condemned by his own countrymen and the world. His actions in several cases were reprehensible; he also carries the blame for some of those he left in charge whose incompetence led to rampant violence.
Pedro's story was enjoyable, but I think I liked the history more and am motivated to read more about that time period. Still, an excellent book and I will search out more by this author! Thanks Julie, it was one of your reviews which led me to this book.
In Captain from Castile Pedro de Vargas, the hero, escapes Spain because his family is threatened when his father refuses to sell land to a disreputable neighbor who has ingratiated himself with the local representatives of the Inquisition. Going first to Cuba, Pedro lands a job on ship with Captain Cortés on its way to Mexico and the infamous expedition to the Aztecs. The action in the story never stops. I found myself putting the book down a few times, it was so intense. But then, I am not used to reading books like this anymore; others may have no trouble with it.
Shellabarger does not glamorize the violence, but he doesn't shy away from it either. It was a terribly violent episode in history, a clash of cultures. They were led by two men, Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca, a Spanish conquistador and Moctezuma Xocoyotzin, the ninth emperor of the Aztec Empire. Neither intended to back down, but they operated by very different rules, which neither ever really understood.
Reading this book was very good to help me see how differently the two leaders saw themselves, each other, their people and the conflict. Also, it was interesting to see how they changed their minds and tactics as one event after another occurred. It is a fascinating story, quite apart from the novel's story about our hero and his struggles. I know now that unless Europeans had been content to remain in Europe for the rest of history, something like what happened in 1519 was inevitable. The Aztec culture was so violent and abominable in the eyes of Europeans, never mind the gold, it would have presented something unconscionable and unendurable for long. The Aztec way of life could not have existed side-by-side with any type of European settlement. It wasn't a question of Spanish Catholics; Protestants, theists and even those with no religion would have found the human sacrifice and cannibalism practices just as reprehensible. The gold just provided a stronger motive and quicker more decisive resolution. This is not to excuse some of the things which Cortés did; he attributed them to expediency and by military standards of the day some were, but they troubled the consciences of his men and were later condemned by his own countrymen and the world. His actions in several cases were reprehensible; he also carries the blame for some of those he left in charge whose incompetence led to rampant violence.
Pedro's story was enjoyable, but I think I liked the history more and am motivated to read more about that time period. Still, an excellent book and I will search out more by this author! Thanks Julie, it was one of your reviews which led me to this book.
June 6, 2012
A real gem found in the attic. An old book that had belonged to my grandmother turned out to be an awesome read! I never would have expected a book about early 16th Century Spain and the colonization of Mexico to be such a fascinating subject, but I found Captain from Castile to be a real page turner. A book that I was sorry to see come to an end. It was one of the best reads I've had lately. It's packed with suspense, adventure, romance, and everything you'd want in a great historical novel.
October 28, 2011
Fantastic story, and nuanced in its portrayal of the conquistadores. This is not "white man good, red man bad". The Spaniards are at once heroic and villainous, sympathetic and hateful. And Shellabarger's evocation of the lost civilization of the Aztecs is fascinating and vivid.
"Captain from Castile" is also, in its way, a study in the nature of love and of duty. Great, great book.
"Captain from Castile" is also, in its way, a study in the nature of love and of duty. Great, great book.
June 6, 2024
What a beautiful book.
March 23, 2011
I picked up this book after reading a series of literary novels full of dense prose, subtle metaphors and much-ado-about nothing. I needed an escape. And I was not disappointed, for this novel is the classic tale of the hero who escapes his home in the Old World, makes his fortune in the New World and returns to rescue his bride, punish his enemies and live happily ever after, or so he believes. The twist however is that home is not home anymore and it is the New World, which had forged his identity and made him his fortune, that ultimately beckons, and the adventurer is destined to make his life in this new frontier surrounded by those survivors who have proven loyal to him— an enduring theme played out from Homer to Dumas to Sabatini.
Pedro de Vargas, a young hidalgo, whose father is a retired but celebrated soldier, falls foul of the ruling elites and the Inquisition and is forced to flee Spain for Mexico while his family is jailed and later exiled in Italy. He is in a state of idealistic love with the fair Luisa, whose aristocratic but mercurial father bends to the swaying political winds. Pedro`s true love however is the tavern worker and dancer, Catana, born of low birth but of feisty spirit and fierce loyalty. The villain is Diego de Silva, land-grabber, with eyes on the de Vargas estate and on the lovely but naive Luisa, and who is in cahoots with the corrupt local Inquisitor. Enough said—Pedro loses the first found to de Silva and flees to Mexico to fight under Hernand Cortes. A series of adventures leads him to discover gold in the New World. The treacherous political winds follow him to Mexico where the Spanish governor of the Indies, Valasquez, and Cortes are at odds over the spoils of conquest and over control of the conquered lands. The situation finally resolves itself back in Spain where the bad guys are outed and the good guys get their well earned share of the booty pillaged from the natives in Mexico. Pedro is faced with the conundrum of the immigrant, where home is no longer home, and returns to Mexico with his true love Catana, and best friend and fellow-adventurer Juan Garcia.
I found the style hard to plough through: lots of passive sentences and words (perhaps, almost, the other, though, probably etc.), and subtle but unnecessary shifts in point-of-view. While the principal characters mentioned above are well drawn, there are far too many peripheral characters and they all end up as a bunch of names. The first part of the story leading up to Pedro fleeing Spain reads well and then falls apart in a jumble of history, multiple characters and shifting loyalties. I quickly skipped forward a couple of hundred pages and caught up the story and its resolution in the last 75 pages or so.
What becomes clear, if Shellabarger`s research is correct, is that the Inquisition was Christianity`s equivalent of the Holocaust, or France`s Reign of Terror, and that colonial conquerors of the past were no better than pirates and terrorists of today, and that no matter what mantle of sanctity we cloak ourselves in, mankind`s capability to commit evil deeds is as great as its propensity for doing good. A frightening thought when you consider that modern developed nations in the Old World were built on these horrible and tragic foundations; a grim reminder indeed for us immigrants to the new world who look back in nostalgia towards the lands of our origins. Perhaps we would be better suited, like Pedro de Vargas, to turn our backs on those old homelands and cleave to our new home built on lessons learned from the past.
