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A review by e_bibliophile
The Red Sphinx, or, The Comte de Moret: A Sequel to The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
5.0
For the love of Dumas:
[b:The Three Musketeers|3473426|The Three Musketeers|Alexandre Dumas|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348006102s/3473426.jpg|1263212] is my third read for [a:Alexandre Dumas|4785|Alexandre Dumas|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1279049943p2/4785.jpg]. This wonderful man never lets me down. My pleasure in reading his works is guaranteed. I bet that the greater mass of the world's population is acquainted with "The Three Musketeers" without reading the book and perhaps without knowing those three guys by their names. How's that even possible? Once upon a time, in the nearby French land, the prosperous universe blessed humanity with an awesome trendsetter; his name is Alexandre Dumas. He created catchy characters that were recycled year after year. Words fail me to express enough how much I adore this man.
♥♥♥ My beloved Dumas poses like a boss ♥♥♥
Fun facts:
• Did you know that the protagonist is not considered one of the famous three Musketeers referred to in the title?
• His name is D'Artagnan. Pronunciation: Dar-tan-yan. YEAH I did my research *rolls-eyes*.
• Anyways, d'Artagnan joins Athos, Porthos, and Aramis "The Three Musketeers" later on.
• [b:The Three Musketeers|3473426|The Three Musketeers|Alexandre Dumas|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348006102s/3473426.jpg|1263212] (the book) is actually the first installment in a series called "The D'Artagnan Romances" which includes [b:The Man in the Iron Mask|54499|The Man in the Iron Mask (The D'Artagnan Romances, #3)|Alexandre Dumas|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348990897s/54499.jpg|2971402] and others.
• And NO, it's NOT a children's book! KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN!
• Dumas's humor is the right dose; neither silly nor trying too hard. He manages to make you laugh in some occasions. Still, it's NOT a humor book.
The setting and characters:
The events of the book start taking place in France in the 17th century, and to be more specific, in the reign of Louis XIII (circa 1625). As per his literate habit, Dumas mishmashed real historical figures with fictional characters. The main fictional characters are "the awesome bad guys" in our modern standards. The supporting fictional characters play a significant role to move the plot.
Some of the real historical figures:
• Louis XIII ~ Aka Louis the Just. King of France. Cardinal-hater. Hobbies: hunting and gambling.
• Cardinal Richelieu ~ Chief Minister of France. King-hater. Hobbies: plotting to embarrass the King.
• Anne of Austria ~ Queen of France. Wife of King Louis XIII.Unhappily-married. Involved in an affair with a foreign royal .
• Duke of Buckingham ~ The handsome admirer of Anne.I suspect that he was into BDSM fantasies, taking the role of the salve, of course! He literally worships Anne. AND he closed the ports between England and France which means war, ONLY to impress his mistress! What a jerk !
The main fictional characters:
• D'Artagnan ~ Musketeer-wannabe. Prudent. Brave. Thief. Liar. Always ready to fight even for corrupted purposes.Head-over-heels-at-first-sight-lover. Rapist in the most awkward manner I've ever read in literature .
• Porthos ~ Fashionist (is it the proper word for a male fashionista?). Vain. Liar. Occasionally slow-witted.Sugar-mama-dependent when it comes to cash-flow .
• Aramis ~ Password: handkerchief. Likes poetry. Priest-wannabe. Liar. Sometimes tends to be pacific despite being ready tokill over a handkerchief issue. Maybe he is the only character out of the 4 who treats women with respect .
• Athos ~ Introvert. Taciturn. Liar.Incognito-aristocrat . Alcoholic but surprisingly manages to be sober enough. I was kinda drawn to him in the beginning then I couldn't stand his cruelty and tendency to kill others with cold blood .
The supporting fictional characters:
• Madame Bonacieux ~ Aka Constance. The pretty and totally devoted seamstress of Queen Anne.D'Artagnan's main squeeze until she disappears .
• Monsieur Bonacieux ~ Mercer. Constance's husband. Old enough to be her father. Cheap. Coward.He betrays his wife to become the Cardinal's spy .
