Rating: 
Summary: the fencing master
Review: Perez achieves the near unachievable--contemporary writing, depth of understanding, universal archetypes--a page-turner for literaria. If you enjoy wit, a literate style, pace accompanied by depth, don't miss Perez's books. This may well be he least enjoyed by American audiences, but having lived in Spain for some time, the insights to the Spanish psyche, I believe, are the most astute and revealing in, "The Fencing Master." I have enjoyed all of his books--but this one the most so far.
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Summary: The Woman and the Sword
Review: Again Perez-Reverte has created a wonderful novel full of creativity and rich in history. During a time when chivalry and honor are at their end, a single man exists that still remembers and lives in the times of the past. Unfortunately this man is forced to live in the times of the present by unknowingly have been a part of a plot that includes murder and the monarchy of Spain. The cunning and charming exploits of a woman, a woman who has the knowledge of the sword, are enough for him to reveal one of the most powerful and secret sword thrusts known to the art. With a surprising end and the discovery that the fencing master has been searching for all his life, this tale ends with a calm and serene victory over evil and fencing.
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Summary: Competent European Mystery
Review: This mystery, its characters, and the descriptions of time and place were spellbinding in a way i've not found recently. I only wish I spoke/read Spanish because i'm sure it is even more luscious in its original language. The fencing details are amazing and, although I don't fence, took me on every turn and thrust. En Gaurde!
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Summary: the Art of Fencing
Review: Everyone in Madrid in the torrid fall of 1868 is discussing political plots and revolution except for Don Jaime. He is a fencing master and man of honor, an anachronism. For years he has been working on a Treatise on the Art of Fencing, the heart of which is his perfection of the unstoppable thrust. He is approached one day by a beautiful and mysterious woman with a scar at the corner of her mouth that hints at dark violence. She asks the maestro to teach her the unstoppable thrust. Even though Dona Adela de Otero's weapons of charm and elegance are formidable, Don Jaime declines. But he is entirely unprepared for the unhurried, sure, and inexplicable movements that follow. Soon he finds himself involved in a plot that includes seduction, politics, secret documents, and murder. Other Titles;THE FLANDERS PANEL,THE CLUB DUMAS,THE SEVILLE COMMUNION
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Summary: From film to book
Review: I had seen the lush and stunning film "The Fencing Master" at the Palm Springs Film Festival a number of years ago with English subtitles. I hoped it would be picked up for distribution in the US, but of course, it did not. The number of foreign films purchased for distribution in the US has dropped horrifically. Now only those with potential BLOCKBUSTER status are even considered and they are not always the most well-made and thought-provoking films. In any case, I was delighted to find the paper back novel at an airport bookstore last fall and devoured it. If there is an audience for the novel, surely there would be one, if not for the film theatrical release, then at least for the video (with subtitles and NOT DUBBED). In any case, I recommend the novel highly. The ambience of 19th century Spain is beautifully conveyed, and the character of the aging fencing master is a wonderful study of a man left behind by the progress of history. To summarize the story in a couple of sentences might make it sound like a lurid romance. But in fact it is quite anti-romantic but at the same time vibrant and passionate. And I wish someone who knows anything about how such things work, could prod or prompt the machinery to deliver the video to the US.
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Summary: Fantastic novel!
Review: This book is just fantastic. It reads quick and makes you think about a lot of circumstances and facts that could had happened or actually happened... who knows. The author won't explain everything, it will let you fill in the gaps, if you may. The novel tells us about classic values and different generations. Also about how people with the same learning values take different paths in life and apply those values in different ways. Short, quick to the point and with a fast end, good to the author style, to make you think. It is a great book and anybody will enjoy it.
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Summary: Hovering between mystery and a broader panorama
Review: This provocative, skillfully written book by Perez-Riverte shows a writer hovering between a number of genre - the mystery novel, the historical novel, and an urge for something more. He is a journalist by "trade", and that shows in his research - here, an extraordinary and nuanced knowledge of fencing, Spanish and 19th century, as well as Spanish political history. The prose is often lambent, overwhelming the storyline, the usual devices and limitations of mystery novels and historical novels. Those who read it as either of these will be - and by the reviews here, were - disappointed. that is understandable, but unwarranted. This novel of his is different, more than that, but still tethered to those genres, trying to stretch past them but confusedly not quite achieving that. In Perez-Riverte, in this first novel of his I've read, there seems a talent not unlike P.D. James, a prose talent arching over the mystery genre. And an intellectual curiosity that touches the same world as, let's say, Byatt. It is often hypnotic, and it is a puzzle. But in a most favorable way.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but shallow
Review: While I enjoyed reading this book, I found it to be extremely shallow. Neither the political background, nor the personalities of the characters are developed fully enough to understand them. The Fencing master is obviously a man of honor--we learn that from page one, but we do not learn anything more about him till the end of the book. The character repeats himself over and over again, until he looks and sounds pathetic. The mysterious woman remains mysterious till the end, making her a trite and not very original melodramatic character. The political conspiracy is a joke.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the author's best try
Review: For a little more than the first half of this book the author uses arcane fencing terminology as part of the story telling and every time he does it slows the pace like a tap on the brakes. Also, during the same first half, there is alot of discussion of Spanish late 19th centry politics which again slows the pace. At the point when it cant get any slower, the story really takes off with murder and unexpected mystery. It has twist ending similar in style to The Seville Communiion also by this author, and a better book. The original writing was in Spanish for the readers of Spain, who are more political by nature, who probably found the first half politics more interesting. The second half of the book makes the whole worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Not his best
Review: The intrigue of the book is the glimpse into a world of the past that it gives. One reads of a Spain that, though struggling, still remenbers a past of honor and style. While that picture is obviously given through 20th century eyes, it still holds some wonder. And that is the stong point of the book. Perez-Reverte's prose captures the reader in a way that makes his books entertaining and stimulating. Don Jaime is the aged fencing master who lives a lonely life teaching the brats of the aristocracy the basic of the art of fencing. A new and quite captivating student changes his life forever. While all the background one reads about the fencing master is interesting as setup, one is left wondering for the first part of the book where the mystery is. Then all of a sudden, in the later part of the book, the action, the mystery, and the conclusion are all sprung in such rapid succession that one hardly has time to get emotionally involved in any of it. And the gruesome ending then only leaves one with a bitter taste. While I wouldn't say that I received no enjoyment from The Fencing Master, it is not one of the better books I have read, and is definately not Perez-Reverte's best. I respect the scene that he was trying to create, but it just was not fleshed out enough. I also do not think that the whole sexual tension drama was realistic. Perhaps as a woman I can never understand, but what I read was completely a male fantasy story which was unlike anything that would ever really happen. In conclusion, read the book because it does have its good parts, but don't expect too much of it.
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