Pedro de Vargas, a young hidalgo, whose father is a retired but celebrated soldier, falls foul of the ruling elites and the Inquisition and is forced to flee Spain for Mexico while his family is jailed and later exiled in Italy. He is in a state of idealistic love with the fair Luisa, whose aristocratic but mercurial father bends to the swaying political winds. Pedro`s true love however is the tavern worker and dancer, Catana, born of low birth but of feisty spirit and fierce loyalty. The villain is Diego de Silva, land-grabber, with eyes on the de Vargas estate and on the lovely but naive Luisa, and who is in cahoots with the corrupt local Inquisitor. Enough said—Pedro loses the first found to de Silva and flees to Mexico to fight under Hernand Cortes. A series of adventures leads him to discover gold in the New World. The treacherous political winds follow him to Mexico where the Spanish governor of the Indies, Valasquez, and Cortes are at odds over the spoils of conquest and over control of the conquered lands. The situation finally resolves itself back in Spain where the bad guys are outed and the good guys get their well earned share of the booty pillaged from the natives in Mexico. Pedro is faced with the conundrum of the immigrant, where home is no longer home, and returns to Mexico with his true love Catana, and best friend and fellow-adventurer Juan Garcia.
I found the style hard to plough through: lots of passive sentences and words (perhaps, almost, the other, though, probably etc.), and subtle but unnecessary shifts in point-of-view. While the principal characters mentioned above are well drawn, there are far too many peripheral characters and they all end up as a bunch of names. The first part of the story leading up to Pedro fleeing Spain reads well and then falls apart in a jumble of history, multiple characters and shifting loyalties. I quickly skipped forward a couple of hundred pages and caught up the story and its resolution in the last 75 pages or so.
What becomes clear, if Shellabarger`s research is correct, is that the Inquisition was Christianity`s equivalent of the Holocaust, or France`s Reign of Terror, and that colonial conquerors of the past were no better than pirates and terrorists of today, and that no matter what mantle of sanctity we cloak ourselves in, mankind`s capability to commit evil deeds is as great as its propensity for doing good. A frightening thought when you consider that modern developed nations in the Old World were built on these horrible and tragic foundations; a grim reminder indeed for us immigrants to the new world who look back in nostalgia towards the lands of our origins. Perhaps we would be better suited, like Pedro de Vargas, to turn our backs on those old homelands and cleave to our new home built on lessons learned from the past.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 27, 2010
When Pedro de Vargas' family is denounced before the Spanish Inquisition on false charges, it's all they can do to escape the dungeons with their lives. While his father and mother choose to seek refuge with family in Italy, Pedro has been hearing wondrous tales about the New World. There, an upstart general named Hernan Cortes is promising riches and fame to all who follow him. So Pedro sets off with Cortes' company to seek his fortune, in the company of his loyal friends, Juan Garcia (also a fugitive) and Catana Perez, a tavern girl with whom he ends up falling in love.
This one definitely took me awhile to get through (nearly two months!). I generally really like books of this nature, what with all of the swashbuckling, hairsbreadth escapes, true love, etc., but this one just didn't do it for me. For one thing, the whole middle part of the book, where Pedro and the army is encamped in Tenochtitlan just seems to drag on FOREVER. It took quite a bit of effort on my part to push through it, but once the action picked up again it was relatively easy to finish. The thing that really ruined the book for me was the characters. There was not a single character in this book I liked. Generally, the characters in this genre are not especially complex, but Pedro de Vargas was just a pompous jerk. No one could possibly accuse the author of this book (which was written in the '40s) of instilling any modern sensibilities in his characters. Pedro was incredibly prejudiced and didn't even question once the morality of wiping out an entire civilization of human beings just because they had shiny things. Which, granted, is historically accurate in that I'm sure that's how the real Spaniards felt when they invaded Mexico, but it doesn't make for a character I really care about or want to root for.
Also Catana, the main female character and love interest, had the potential to be pretty awesome, had the author not totally wrecked it. She is made out to be an incredibly brave, strong woman who follows Pedro to Mexico and then marches with the soldiers and fights alongside them in horrible conditions, which obviously shows that she's got cajones (figuratively speaking, of course). But whenever Pedro is around she suddenly becomes afflicted with the "I'm just an incredibly weak and stupid female and I need a big strong man to take me by the hand because without a man to show me what to do I don't know my right from my left" disease. She obsessively laments over the fact that Pedro is of good family and she's just a tavern wench, so therefore she will never be worthy of his love, boo hoo. I got really sick of her after awhile. Well, not really of her, but of the author. Because I just can't help but read an author's motives and personality into their writing, and if this book is anything to go by I think Samuel Shellabarger was probably a huge male chauvinist. But maybe that's unfair of me.
So anyway, this book was just a huge character fail for me all the way around. And it's too bad, because I was excited about this one!
This one definitely took me awhile to get through (nearly two months!). I generally really like books of this nature, what with all of the swashbuckling, hairsbreadth escapes, true love, etc., but this one just didn't do it for me. For one thing, the whole middle part of the book, where Pedro and the army is encamped in Tenochtitlan just seems to drag on FOREVER. It took quite a bit of effort on my part to push through it, but once the action picked up again it was relatively easy to finish. The thing that really ruined the book for me was the characters. There was not a single character in this book I liked. Generally, the characters in this genre are not especially complex, but Pedro de Vargas was just a pompous jerk. No one could possibly accuse the author of this book (which was written in the '40s) of instilling any modern sensibilities in his characters. Pedro was incredibly prejudiced and didn't even question once the morality of wiping out an entire civilization of human beings just because they had shiny things. Which, granted, is historically accurate in that I'm sure that's how the real Spaniards felt when they invaded Mexico, but it doesn't make for a character I really care about or want to root for.
