Sidi: un Relato de Frontera /Sidi: a Story of Border Towns

Sidi es una historia de exilio y frontera, de lucha por sobrevivir en un territorio hostil, indeciso y de fuerzas encontradas. Narra la aventura de un guerrero que, obligado al destierro, cabalga para buscarse la vida con una hueste que lo respeta y lo sigue. Su carácter y sus hechos de armas lo convertirán en una auténtica leyenda viva.

No tenía patria ni rey, sólo un puñado de hombres fieles.
No tenían hambre de gloria, sólo hambre.
Así nace un mito.
Así se cuenta una leyenda.
 
«El arte del mando era tratar con la naturaleza humana, y él había dedicado su vida a aprenderlo. Colgó la espada del arzón, palmeó el cuello cálido del animal y echó un vistazo alrededor: sonidos metálicos, resollar de monturas, conversaciones en voz baja. Aquellos hombres olían a estiércol de caballo, cuero, aceite de armas, sudor y humo de leña. Rudos en las formas, extraordinariamente complejos en instintos e intuiciones, eran guerreros y nunca habían pretendido ser otra cosa. Resignados ante el azar, fatalistas sobre la vida y la muerte, obedecían de modo natural sin que la imaginación les jugara malas pasadas. Rostros curtidos de viento, frío y sol, arrugas en torno a los ojos incluso entre los más jóvenes, manos encallecidas de empuñar armas y pelear. Jinetes que se persignaban antes de entrar en combate y vendían su vida o muerte por ganarse el pan. Profesionales de la frontera, sabían luchar con crueldad y morir con sencillez. No eran malos hombres, concluyó. Ni tampoco ajenos a la compasión. Sólo gente dura en un mundo duro.»
 
Como ya ocurriera con novelas anteriores como Hombres buenos o El club Dumas, en Sidi Arturo Pérez-Reverte sumerge al lector en la Historia, uno de los temas más celebrados de su universo literario.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

Sidi is a story of exile and border towns, of the struggles to survive in a hostile and wavering territory full of opposing forces. It narrates the adventures of a warrior who, forced into exile, rides as a means to survive; by his side is a troop that respects and follows him. His strong character and his military victories have made him an authentic living legend.
 
He had neither a country nor a king, only a handful of loyal men.
They were not hungry for glory; they were just hungry.
This is how a myth is born.
This is how a legend is told.
 
“Being in command called for having to deal with human nature, and he had dedicated his life to learning how to do just that. He hung the sword from the saddle, patted the animal's warm neck, and took a look around: sounds of metal, wheezing horse mounts, soft conversations. Those men smelled of horse manure, leather, gun oil, sweat, and woodfire smoke. They were rough in their ways and extraordinarily complex when it came to instincts and intuitions; they were warriors and had never pretended to be anything other than that. Accepting of what chance could bring, fatalists about life and death, their nature was to obey without letting imagination play any tricks on them. Their faces were hardened by wind, the cold, and the sun; there were wrinkles around their eyes even among the youngest; and their hands were calloused by weapons. They were riders who would say a prayer before entering combat as they sold their lives to earn a living. Professional guardians of a border, they knew how to fight with cruelty and die with simplicity. They were not bad men, he concluded, nor were they insensitive to compassion. They were only hard people living in a hard world.”
 
As previously done in novels like Good Men or The Club Dumas, in Sidi Arturo Pérez-Reverte once again immerses his readers in History, one of the most notable themes of his literary universe.