thelittlebookowl

Title / The Three Musketeers

Author / Alexandre Dumas

Publication Date / 1844

Genre / Translated classics

Series or standalone / Series

Page no. / 704

Star Rating / ★★★★

Originally written in French, this is the first book in the d’Artagnan Romances series. It is a historical adventure story that follows d’Artagnan as he moves to Paris to join the musketeers, between the years of 1625-28. It was originally published in serial form. I had known of the Three Musketeers for years before I actually read the source material. My edition was translated by Richard Pevear.

 

 I had never read anything by this author when I picked this book up so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I ended up loving this book. I found it to be such an enjoyable read, while also being quite interesting. I don’t know a whole lot about this time period so it was interesting to me to read about it in this way. I thought the setting was really well written. One of the main strengths of this book were the characters. Dumas spends a lot of time developing his characters throughout the 700 pages of this book and it is a pleasure to read. I also really love that the characters are mostly morally grey in some way. While there are bad guys, most characters have both good and bad qualities to them. I really appreciated that while reading. There is a fantastic cast of characters in this book and I love the four main musketeers. I cannot wait to read more of them in the other books in this series. In terms of the plot, this is a very compelling book. Despite the size, it didn’t take me too long to finish because I was so engrossed in the story. It contains a whole lot of intrigue, duels, loyalty, betrayal and adventure. There are also so many twists and turns woven into the story. It starts off quite episodic in nature, as the readers are introduced to the characters. The main plot is then slowly introduced a little later on in the book. I really enjoyed the story, although at times it is a little ridiculous. I think this book can be enjoyed by a wide range of reader and ages and it is well worth a read.

 

Overall I loved this book and would highly recommend checking it out. I think it would be a great place to start with classics and/or translated classics, because it’s a pretty easy read and it’s so entertaining. I have yet to read the other books in this series but I am definitely planning on reading them. Twenty Years After is the sequel to The Three Musketeers. Have you read this book? Or any other book by this author? I’d love to know what you thought. I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I will see you next time.

 

Pippa