Also Catana, the main female character and love interest, had the potential to be pretty awesome, had the author not totally wrecked it. She is made out to be an incredibly brave, strong woman who follows Pedro to Mexico and then marches with the soldiers and fights alongside them in horrible conditions, which obviously shows that she's got cajones (figuratively speaking, of course). But whenever Pedro is around she suddenly becomes afflicted with the "I'm just an incredibly weak and stupid female and I need a big strong man to take me by the hand because without a man to show me what to do I don't know my right from my left" disease. She obsessively laments over the fact that Pedro is of good family and she's just a tavern wench, so therefore she will never be worthy of his love, boo hoo. I got really sick of her after awhile. Well, not really of her, but of the author. Because I just can't help but read an author's motives and personality into their writing, and if this book is anything to go by I think Samuel Shellabarger was probably a huge male chauvinist. But maybe that's unfair of me.
So anyway, this book was just a huge character fail for me all the way around. And it's too bad, because I was excited about this one!
December 29, 2015
Kinda a three star. Read this long ago and loved the adventure, but there were a couple things that knocked off stars in my book.
--The hero has a child with his mistress out of wedlock, and she has so little value of herself that she refuses to marry him because she isn't good enough. Then she thinks she loses a child because she sinned by having her affair with him. The making of the child is told in language just short of graphic, so not suitable for younger readers.
--Big issue: it's actually stated that a woman needs to be punished by her husband to keep her in line; the hero leaves marks of a belt on his wife's rear and his mother approves.
Otherwise, grand adventure and a memorable plot.
--The hero has a child with his mistress out of wedlock, and she has so little value of herself that she refuses to marry him because she isn't good enough. Then she thinks she loses a child because she sinned by having her affair with him. The making of the child is told in language just short of graphic, so not suitable for younger readers.
--Big issue: it's actually stated that a woman needs to be punished by her husband to keep her in line; the hero leaves marks of a belt on his wife's rear and his mother approves.
Otherwise, grand adventure and a memorable plot.
June 27, 2020
really 3.5-4 stars. a rollicking story, Aztecs and the Spanish conquest of the New World as a background for a tale of romance, ambition, dreams realized turning to ash, villainy, friendship, loyalty.
October 16, 2023
Sometimes a lot of well-used and well-edited words make words harder to come by, and this is one of those occasions.
Author Samuel Shellabarger's masterful work on this fast gallop of a great read makes me feel sorry for anyone who didn't look up the publication year here of 1945 when the world was still at war. People were tired of all the bloodshed, oppression, mass murders, heavy bombing deaths, and ideologies like Nazism, which turned many stomachs when the world learned of the death camps. I think Shellabarger might've been thinking of those camps when he addressed the Inquisition. There were many things very much in peoples' minds and eyesight. Death was, and has been around for years, and Captain From Castile did not shy away. I usually read the publication dates because they can, and often influence an author's approach to their book. Empathy is always important.
The conquest of the Aztecs was equally bloody, and was not short of bloodshed. The Aztec ritual sacrificing of prisoners and cannibalism, after cutting their hearts out was not ignored, but some research says it was likely less massive and systematic than in these pages, but part of daily life in pre-Colombian times, nevertheless.
1945 was hardly 2023, and an intelligent reader should know that there are serious differences socially, and in other senses. I read it for various reasons, including my need to read top-level content, and it delivered very nicely. Shellabarger connected all of the paragraphs, words, and sentences superbly. It was easy to keep on reading past chapter breaks until falling asleep with the light still on. Only a few rare word choices slowed that fast gallop for an instant.
It had all the elements, evil villains, romance, drama, history, and heroes. I can easily recommend it, if you can find a copy. I got one through my most consistent supplier with the original cover still clinging to the book, despite some very weak spots in the creases. That's on my blog, https://www.mmblog-mmblog.blogspot.com
Author Samuel Shellabarger's masterful work on this fast gallop of a great read makes me feel sorry for anyone who didn't look up the publication year here of 1945 when the world was still at war. People were tired of all the bloodshed, oppression, mass murders, heavy bombing deaths, and ideologies like Nazism, which turned many stomachs when the world learned of the death camps. I think Shellabarger might've been thinking of those camps when he addressed the Inquisition. There were many things very much in peoples' minds and eyesight. Death was, and has been around for years, and Captain From Castile did not shy away. I usually read the publication dates because they can, and often influence an author's approach to their book. Empathy is always important.
The conquest of the Aztecs was equally bloody, and was not short of bloodshed. The Aztec ritual sacrificing of prisoners and cannibalism, after cutting their hearts out was not ignored, but some research says it was likely less massive and systematic than in these pages, but part of daily life in pre-Colombian times, nevertheless.
1945 was hardly 2023, and an intelligent reader should know that there are serious differences socially, and in other senses. I read it for various reasons, including my need to read top-level content, and it delivered very nicely. Shellabarger connected all of the paragraphs, words, and sentences superbly. It was easy to keep on reading past chapter breaks until falling asleep with the light still on. Only a few rare word choices slowed that fast gallop for an instant.
It had all the elements, evil villains, romance, drama, history, and heroes. I can easily recommend it, if you can find a copy. I got one through my most consistent supplier with the original cover still clinging to the book, despite some very weak spots in the creases. That's on my blog, https://www.mmblog-mmblog.blogspot.com
February 4, 2025
A MUST READ. Samuel Shellabarger is an extraordinary writer. His historical references make you feel as if you are taking a history lesson. I read this after seeing the movie which I didn't know was based on a novel.
