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luna545's review
adventurous
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
debwill54's review against another edition
3.0
I have just finished a deep immersion of Dumas, reading all of the D'Artagnan Romances, The Count of Monte Cristo and the Valois Romances. The Valois Romances series is my least favorite of them; the Musketeers adventures are at the top of my favorites list and the Count isn't far behind. The Valois series started out very well with Margot, but ended a bit short with the Forty-Five. I lost interest in the characters (while still loving Chicot) until the very last bits of the book. Even then, I felt there was so much more that could have been told.
writerlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
Third and last novels in Dumas' retelling of the Valois cursed family history, Les Quarante-cing is an unfinished tale which is kinda of frustrating but then again if the reader wants to know how it ends, we can read all about it in history books. The appeal for me in this one is still the political games, much more important than in the first two, Henri de Navarre plays possum but moves his chess pieces behind the scene, Henri de Guise still wants to be king and Henri III is a lonely, lonely king who is bored out of his skull. Dumas probably had a fourth book planned in this series but it never came to be, which is a shame.
lnatal's review against another edition
4.0
A sequel to Marguerite de Valois, and Chicot the jester.
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