adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Favorite book of all time - be sure to read the unabridged version!
adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous dark mysterious tense
adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book is impossible to sum up in a review due to its enormity both in size and in deep meaning. There are so many important and incredibly explored themes but most important are - fatherhood, family, death, revenge, regret, doubt, humanity and fate. The Count of Monte Cristo is the most in depth and alive character I have ever read and his arc is written in such a heartfelt way. After his initial introduction his character slowly develops from a vengeful, powerful and mysterious character back into one who feels emotion - its almost as if Edmond Dantes and the Count of Monte Cristo are two separate people and they slowly merge back together into one throughout the book. For a book full of old fashioned views and etiquette the protagonist felt incredibly modern, looking past lots of  society's rules to look only for the good and bad within people. Every single character introduced - although it begins to feel like a lot - has an extremely well thought out purpose in the plot of the book. The plot is up to standard with my favourite authors for that bookwriting aspect (Stuart Turton and Erin Morgenstern) and maybe even above it in that it feels like a maze of riddles that would be impossible as an author to write without a huge map of plot points and a timeline. The things you know as a reader, you wish you could shout at the characters and the things you aren't supposed to know are Impossible to guess, resulting in incredible plot twists. The slow start is really worth it for the quick paced, twisting story afterwards and to give you a feel for how painfully slowly the time went for Edmond in prison and really helps you gain a huge amount of sympathy and knowledge about his character. The importance of fatherhood is very touchingly highlighted in this story, the lack of it resulting in criminals, whilst the kindest most patient father's produce the kindest characters - surprisingly for the time spreading a message about being a loving and patient man towards your friends, partner and children. The ending is perfectly satisfying and philosophical, leaving you with the words "wait and hope". A perfect, beautiful masterpiece I will definitely read again.
slow-paced
dark hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

This is one of the greatest books I have ever read. However I, too, will admit that it is extraordinarily long for the story that it is. This does not take away from its quality nor its simplicity. The translation for the Penguin Classics version is very easy to read for a Classic. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and have only fond memories of this book. A large segment of the book takes place in Rome and this is considered a part that isn't really interesting to most critics, but I found it very fun. If you are willing to take on this behemoth of fiction and entertainment, I would do so.