Captivating, mesmerizing, so many words come to mind. I will put him right up with the Russian greats for capturing human emotions. All his novels are excellent. Prince of Foxes is a probably my favorite. Lord Vanity is also a masterpiece. I think I've read all his novels and they were all 4 or 5 stars. In depth reading. These are not formulaic pool side reads. You are captivated by the time period and almost feel like you are expecting some of the emotions. A rare feat for a writer. I am surprised he didn't get the notoriety he deserves. I put him with Camus and Dostoevsky. Reader Enjoy !!!
Captivating, mesmerizing, so many words come to mind. I will put him right up with the Russian greats for capturing human emotions. All his novels are excellent. Prince of Foxes is a probably my favorite. Lord Vanity is also a masterpiece. I think I've read all his novels and they were all 4 or 5 stars. In depth reading. These are not formulaic pool side reads. You are captivated by the time period and almost feel like you are expecting some of the emotions. A rare feat for a writer. I am surprised he didn't get the notoriety he deserves. I put him with Camus and Dostoevsky. Reader Enjoy !!!
July 3, 2019
Good Story 190. Julie is content to stay in the New World, but Scott argues that his phone gets no signal there.
Original review below.
==============
This is an old favorite of mine, second only to Shellabarger's Prince of Foxes.
It's the story of a young Spanish nobleman, Pedro de Vargas, who goes with Cortes to conquer Mexico. Rereading it, Washington Post critic and Pulitzer Prize-winner Jonathan Yardley says in his introduction he "was astonished at how well it has survived. . . . It is accurate, meticulously researched history, and it is a sympathetic, nuanced account of a young man's moral education..."
Precisely. Such is also the same of Shellabarger's other books. A prime example of how an excellent piece of fiction can communicate "Truth." Somehow Shellabarger pulls of a supremely entertaining, factual, insightful swashbuckler.
Original review below.
==============
This is an old favorite of mine, second only to Shellabarger's Prince of Foxes.
It's the story of a young Spanish nobleman, Pedro de Vargas, who goes with Cortes to conquer Mexico. Rereading it, Washington Post critic and Pulitzer Prize-winner Jonathan Yardley says in his introduction he "was astonished at how well it has survived. . . . It is accurate, meticulously researched history, and it is a sympathetic, nuanced account of a young man's moral education..."
Precisely. Such is also the same of Shellabarger's other books. A prime example of how an excellent piece of fiction can communicate "Truth." Somehow Shellabarger pulls of a supremely entertaining, factual, insightful swashbuckler.
March 27, 2019
This action-packed adventure story deals with one of the bloodiest periods in human history: the Spanish Inquisition of the 1500's and Cortez’s conquest of the New World. But the book doesn’t just rely on shock value, although there’s plenty of that: in Spain, prisoners of the Inquisition are tortured on the rack, and in the New World, tens of thousands of Indians are mown down by the bloody swords and pikes of the Spaniards. No, besides the shock value, there’s real suspense built up by the author through nearly 500 pages of the book. It’s something you don’t find much in the novels of today. The Grishams and Cusslers and Baldaccis know in advance that their books will be best-sellers, and they have no incentive to write well, so they don’t. The check is already in the mail, after all. Did I mention that Captain from Castile was written in the 50's? The Author, Samuel Shellabarger, was also well-known for Prince of Foxes, and that’s next on my list.
January 6, 2023
Setting: During the Spanish Inquisition, starting in 1518, first in Jaén, Spain, then in the New World, specifically the Aztec Empire and Tenochtitlán. Complete with maps of both areas inset in the cover of the book, this setting is amazingly established. The Spanish perspective, then the New World experience, is contrasted; the universal Catholic mindset ... wow, what can I say? Christian or secular, the general mob opinion is never individual, it's always dictated by the higher powers. The routine Catholic practices are shown as daily life, and are not necessarily criticized, although certain faults and bad consequences are honestly shown. The culture's influence on the characters is just everywhere, guiding the whole book. In plain words, it is immersive. I just can't say enough about all the history that's included. So many historical aspects play a part: the brutality of the Inquisition, the brutality of the Aztec conquest, the brutality of the Aztec people, the sicknesses that the Europeans brought to the Indians, political maneuvering, wars with the European powers, and more. Plenty of Spanish terms are included, which I appreciate, although I can't understand half of it. Nevertheless, five stars for the story's setting.
Characters: The story, at its base a romance, is a little different than the usual romance I read because Pedro de Vargas is the main character, as opposed to a female. As the hero, he has a great character arc: starts out young, immature, irreverent, and naive; still, his youth promises improvement, and his naivety tends more toward pure innocence. He has plenty of incorrect thoughts, many of which are probably encouraged, if not outright taught, by the Catholic church. But, this rather large book sees Pedro go on a mighty transformative journey. Not only does he gain skill, cunning, understanding of reality, and true loyalty, but he grows spiritually, as well. Now, he doesn't attain this all at once; his progress is gradual, realistically--after all, it's hard to forswear everything you've believed for 19 years. Does Pedro have a perfect understanding of everything by the end? Indeed, no; the book would have to be larger than the Bible to accomplish that. Still, I loved Pedro's character, and the realizations he does make.
After him, though, who? I loved Pedro's parents. Though they do things that were completely within cultural character--and therefore horrifying to the modern sensibilities--they keep the actual important traits, such as love, gratitude, and courage. The courage and loyalty of Catana is precious, though she doesn't have a whole lot of character development; it became evident to me eventually that Catana's character just isn't that important. She doesn't really have a character arc; she is merely someone who relates to Pedro in a special way. Then there's Luisa; again, not too much character development, other than a maturing in her way. She progressively becomes like her father, which is not a compliment. She sort of represents the Old World and its superficial status quo.
Now for the antagonists ... boy, there were enough. Shellabarger knows how to portray an evil man, but his real skill is presenting an evil man who wears sheep's clothing. Real life is crawling with them, yet too often we cannot recognize them (probably the reason so many Christian fiction books portray antagonists as ungodly, bumbling idiots rather than cunning foxes who successfully deceive innocent people). In this novel, it is sometimes hard to discern whether a person is actually evil, afraid of evil, or just totally buys the load of garbage told them by "the experts." (In this historical setting, they are religious experts, but of the same mold as today's experts.) Pedro's attitude toward De Silva has an interesting progression, not one that I wholeheartedly endorse, but one whose ending is mostly satisfactory.