• Milady ~ Totally gorgeous. Sexy. Seductive. Intimidating. I've never admired the intelligence of a female villain as much as hers. She's the definition of a badass.
Duels here.. Duels there.. Duels everywhere!
What strikes me in those duels is how the fellows had the civility of gentlemen in their speech during their quarrels. The conversation would go like.. "Pardon me, Monsieur. I'm about to beat the crap out of you in a second and might even kill you. Kindly be prepared but let's have a buddy-to-buddy chitchat first. Dude, you rock! I'm a huge fan. I think we would totally be BFFs in other circumstances but a duel is a duel, and I already gave my word of honor to stick my sword in your...!" Okay, I assume that you get the picture.
More juicy content:
It's violent (again, keep away from children). Mysterious villains keep appearing and disappearing like ghosts. Love steams the air and hypocrisy poisons it. The Bastille makes a shy appearance. Royal scandals and political conspiracies are involved. Thrill and excitement dominate the pages. It's the kind of books which makes you eager to know what happens next and feel sorry if you had to put it down when life interrupts you, at least this is how it made me feel. As hot as it gets in the first half, spicy stuff really kick in in the second half, thanks to Milady. Highly recommended!
★★★★★ = It was awesome!
Skimming through the negative 1-star reviews here in Goodreads, some readers complained about how the 4 main characters are basically bad guys pictured as heroes. I agree that they are not our typical heroes. I find them portraying a big slice of real human beings with flaws. Humans are not angels and protagonists should not always be perfect and likable. The world is not entirely made of role models. Who doesn't have a dark side? What Dumas did was portraying people. The narrator was obviously "Team Musketeers", he praised their horrible wrong deeds and justified them under the words "honor" and "revenge" but don't forget that the narrator is supposed to be human too. I try to be objective as much as I can when I review. I may not agree with the protagonists' policy on justice and may even despise them, but this book has a fantastic story, a great plot, an exciting writing-style, and an awesome villain.. Would you ask for more?
Dumas till the end:
I think that Dumas is a genius. He created such interesting characters with real human personalities, full of flaws, and extremely interesting and fun to read. He is able to make you empathize with a villain, Milady, who is molded with lethal traits. Sometimes I wondered what was the real intention of Dumas when he made the 4 main characters do such terrible things, did he do that in purpose? I bet he did. And I imagine him being seduced by his beautiful monstrous Milady while writing her. Final thanks must be paid to the Translator who has to be acknowledged for his more-than-beautiful translation. I couldn't have enjoyed this book THAT much if it wasn't for his fabulously rich-yet-smooth translation.
[b:The Three Musketeers|3473426|The Three Musketeers|Alexandre Dumas|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348006102s/3473426.jpg|1263212] is my third read for [a:Alexandre Dumas|4785|Alexandre Dumas|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1279049943p2/4785.jpg]. This wonderful man never lets me down. My pleasure in reading his works is guaranteed. I bet that the greater mass of the world's population is acquainted with "The Three Musketeers" without reading the book and perhaps without knowing those three guys by their names. How's that even possible? Once upon a time, in the nearby French land, the prosperous universe blessed humanity with an awesome trendsetter; his name is Alexandre Dumas. He created catchy characters that were recycled year after year. Words fail me to express enough how much I adore this man.
♥♥♥ My beloved Dumas poses like a boss ♥♥♥
Fun facts:
• Did you know that the protagonist is not considered one of the famous three Musketeers referred to in the title?
• His name is D'Artagnan. Pronunciation: Dar-tan-yan. YEAH I did my research *rolls-eyes*.
• Anyways, d'Artagnan joins Athos, Porthos, and Aramis "The Three Musketeers" later on.
• [b:The Three Musketeers|3473426|The Three Musketeers|Alexandre Dumas|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348006102s/3473426.jpg|1263212] (the book) is actually the first installment in a series called "The D'Artagnan Romances" which includes [b:The Man in the Iron Mask|54499|The Man in the Iron Mask (The D'Artagnan Romances, #3)|Alexandre Dumas|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348990897s/54499.jpg|2971402] and others.
• And NO, it's NOT a children's book! KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN!
