For years I kept meaning to get to this hefty classic, but never had the time. Nor, thanks to school, the energy to read anything voluntarily that was so long. But when I finally made myself do it, I was letting myself in for a real treat.

Classic it may be, but this book is full of fun and action -- and did I mention fun. I loved it even more than Dickens.

I knew surprisingly little about this, but picked it up for £2 in a second hand book shop. It was great, a really nice combination of swashbuckling adventure, political scheming, and a really solid romance stiry in there too. Very easy to read given it is well old, and the plot ticks along at a really good rate :thumbup:

8.5/10

loved it. Dumas is hilarious, and the leads do battle with a truly evil foe. missed a five star rating because a lot of the implications of the various romantic entanglements went over my head.

I really enjoyed this book, it's great for those who enjoy action and plenty of dueling and swordplay. Once you get into it, the action picks up, I promise.

Check out my video review here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4MrZfzNC7c

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. Great storytelling - now I understand why there are a hundred movie versions.

D-ELIGHTFUL. An incredibly delightful romp through 17th century France full of action, adventure, swashbuckling handsome neer-do-wells, impenetrable mistresses, femme fatales. Dumas was the master of the serial. I can very well imagine the masses of France/Paris clamoring for the next day's paper, just to find out what happened to D'Artagnan and his friends. Clearly an undisputed master, he knew what his audience wanted and was quick to give it.

I would really recommend this to everyone - the size may be intimidating, but it's a very fast & easy read, with some pages just full of lines of dialogue (Dumas got paid by the line) and really disarming humor! One chapter in particular, #26 The Thesis of Aramis is just balls-to-the-walls HILARIOUS. I couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity. Here is my favorite paragraph for you to feast on:

D'Artagnan was beginning to lose his wits. He seemed to be in the company of madmen, and to be in danger himself of becoming as mad as those he was listening to. Only, he was necessitated to hold his tongue, from not understanding the language in which they talked.

PACING LIKE LORD BUCKINGHAM'S HORSES
The action and pacing were incredible and interesting in the first half, especially with the survival trope of a group of friends losing members to foes one by one. Very exciting business. But when it all wraps up and the kids go to La Rochelle, the narrative fails to sustain the action a bit. And when the ending chapters focused on Milady's predicament instead of the friends, ugh. I like Milady but I had to steel myself.

ALL FOR ONE, ONE FOR ALL
Of course, this was a classic tale of man-bonding, this broship of the ages, this OT3 + 1 (= OT4) was the highlight of the book, such that the Shinichiro Watanabe ending was really bittersweet (and rushed). I was surprised at how young Aramis was, I thought he was as old as Athos. (I remain disappointed that Aramis was NOT A WOMAN, as the old Studio Gallop anime led the young me to believe.) I wish we knew more about Milady and I wish

Constance hadn't died

. Sigh.

TRANSLATION DECEPTION
Imagine my surprise to find out that saucy details such as D'Artagnan leaping off Milady's bed stark naked were left out by this conscientious translator with Victorian sensibilities. I was deceived! I thought I was reading some kind of courtly love when this was FRANCE!!! I need a more faithful copy!

Placeholder image:

fantastic - Alexandre Dumas you are remembered!

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (1994)

A schlocky, hilariously entertaining delight. Unless the translation I have, by Lord Sudley, does a huge injustice to Dumas' prose, Dumas is a better storyteller than a writer. But what a storyteller!

Some wonderful moments: d'Artagnan arriving in Paris with nothing but his yellow horse, a few crowns, and the advice his father gave him ("Don't sell the horse"), and promptly selling the horse; d'Artagnan, on his first day in Paris, getting caught in three quarrels and arranging three duels for the following afternoon; and the whole ridiculous diamond-tags-precipitated procession to London, with musketeers peeling off like cyclists as they're felled by would-be assassins.

Speaking of which, the body count in this book is very high but in such a cartoony "Kapow!" kind of way that it's not at all disturbing (which is perhaps in itself disturbing). At one point after running someone through with his sword d'Aragnan does reflect for an entire paragraph on the "strange destiny which governs men, driving them to kill each other in the service of strangers," but he snaps out of that easily enough and dives back into the story.

Other "sources of tension in the text" (die, inner English major, die) include the dearth of female characters of any complexity and the characterization of Lady de Winter. But Dumas is a novelist, not a professor of literature, and I think it's safe to say that his book is the better (or at least more entertaining) for it.

DNF
I just wasn't in the mood to read this book, maybe I'll try it again later.