The one major remaining character, Cortés, straddles the line between admirable and despicable (once he gave his last piece of advice, he landed in the latter category). His personality gives an interesting perspective of the historical attitude of "doing God's will." I thought one quote particularly striking after some theological discourse: "The prophet Daniel was forgotten." Shellabarger is not shy about pointing that out.
Plot: Ultimately a romance (from the man's perspective), but the book is loaded with pure adventure and life-threatening situations. Readers looking for romantic titillation will have to endure military campaigns, personal grudges, theological muses, true friendship-building, and other really interesting life experiences. The first part of the book has its slow points, but by the last 100 pages, there's no stopping. One wonders how a climax can top the story's previous near-death situations, but this one does a pretty good job.
Negative Content: As much as it pains me to provide a paragraph of criticism, I must mention the annoying amount of times God's name was used irreverently (mostly in Spanish, but not always). Other swearing is sprinkled throughout.
Faith Content: I wasn't expecting this to be a Christian novel, and maybe it's not, per se--there are, after all, plenty of unresolved Christian issues. However, the one major issue, the one that relates to the romance, is entirely Christian, and I loved Pedro for it. Though within the confines of Catholicism's imperfect customs, Pedro arrives at a thoroughly righteous conclusion. Pedro's Christian conviction is also emphasized multiple times, proving it is not just a setting-builder. Pedro also receives fairly good advice from Father Olmedo, and though he doesn't entirely obey it, the general command of "pray for those who persecute you" is promoted, in so many words, and is brought up again at the end.
The 500 pages contains plenty of fodder for theological discussion, on which I could dwell for many more paragraphs. But I think I covered the most noteworthy parts. Catholics are a sensitive subject for me, and I loved how they were portrayed in this book: the utter wickedness, the irreligious religiosity, and the honest faithfulness of the earnest, even in their ignorance. Let's not point out the specks in their eyes until we figure out all the planks in our own eyes.
Characters: The story, at its base a romance, is a little different than the usual romance I read because Pedro de Vargas is the main character, as opposed to a female. As the hero, he has a great character arc: starts out young, immature, irreverent, and naive; still, his youth promises improvement, and his naivety tends more toward pure innocence. He has plenty of incorrect thoughts, many of which are probably encouraged, if not outright taught, by the Catholic church. But, this rather large book sees Pedro go on a mighty transformative journey. Not only does he gain skill, cunning, understanding of reality, and true loyalty, but he grows spiritually, as well. Now, he doesn't attain this all at once; his progress is gradual, realistically--after all, it's hard to forswear everything you've believed for 19 years. Does Pedro have a perfect understanding of everything by the end? Indeed, no; the book would have to be larger than the Bible to accomplish that. Still, I loved Pedro's character, and the realizations he does make.
After him, though, who? I loved Pedro's parents. Though they do things that were completely within cultural character--and therefore horrifying to the modern sensibilities--they keep the actual important traits, such as love, gratitude, and courage. The courage and loyalty of Catana is precious, though she doesn't have a whole lot of character development; it became evident to me eventually that Catana's character just isn't that important. She doesn't really have a character arc; she is merely someone who relates to Pedro in a special way. Then there's Luisa; again, not too much character development, other than a maturing in her way. She progressively becomes like her father, which is not a compliment. She sort of represents the Old World and its superficial status quo.
Now for the antagonists ... boy, there were enough. Shellabarger knows how to portray an evil man, but his real skill is presenting an evil man who wears sheep's clothing. Real life is crawling with them, yet too often we cannot recognize them (probably the reason so many Christian fiction books portray antagonists as ungodly, bumbling idiots rather than cunning foxes who successfully deceive innocent people). In this novel, it is sometimes hard to discern whether a person is actually evil, afraid of evil, or just totally buys the load of garbage told them by "the experts." (In this historical setting, they are religious experts, but of the same mold as today's experts.) Pedro's attitude toward De Silva has an interesting progression, not one that I wholeheartedly endorse, but one whose ending is mostly satisfactory.
The one major remaining character, Cortés, straddles the line between admirable and despicable (once he gave his last piece of advice, he landed in the latter category). His personality gives an interesting perspective of the historical attitude of "doing God's will." I thought one quote particularly striking after some theological discourse: "The prophet Daniel was forgotten." Shellabarger is not shy about pointing that out.
Plot: Ultimately a romance (from the man's perspective), but the book is loaded with pure adventure and life-threatening situations. Readers looking for romantic titillation will have to endure military campaigns, personal grudges, theological muses, true friendship-building, and other really interesting life experiences. The first part of the book has its slow points, but by the last 100 pages, there's no stopping. One wonders how a climax can top the story's previous near-death situations, but this one does a pretty good job.
Negative Content: As much as it pains me to provide a paragraph of criticism, I must mention the annoying amount of times God's name was used irreverently (mostly in Spanish, but not always). Other swearing is sprinkled throughout.
Faith Content: I wasn't expecting this to be a Christian novel, and maybe it's not, per se--there are, after all, plenty of unresolved Christian issues. However, the one major issue, the one that relates to the romance, is entirely Christian, and I loved Pedro for it. Though within the confines of Catholicism's imperfect customs, Pedro arrives at a thoroughly righteous conclusion. Pedro's Christian conviction is also emphasized multiple times, proving it is not just a setting-builder. Pedro also receives fairly good advice from Father Olmedo, and though he doesn't entirely obey it, the general command of "pray for those who persecute you" is promoted, in so many words, and is brought up again at the end.
