#37 - The Nautical Chart by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Read because: I'm a Perez-Reverte fan.
Traded through: www.bookins.com
Rating: 6 out of 10
Synopsis: A treasure hunt for a Jesuit ship sunk by pirates off the coast of Spain is the plot on which Perez-Reverte's new novel turns, but a love story is the real heart of this nicely crafted, carefully told adventure. A suspended sailor happens on a maritime auction in Barcelona, where he meets the beautiful Tanger Soto, a museum curator whose winning bid buys her a 17th-century atlas that may reveal the final resting place of the Dei Gloria. Coy, the sailor, is totally smitten, so it's no surprise that he signs on to help Tanger track the sunken ship to its grave in waters he's sailed since childhood. Enlisting the aid of a diver friend, Coy and Tanger stay a few steps ahead of the crooked salvagers who've been trying to get the atlas, outmaneuvering the attempts on their lives and the efforts to keep them from the treasure.
My Review: I felt like this book moved a little more slowly than his others, but it was still a really well-crafted book. Perez-Reverte has a knack for weaving together both good plots and good characters. I wish I could have read it in its original Spanish because I think the English is great and I'd like to see how it started. This is the first book I've read in ages about a treasure hunt and although it's a really old plot device, PR made it seem new. The characters were fresh, although I thought the main character was a little uneccessarily angry sometimes. (Dude, calm down.) The girl was one of those girls who feels like she's been written by a guy, which always bugs me a bit. Still, I was entertained and I really liked how it ended. (Finished 5/29/09)
Traded through: www.bookins.com
Rating: 6 out of 10
Synopsis: A treasure hunt for a Jesuit ship sunk by pirates off the coast of Spain is the plot on which Perez-Reverte's new novel turns, but a love story is the real heart of this nicely crafted, carefully told adventure. A suspended sailor happens on a maritime auction in Barcelona, where he meets the beautiful Tanger Soto, a museum curator whose winning bid buys her a 17th-century atlas that may reveal the final resting place of the Dei Gloria. Coy, the sailor, is totally smitten, so it's no surprise that he signs on to help Tanger track the sunken ship to its grave in waters he's sailed since childhood. Enlisting the aid of a diver friend, Coy and Tanger stay a few steps ahead of the crooked salvagers who've been trying to get the atlas, outmaneuvering the attempts on their lives and the efforts to keep them from the treasure.
My Review: I felt like this book moved a little more slowly than his others, but it was still a really well-crafted book. Perez-Reverte has a knack for weaving together both good plots and good characters. I wish I could have read it in its original Spanish because I think the English is great and I'd like to see how it started. This is the first book I've read in ages about a treasure hunt and although it's a really old plot device, PR made it seem new. The characters were fresh, although I thought the main character was a little uneccessarily angry sometimes. (Dude, calm down.) The girl was one of those girls who feels like she's been written by a guy, which always bugs me a bit. Still, I was entertained and I really liked how it ended. (Finished 5/29/09)
