Historical Fictionistas discussion

I haven't gotten into the Alatriste series, but I've given 5 stars to Pérez-Reverte's other works: The Flanders Panel, The Club Dumas, and The Fencing Master.

I have only read The Nautical Chart but I thought it was a lot of fun. From my review: The opening lines immediately recall those of Moby Dick: "We could call him Ishmael, but in truth his name is Coy. I met him in the next-to-last act of this story, when he was on the verge of becoming just one more shipwrecked sailor floating on his coffin as the whaler Rachel looked for lost sons." There is not only the reference to the famous opening line "Call me Ishmael" but we also have a reference to Queequeg's coffin which figures prominently in Melville's tale. Like Moby Dick, The Nautical Chart is a tale of obsession. Tanger obsessed with finding the treasure of the sunken Dei Gloria, and Coy obsessed with Tanger, despite the underlying currents that she will probably lead him to his death. There are literary and pop-culture references galore: The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Odyssey, TinTin's Adventures, The Da Vinci Code, Master and Commander, Lord Jim, The Old Man and the Sea, and Treasure Island, to name a few ... and it was mildly amusing to pick those out. This was an enjoyable tale, not too bogged down with nautical terminology, but somewhat predictable. The adventure is more on an intellectual level than physical, with good characterizations that border on caricatures. But what's not to like about an evil, Argentinian dwarf henchman with froglike eyes? I was also amused by Coy's name. I don't know if this was intentional, being translated from Spanish, but he is anything but coy, being pretty simple, direct and even aggressive in his approach to life and love. The ending isn't much of a surprise, it's the journey getting there that is the story.

I've just started reading his novel The Queen of the South which has been sitting on my bookshelf for too long. I'm not far in but I'm enjoying it already. Will have to read the other books mentioned in this thread :)

I read some of his books in college for a Spanish class I took. I thought they were okay, but I wasn't thrilled with his work.