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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The strength of this story lies in the friendship and comradery between D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis and when this was front and center the story thrives.
The first third of this book was amazing as it fully embraced its strength. If the book had ended there I would have considered it a bookshelf essential.
Unfortunately the book did not end there. Occasionally it recaptured the magic of the first third, but this was usually short-lived. The latter 2/3 often split up the four comrades for long stretches of pages or spent far too long with characters who were not one of the four.
I'd definitely read the first third again. Not likely to read the last 2/3 though.
The first third of this book was amazing as it fully embraced its strength. If the book had ended there I would have considered it a bookshelf essential.
Unfortunately the book did not end there. Occasionally it recaptured the magic of the first third, but this was usually short-lived. The latter 2/3 often split up the four comrades for long stretches of pages or spent far too long with characters who were not one of the four.
I'd definitely read the first third again. Not likely to read the last 2/3 though.
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
“Never fear quarrels, but seek hazardous adventures.”
It has been a long time coming but I have finally read this novel. The weird part is that I grew up with this story being shown on tv all the time! Maybe this tainted my perception of it, thinking it was just a swashbuckling adventure, and indeed it is but Alexandre Dumas added more layers than I expected.
Yes, we do have a rollicking story with sword duels, secrets, devilish manipulations, friendships, ‘honour’, and of course question of love :O) And don’t get me wrong, this tale with all its theatrical aspects is highly enjoyable and made me smile quite a few times.
What I wasn’t expecting was the author’s barely disguised ‘attack’, or should I say mockery of important subjects and figure heads, from the army to the church, to the aristocracy and its puppet king, while pondering on the role of women and men, and the notions of loyalty, patriotism, friendship, marriage and love. All are seen through very unforgiving lenses, nothing is ‘safe’, but because it is presented and treated as a comedy, we can ‘laugh’ and not be affronted by it. I do wonder how the contemporary public took all this and how relevant it was to their own time... I for one can see how this novel has endured and kept its popularity.
A note on the language: I read or rather listened to this in French and totally loved it - Bernard Bollet was amazing! Although French is one of my mother tongues, I so rarely use it these days that I wondered how I would fare. Pretty well as it happens :O) I guess it stays in you. Anyway, anyone tempted to ‘read’ the text in its original version might want to try the audio. I found it made it easier to ‘ingest’ and a lot more fun!
It has been a long time coming but I have finally read this novel. The weird part is that I grew up with this story being shown on tv all the time! Maybe this tainted my perception of it, thinking it was just a swashbuckling adventure, and indeed it is but Alexandre Dumas added more layers than I expected.
Yes, we do have a rollicking story with sword duels, secrets, devilish manipulations, friendships, ‘honour’, and of course question of love :O) And don’t get me wrong, this tale with all its theatrical aspects is highly enjoyable and made me smile quite a few times.
What I wasn’t expecting was the author’s barely disguised ‘attack’, or should I say mockery of important subjects and figure heads, from the army to the church, to the aristocracy and its puppet king, while pondering on the role of women and men, and the notions of loyalty, patriotism, friendship, marriage and love. All are seen through very unforgiving lenses, nothing is ‘safe’, but because it is presented and treated as a comedy, we can ‘laugh’ and not be affronted by it. I do wonder how the contemporary public took all this and how relevant it was to their own time... I for one can see how this novel has endured and kept its popularity.
A note on the language: I read or rather listened to this in French and totally loved it - Bernard Bollet was amazing! Although French is one of my mother tongues, I so rarely use it these days that I wondered how I would fare. Pretty well as it happens :O) I guess it stays in you. Anyway, anyone tempted to ‘read’ the text in its original version might want to try the audio. I found it made it easier to ‘ingest’ and a lot more fun!
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
It's hard to review a book like this as the writing itself, chapter to chapter, is quite good. The metaphors, the magniloquence, the jokes all land quite effectively. But that just isn't enough to cover the fact that almost every character is jolly while being deplorable. A huge schism is created between the jovial nature in which murder, war, borderline rape, treason, brutish behavior, etc are all conveyed.
The book should lean into a more candide-esque fantasy or just aim to promote nihilism. As it is you mostly only care for the ancillary characters who all end up being mindless idiots and victims of the machinations of the protagonists.
Ultimately it just made it difficult to care about the broad scope of the plot as the main characters didn't. Then conversely it became hard to care about those characters as they didn't seem to care about the (seemingly) serious nature of the story's plot.
The book should lean into a more candide-esque fantasy or just aim to promote nihilism. As it is you mostly only care for the ancillary characters who all end up being mindless idiots and victims of the machinations of the protagonists.
Ultimately it just made it difficult to care about the broad scope of the plot as the main characters didn't. Then conversely it became hard to care about those characters as they didn't seem to care about the (seemingly) serious nature of the story's plot.
This romantic, swashbuckling adventure classic has everything you hope it will: terrifically fun sword-fighting scenes, devious political plots, blood-soaked revenge, inebriated carousing, and sweeping love stories, all woven throughout this epic novel. My only reservation is with the frequent, heavy use of exposition; I repeatedly found myself impatient for the story to get back to the present, rather than reading through info dumps about the backstories of various minor characters, events, or locales. Overall though, it’s a fun, humorous, action-packed story; perfect if you’re looking for a weighty tome to lose yourself in!