The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Release Date: 24th March 2011
Publisher: Public Domain
Source: Public Domain
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One of the most celebrated & popular historical romances ever written. The Three Musketeers tell the story of the early adventures of the young Gascon gentleman d'Artagnan & his three friends from the regiment of the King's Musketeers-Athos, Porthos & Aramis.

Under the watchful eye of their patron M. de Treville, the four defend the honour of the regiment against the guards of the Cardinal Richelieu, & the honor of the queen against the machinations of the Cardinal himself as the power struggles of 17th-century France are vividly played out in the background.

But their most dangerous encounter is with the Cardinal's spy. Milady, one of literature's most memorable female villains, & Alaxandre Dumas employs all his fast-paced narrative skills to bring this enthralling novel to a breathtakingly gripping & dramatic conclusion.

Hey, so reading the title (and absorbing pop culture knowledge) it would reasonable to assume that there are in fact three Musketeers in this story, right? Haha, Alexandre Dumas was just messing with you! There are actually four! Yeah, yeah, I’m late to this party but it totally threw me. Four for you, Alexandre Dumas.

So the ~main~ character, loosely speaking, d’Artagnan, a young nobleman, begins the story by journeying to Paris from his hometown with a letter of introduction given to him by his  so he can join the Musketeers. He then promptly loses the letter in a duel that is more of an ambush really. As a result, d’Artagnan is refused entry to the Musketeers but is instead recommended to join the Kings’ Guard. He meets the other three Musketeers under the most hilarious circumstances and the four quickly become inseparable. What follows is a tale full of political intrigue, love affairs, flawless female villains, and above all the bonds of friendship.

This novel is full of engaging characters. d’Artagnan, Porthos, Aramis and Athos are all interesting, although Athos quickly became my favourite out of the four because of ~reasons~. The antagonism between Treville and the Cardinal and the King lazily presiding over it all made me laugh – the tension in these scenes is always palpable without taking away from the humour in the characters’ interactions. I also enjoyed the relationship between the Queen and the Duke but I think the best aspect of this novel for me was in the character of Milady. She is one of the best female villains I’ve ever come across. Milady is a thoroughly unrepetenant, cunning, fascinating character who is one of the dominant antagonists of the novel. And because I am me I ended up loving the history between her and Athos. Because duh.

For a classic novel, the prose is actually quite readable. It is a bit long but so many things happen that you don’t really feel it. It is one of the better classic novels I’ve read in this past year and while it isn’t a favourite, The Three Musketeers was still an entertaining read that I’m glad I picked up.

 

 

 A 19th Century Classic.

 

 

 

 Page Count: 786