• Dumas's humor is the right dose; neither silly nor trying too hard. He manages to make you laugh in some occasions. Still, it's NOT a humor book.
The setting and characters:
The events of the book start taking place in France in the 17th century, and to be more specific, in the reign of Louis XIII (circa 1625). As per his literate habit, Dumas mishmashed real historical figures with fictional characters. The main fictional characters are "the awesome bad guys" in our modern standards. The supporting fictional characters play a significant role to move the plot.
Some of the real historical figures:
• Louis XIII ~ Aka Louis the Just. King of France. Cardinal-hater. Hobbies: hunting and gambling.
• Cardinal Richelieu ~ Chief Minister of France. King-hater. Hobbies: plotting to embarrass the King.
• Anne of Austria ~ Queen of France. Wife of King Louis XIII.
• Duke of Buckingham ~ The handsome admirer of Anne.
The main fictional characters:
• D'Artagnan ~ Musketeer-wannabe. Prudent. Brave. Thief. Liar. Always ready to fight even for corrupted purposes.
• Porthos ~ Fashionist (is it the proper word for a male fashionista?). Vain. Liar. Occasionally slow-witted.
• Aramis ~ Password: handkerchief. Likes poetry. Priest-wannabe. Liar. Sometimes tends to be pacific despite being ready to
• Athos ~ Introvert. Taciturn. Liar.
The supporting fictional characters:
• Madame Bonacieux ~ Aka Constance. The pretty and totally devoted seamstress of Queen Anne.
• Monsieur Bonacieux ~ Mercer. Constance's husband. Old enough to be her father. Cheap. Coward.
• Milady ~ Totally gorgeous. Sexy. Seductive. Intimidating. I've never admired the intelligence of a female villain as much as hers. She's the definition of a badass.
Duels here.. Duels there.. Duels everywhere!
What strikes me in those duels is how the fellows had the civility of gentlemen in their speech during their quarrels. The conversation would go like.. "Pardon me, Monsieur. I'm about to beat the crap out of you in a second and might even kill you. Kindly be prepared but let's have a buddy-to-buddy chitchat first. Dude, you rock! I'm a huge fan. I think we would totally be BFFs in other circumstances but a duel is a duel, and I already gave my word of honor to stick my sword in your...!" Okay, I assume that you get the picture.
More juicy content:
It's violent (again, keep away from children). Mysterious villains keep appearing and disappearing like ghosts. Love steams the air and hypocrisy poisons it. The Bastille makes a shy appearance. Royal scandals and political conspiracies are involved. Thrill and excitement dominate the pages. It's the kind of books which makes you eager to know what happens next and feel sorry if you had to put it down when life interrupts you, at least this is how it made me feel. As hot as it gets in the first half, spicy stuff really kick in in the second half, thanks to Milady. Highly recommended!
★★★★★ = It was awesome!
Skimming through the negative 1-star reviews here in Goodreads, some readers complained about how the 4 main characters are basically bad guys pictured as heroes. I agree that they are not our typical heroes. I find them portraying a big slice of real human beings with flaws. Humans are not angels and protagonists should not always be perfect and likable. The world is not entirely made of role models. Who doesn't have a dark side? What Dumas did was portraying people. The narrator was obviously "Team Musketeers", he praised their horrible wrong deeds and justified them under the words "honor" and "revenge" but don't forget that the narrator is supposed to be human too. I try to be objective as much as I can when I review. I may not agree with the protagonists' policy on justice and may even despise them, but this book has a fantastic story, a great plot, an exciting writing-style, and an awesome villain.. Would you ask for more?
Dumas till the end:
I think that Dumas is a genius. He created such interesting characters with real human personalities, full of flaws, and extremely interesting and fun to read. He is able to make you empathize with a villain, Milady, who is molded with lethal traits. Sometimes I wondered what was the real intention of Dumas when he made the 4 main characters do such terrible things, did he do that in purpose? I bet he did. And I imagine him being seduced by his beautiful monstrous Milady while writing her. Final thanks must be paid to the Translator who has to be acknowledged for his more-than-beautiful translation. I couldn't have enjoyed this book THAT much if it wasn't for his fabulously rich-yet-smooth translation.