The 500 pages contains plenty of fodder for theological discussion, on which I could dwell for many more paragraphs. But I think I covered the most noteworthy parts. Catholics are a sensitive subject for me, and I loved how they were portrayed in this book: the utter wickedness, the irreligious religiosity, and the honest faithfulness of the earnest, even in their ignorance. Let's not point out the specks in their eyes until we figure out all the planks in our own eyes.
April 4, 2020
This book was published in 1945 and something I gleaned from my grandmother's library, an author who had a pair of Gothic mysteries published during her lifetime. It's a sprawling epic that travels from Spain to the New World, revolves around Cortes and Montezuma, and then returns to Spain. It's reminiscent of Dumas's Three Musketeer novels in some respects, but with a different and somewhat darker flavor due to the involvement of the inquisition. I wasn't aware of Shellabarger before this and his work was quite an enjoyable discovery.
February 24, 2025
A tricky and difficult thing it is to get the pitch of the dialog correct in an adventure story such as Captain from Castille, which is set at the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. But Shellabarger does it. Through a sprinkling of archaic words, in English and Spanish, and every now and then lifting a line or two out of the timeline in order to narrate the history, he is then able to allow for the use of contemporary idioms that give contemporary (1945) readers easy access to the story. He also contrasts the dialog of the peasants and soldiers against that of the aristocracy through employing punchy, almost hard-boiled prose on the part of the former versus a more flowery and complex sentence structure for that of the latter. Mix these elements together and Shellabarger creates a strong sense of place and time in which to retell the story of Cortes' taking of Mexico and turning it into New Spain, all through the eyes of a minor aristocrat adventurer, Pedro de Varga.
Shellabarger also walks a fine line in coming to terms with the massacre of the Aztecs. He never ignores it or absolves it, but he does put it in the context of broader Indian wars among the various Mexican peoples. His story also has Cortes and his contingent of three hundred Spaniards as the essential core of an alliance, an ingredient that tips the balance of power against the Aztecs. The role of Malinche, however, seems a bit blurred and underrepresented. In fact, Shellabarger writes that Malinche was another name for Cortes. Was this so? Was not "Malinche" the Nahua woman who became Cortes' mistress, advisor, and indispensable translator?
Other characters draw upon a pastiche of people from Spanish history and literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Don Francisco de Varga, for example, not only carries import as Pedro's stern but just father, he also projects some of the more melancholy aspects of Cervantes' Don Quixote.
Among the Indians, there is a clear divide, with the Aztecs as the exemplars of the barbaric, the participants in human sacrifice and cannibalism. Meanwhile, the Zapotecs offer an alternative. They give Pedro and his party a place of refuge for a year, and Coatl, their chief, whom Pedro had once saved when he was a slave in Spain, demonstrates an almost Rousseauistic quality. He and his people live in the sky, in the highlands and do so peacefully and welcomingly, only needing to be on guard against the savage Aztecs. Coatl also provides Pedro with the hoard of gold that will empower him on his return to Spain.
There is a classic structure at work, here. Something in place since the telling of the Odyssey, where antagonists not only appear to be pushed aside serially but also introduce themselves as a long term threat, a murderer, for example, of Pedro's sister frustrates him at every minor and major turn in the story. Yet, of course, justice triumphs at the end. This is a novel published on the first day of the last year of World War II. Beneath its story is a subtext that endorses the American-led alliance of that war and its democratic and individualist values. Not easy, after all, when it's set among the bloody enslavement and mass killing of Indian peoples in the New World. Nonetheless, Shellabarger is writing about the creation of a better world, where class and (some) instances of racial divide will disappear.
I cannot end without mentioning the 1947 movie of the same name and adapted from this novel. It echoes all the same values and more. And it does it through an even neater trick than Shellabarger uses. Director Henry King and scriptwriter Lamar Trotti simply stop the story half way through the book, eliminating the bloody siege of Tenochitlan and its aftermath. The narration on screen intones the chance for a new world separate from the corruption and injustice of Europe. Seen against the vista of an advancing army, with the then still erupting Paricutin volcano only a few miles in the distance, the sequence shows the new Americans marching off into streaming rays of golden sunlight breaking through the clouds. There is no more pure moment of romantic adventure in any other movie ever brought to the screen.
Shellabarger also walks a fine line in coming to terms with the massacre of the Aztecs. He never ignores it or absolves it, but he does put it in the context of broader Indian wars among the various Mexican peoples. His story also has Cortes and his contingent of three hundred Spaniards as the essential core of an alliance, an ingredient that tips the balance of power against the Aztecs. The role of Malinche, however, seems a bit blurred and underrepresented. In fact, Shellabarger writes that Malinche was another name for Cortes. Was this so? Was not "Malinche" the Nahua woman who became Cortes' mistress, advisor, and indispensable translator?
Other characters draw upon a pastiche of people from Spanish history and literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Don Francisco de Varga, for example, not only carries import as Pedro's stern but just father, he also projects some of the more melancholy aspects of Cervantes' Don Quixote.
Among the Indians, there is a clear divide, with the Aztecs as the exemplars of the barbaric, the participants in human sacrifice and cannibalism. Meanwhile, the Zapotecs offer an alternative. They give Pedro and his party a place of refuge for a year, and Coatl, their chief, whom Pedro had once saved when he was a slave in Spain, demonstrates an almost Rousseauistic quality. He and his people live in the sky, in the highlands and do so peacefully and welcomingly, only needing to be on guard against the savage Aztecs. Coatl also provides Pedro with the hoard of gold that will empower him on his return to Spain.
There is a classic structure at work, here. Something in place since the telling of the Odyssey, where antagonists not only appear to be pushed aside serially but also introduce themselves as a long term threat, a murderer, for example, of Pedro's sister frustrates him at every minor and major turn in the story. Yet, of course, justice triumphs at the end. This is a novel published on the first day of the last year of World War II. Beneath its story is a subtext that endorses the American-led alliance of that war and its democratic and individualist values. Not easy, after all, when it's set among the bloody enslavement and mass killing of Indian peoples in the New World. Nonetheless, Shellabarger is writing about the creation of a better world, where class and (some) instances of racial divide will disappear.
