I have used not only the texts of the Cid, but also all the maxims of Napoleon on command, The art of the war of Sun Tzu, On the war of Karl von Clausewitz, books on command theory. How to handle men, how to convince them, how to create an image, a brand. What does your private Cid have? This book is a leadership manual, a self-help book. How much time did he spend? In writing it, a lifetime physically, a year and a half eight hours a day. How a child of exiled Castile becomes a legend in a year.

I have tried to explain his moral, physical, valuable, political ability traits. The history of the Cid is very told so I decided to tell its first year of exile, when it is not yet the Cid. How did he come up with the book? Seeing the John Ford Cavalry Trilogy I wondered how he would tell our border. Battles, duels, pride, an affair of the warrior of Vivar (Burgos) and detailed descriptions of armor and customs spice up a novel of intrigue and passion. The book, with an initial circulation of 145,000 copies, addresses loyalty, honor, knowing how to die in battle and phrases like 'against the hugs of fate, no talisman has power' or 'often defeat comes when one feels inclined to do only what he can ». With a handful of the faithful, the infanzón becomes a mercenary and offers its hosts to the count of Barcelona, Berenguer Remont II, as well as to the Arab king of Zaragoza, Mutamán Benhud. He has focused on his first year of exile from Castile by order of King Alfonso VI after having sworn that he had nothing to do with the death of his brother, Sancho II: the oath of Santa Gadea. A frontier story (Alfaguara), how do you imagine a hero like El Cid, far from Franco's vision and the Matamoros sambenito. Arturo Pérez-Reverte recreates in his new book, Sidi.

Sidi by Arturo Pérez-Reverte