It's difficult to believe that The Cavalier in the Yellow Doublet (Plume, 2010) is the fifth book in Arturo Perez-Reverte's Captain Alatriste series - but it's true, nonetheless. This time our hero and his faithful sidekick find themselves caught up in a plot against the king (oh, no, wait, that's every Captain Alatriste book ...). Kidding aside, I'm sorry to say that the books do seem to be getting a little bit formulaic, but perhaps that's the point.
Slightly slower-paced than the last couple in the series (most of the action is concentrated in the last twenty pages of the book, with just a few spurts of activity - and blood - scattered through the first 300 pages), this book doesn't add too much to our understanding of Captain Alatriste (except to gain a slightly better sense of just how stubborn he is and how brutal he can be), but we do learn a bit more about our narrator, the young and still-smitten Inigo (though as this book closes there's some question about just how far he'll carry that particular torch).
Worth reading if you're into the series.