I cannot end without mentioning the 1947 movie of the same name and adapted from this novel. It echoes all the same values and more. And it does it through an even neater trick than Shellabarger uses. Director Henry King and scriptwriter Lamar Trotti simply stop the story half way through the book, eliminating the bloody siege of Tenochitlan and its aftermath. The narration on screen intones the chance for a new world separate from the corruption and injustice of Europe. Seen against the vista of an advancing army, with the then still erupting Paricutin volcano only a few miles in the distance, the sequence shows the new Americans marching off into streaming rays of golden sunlight breaking through the clouds. There is no more pure moment of romantic adventure in any other movie ever brought to the screen.
September 5, 2020
The book follows the adventures of Pedro, a Spanish nobleman who takes part in Cortez' conquest of the Aztec Empire after fleeing a false accusation by the Inquisition.
Is Pedro actually the main character in this book? It's debatable. You can make a strong argument that Catana, a tavern wench, is actually the protagonist of this story. She's definitely the main reason I enjoyed it.
Both the Aztecs and the Spanish are portrayed more sympathetically than they deserve (IMO) and I don't think the book is trying particularly hard to be historically accurate. One thing which confused me was that the story uses "Malinche" as a term for Cortez but my understanding was that this was actually their nickname for Marina ??? I don't pretend to be knowledgeable about this history so maybe I misunderstood something here. The book did make me appreciate just how ballsy Cortez was to do what he did, holding the emperor hostage as a puppet king with a mere 400 soldiers, surrounded by enemies.
As a romance, this is quite good because you don't know what the ending is going to be. Is he going to choose the "madonna" character over the "whore" character, as many stories have done, or will it be the other way around? Is it going to be a harem story, where he gets a wife and a mistress?
The book has scenes which could only be written by a man. Like the scene at the end where his MOTHER is undressing his bride to the point that she is fully nude and making comments about how pert the bride's breasts are, describing her body in detail, you know, that kind of thing. I had to look it up to see if it was a legitimate historical thing, and apparently it's something called a 'bedding ceremony' and did happen but this whole scene is lol. There is also a spanking scene, very old school, can you guess this book was written in the 1940s?
This is a longggg book and I skimmed it a lot, but I will still give it 3 stars because I liked the story and some of the characters.
Is Pedro actually the main character in this book? It's debatable. You can make a strong argument that Catana, a tavern wench, is actually the protagonist of this story. She's definitely the main reason I enjoyed it.
Both the Aztecs and the Spanish are portrayed more sympathetically than they deserve (IMO) and I don't think the book is trying particularly hard to be historically accurate. One thing which confused me was that the story uses "Malinche" as a term for Cortez but my understanding was that this was actually their nickname for Marina ??? I don't pretend to be knowledgeable about this history so maybe I misunderstood something here. The book did make me appreciate just how ballsy Cortez was to do what he did, holding the emperor hostage as a puppet king with a mere 400 soldiers, surrounded by enemies.
As a romance, this is quite good because you don't know what the ending is going to be. Is he going to choose the "madonna" character over the "whore" character, as many stories have done, or will it be the other way around? Is it going to be a harem story, where he gets a wife and a mistress?
The book has scenes which could only be written by a man. Like the scene at the end where his MOTHER is undressing his bride to the point that she is fully nude and making comments about how pert the bride's breasts are, describing her body in detail, you know, that kind of thing. I had to look it up to see if it was a legitimate historical thing, and apparently it's something called a 'bedding ceremony' and did happen but this whole scene is lol. There is also a spanking scene, very old school, can you guess this book was written in the 1940s?
This is a longggg book and I skimmed it a lot, but I will still give it 3 stars because I liked the story and some of the characters.
June 14, 2021
This is supposed to be the best of the four historical novels by the Author. I feel any one of them could give a run for its money. Pedro de Vargas, young son of a great cavalier noble, falls foul of the Inquisition and Spanish law and makes a run for the new lands across the Atlantic with his sweetheart Catana Perez and friend, Juan Garcia. They join Hernan Cortes as he sails with his small army for the conquest of Mexico. The Author sticks close to the historical truth like he does in his other books, as Cortes with his Indian allies advances towards Tenochtitlan, lured by reports of unlimited gold. The Aztec Emperor is held hostage by him as Cortes tries to subdue the warlike people. The massacres and battles are graphically drawn as Pedro and his friends are captured and made ready for sacrifice to the Gods. They are quietly smuggled away by Coatl, a native chief, Pedro had helped to escape in Spain. He succeeds in rejoining Cortes who deputes him to intercede with the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles, who is holding court in Valladoloid, Spain. There, Pedro again encounters his old nemesis Diego de Silva, who is now a favourite of the Emperor. The book builds itself up to a crescendo of action and suspense as Pedro battles for his life and credibility. The characters are clearly drawn mostly in black and white. The Author knows how to keep the action going and his descriptive prose stands out. The book was a bestseller 50 years ago and made into a famous movie then. It still remains fresh to the reader, who will find it unputdownable as the action charges along.
July 19, 2020
What a great story! What an exhausting journey for the young hildago. From Old Spain to the New World and back. Man Plans and God Laughs. Evil men cause pain and create opportunities unknown until later. Acts of kindness are repaid. Betrayal and disappointment are balanced with happiness & success. Insightful priests, greedy soldiers, scornful & savage Indians, and loyal friends.
Loved this adventure story and the characters involved. Author Shellabager draws out in great detail an epic story from strong ancient roots in the old world to fresh cutting out of their place in the unknown vast jungle of Mexico. Characters are of a wide variety and fleshed out vividly. Shellabarger makes the secondary & supporting characters interesting - the duenna, a page, a doorman, a cacique, Captain serving an arrest warrant.
Love older books from the 40s & 50s. Red leather cover, with an embossed sword, beautiful maps on the inside covers, and an dust cover torn, but artfully illustrating our hero and a suggestion of the journey. Purchased at an antique store, off a $1.00 cart full of similar opportunities. Another book rescued and a good summer read. Next, I’ll watch the movie made w/Tyrone Power, and watch for more books from this author, who wrote under different names.
Loved this adventure story and the characters involved. Author Shellabager draws out in great detail an epic story from strong ancient roots in the old world to fresh cutting out of their place in the unknown vast jungle of Mexico. Characters are of a wide variety and fleshed out vividly. Shellabarger makes the secondary & supporting characters interesting - the duenna, a page, a doorman, a cacique, Captain serving an arrest warrant.
Love older books from the 40s & 50s. Red leather cover, with an embossed sword, beautiful maps on the inside covers, and an dust cover torn, but artfully illustrating our hero and a suggestion of the journey. Purchased at an antique store, off a $1.00 cart full of similar opportunities. Another book rescued and a good summer read. Next, I’ll watch the movie made w/Tyrone Power, and watch for more books from this author, who wrote under different names.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 28, 2017
Historical fiction taking place during the 1520s in Spain and "New Spain". We see the Inquisition and Cortez and Montezuma.
Intense adventure. Good and bad characters. Character growth. Swashbuckling good story. At several points I was not happy about where events were leading, but the end result was a big sigh of relief.
Not surprisingly, events are shown from the Spanish perspective. The characters say all the we-are-the-godly and they-are-barbarians and why-don't-they-just-surrender-so-we-don't-have-to-kill-them stuff. Basically, very offensive to those of us today who realize just how wrong it is to "convert" others by force, etc. However, I don't think the author was writing from the perspective that he endorsed Cortez et al, and he certainly wasn't writing to expose the wrong that was done. However, a modern reader can see the story pretty clearly.
I'm probably not making much sense. It was a good story, showing history as it was.
Intense adventure. Good and bad characters. Character growth. Swashbuckling good story. At several points I was not happy about where events were leading, but the end result was a big sigh of relief.
Not surprisingly, events are shown from the Spanish perspective. The characters say all the we-are-the-godly and they-are-barbarians and why-don't-they-just-surrender-so-we-don't-have-to-kill-them stuff. Basically, very offensive to those of us today who realize just how wrong it is to "convert" others by force, etc. However, I don't think the author was writing from the perspective that he endorsed Cortez et al, and he certainly wasn't writing to expose the wrong that was done. However, a modern reader can see the story pretty clearly.
I'm probably not making much sense. It was a good story, showing history as it was.
January 3, 2020
my boat Catana was named for the heroine of this 1940s swashbuckling best-seller (later made into a Tyrone Power movie), so I couldn't wait to order a copy & start reading. It's completely over the top: a historical (welcome to the sixteenth century) novel following the wide-eyed, handsome, brave young red-haired Pedro de Vargas from his native Spain to the New World, first Cuba then Mexico, accompanied by the fiesty Catana (descibed on the book jacket as a "supple dancer," but one who "could throw a knife like a gipsy, could swear like a man" -- awesome!) to do battle with the evils of the Inquisition and various other ne'er-do-wells. I've only just started reading as I write this, and finding it both hilarious and totally captivating. Swashbuckling, indeed! A wild ride. And glad my boat has such a great story behind her name. Go girl! (7/03)
October 13, 2017
A fun read, though no one likes what happened to the Aztecs. Then again, what race has ever stopped at eliminating another in the name of religion or some other cause usually inspired by greed. And greed, corruption and roguery abound in this tale of early 16th century Spain and the exploits of Cortes.
Woven in amongst the evil threads is a delightful love story. One that had me rooting for the couple right through the last pages of the book.
Woven in amongst the evil threads is a delightful love story. One that had me rooting for the couple right through the last pages of the book.
February 9, 2022
Historical fiction taking place during the 1520s in Spain and "New Spain". Majority of the story revolves around inquisition, Cortez's conquistadors, Montezuma and Aztec people etc. It kinda reminds of Winnetou in terms of adventure, although it has happier ending.
Although a bit predictable at certain points - great read in general, I really enjoyed this one. Haven't read Prince of Foxes, but sure will do after this one.
Although a bit predictable at certain points - great read in general, I really enjoyed this one. Haven't read Prince of Foxes, but sure will do after this one.
August 20, 2025
I read the original 1945 edition. A friend loaned it to me as I wanted to read a book about Spain. It is a long book which I tend not to enjoy. I did enjoy the writing in this book. Shellabarger includes a few scenes that offer comic relief in a story heavy on war. It also renewed my thinking about how much war would not happen if wealthy, powerful nations and or people wouldn't constantly need more. More money, more land etc.
April 29, 2023
A very well written book, one of my new personal favorites. Pedro de Vargas is a very fleshed out character going on many arcs and a great choice for the protagonist. The story moves along very smoothly, with only a few times it going to fast or slow. It also shows just the right amount of detail in some scenes, and the chapters in New Spain are by far the best. Would recommend
March 13, 2024
A classic
I can't believe I had never heard of this book before. Such a marvelous historic novel. I didn't know how big a part Spain played in exploring and settling the New World. Although I should have. This book was so satisfying, history, romance, intrigue, swashbuckling, family dynamics, the horror of the Spanish Inquisition, rivalry, chivalry, it had it all.
I can't believe I had never heard of this book before. Such a marvelous historic novel. I didn't know how big a part Spain played in exploring and settling the New World. Although I should have. This book was so satisfying, history, romance, intrigue, swashbuckling, family dynamics, the horror of the Spanish Inquisition, rivalry, chivalry, it had it all.
August 31, 2019
Another great book by Shellabarger. I preferred Prince of Foxes, but this is a close second. Creates great questions about the retelling of history, racism, religious crusades and conquistadors. Definitely recommended historical romance fiction for fans of Dumas.
April 2, 2019
Great escapist fare.
November 21, 2019
I have loved this book for years.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews