The Three Musketeers (Modern Library Classics) | Alexandre Dumas pere

The Three Musketeers (Modern Library Classics) | Alexandre Dumas pere | What started as a chore, became quite enjoyable

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The Three Musketee...

	The Three Musketeers (Modern Library Classics) Alexandre Dumas pere Modern Library, 2001 - 640 pages average customer review:based on 194 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

First published in 1844, Alexandre Dumas's swashbuckling epic chronicles the adventures of D'Artagnan, a gallant young nobleman who journeys to Paris in 1625 hoping to join the ranks of musketeers guarding Louis XIII. He soon finds himself fighting alongside three heroic comrades--Athos, Porthos, and Aramis--who seek to uphold the honor of the king by foiling the wicked plots of Cardinal Richelieu and the beautiful spy "Milady." As Clifton Fadiman reflected, "We read The Three Musketeers to experience a sense of romance and for the sheer excitement of the story. In these violent pages all is action, intrigue, suspense, surprise--an almost endless chain of duels, murders, love affairs, unmaskings, ambushes, hairbreadth escapes, wild rides. It is all impossible and it is all magnificent."

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great book yet don't look at with modern values

Its a fast-paced book with few lulls, not 2 many dead moments. It is much funnier than I thought before picking it up, and the interaction between the 4 friends is classic. The style is brisk and light, often tounge-in-check. While long, it breezes by. But a few warnings: do not look at it with modern eyes. The value system is flawed (in addition Dumas has a habit of both glorifying & making fun of them nearly symultaneously) but this is not a book to read for a complex theme or deep thinking. To Dumas' credit, that is not at all what he set out to do, so its unfair when people hold that againist him. What this book is is a fun adventure that resists being put down.

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What started as a chore, became quite enjoyable

I have put off reading this book for years... mainly because of its size, and the fact that it was written in French, and I just didn't want to put that much work into anything. I finally convinced myself that I really needed to read this because I enjoy the movies so much.

In the beginning... I was worried. The language was easy enough to follow (concern number 1 gone) but the writing style seemed a bit loose and haphazard. Rather than my mind being boggled, I found myself getting irritated by the wandering I felt that the book was doing. For the first quarter of the book I had started to question my choice of reading this. At first D'Artagnan irritated me because he seemed so stupid, and ready to fight anyone and everyone over anything, then our introduction to the three musketeers Athos, Aramis and Porthos were also ready to "cross swords" with anyone at even the most minor offence. The first several sword fights were rather sparse as far as description and excitement so it didn't "thrill" me the way I had hoped.

Enter the Cardinal, he was interesting... devious and maniacal... I thought to myself that the book could be picking up. But sadly the first half of the book really was nothing but D'Artagnan pining over women, and the Musketeers drinking, eating or spending money on more equipment. I was a bit weirded out by their lackeys... each of them had a servant who was all but a slave. These servants were only mentioned when they were being scolded, or offered up to do their master's bidding.

The story began to get interesting with the introduction of Milady, one of the most intelligent and evil villainesses I have encountered in a book. Vile of nature and black of heart she is a truly evil being that really spices up the book. Once she was brought into the picture, the tedious story opened up into an interesting tale of intrigue, a battle of wits between her, the cardinal and the musketeers.

There is a fair amount of history in this book, however much of it has been altered with creative license so I wouldn't take the events as gospel. I guess I can see why this is a classic, however I would have to say I preferred "The Count of Monte Cristo" to this. Had the first half been more entertaining I would have really loved this book. I'm just glad I kept reading so that I could get to the interesting part.

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Three cheers!

This is the story of a poor, young, French man, named d'Artagnan Gascony. He leaves his home with only a sword, an old horse, and his family name. Fate steps in and he manages to meet and make angry not one, not two, but three of the kings swordsman, known as "Musketeers". They each decide to duel him, one right after the other, but only d'Artagnan knows this. When the first duel is to begin, all three Musketeers arrive, one to fight and the other two to act as seconds. Just as they begin exchanging blows the Cardinal's guard arrives and attempts to arrest the three Musketeers and d'Artagnan, forcing them to act together. The four defeat the Cardinal's guards and the adventure begins.

This book is loaded with characters who are either extremely evil such as the conniving Cardinal, or the wicked Midlady de Winter, or righteously heroic like the musketeers, d'Artagnan, his faithful servant Planchet , and love Constance. There are many tense moments, sword fights, and situation which require skill and offer danger to the friends of d'Artagnan.

When you consider that The Three Musketeers was written in 1846, over one hundred and fifty years ago, it is amazing that it can hold the attention of the modern reader, but that it does. Alexander Dumas allows you to see through his writing the details surrounding the situations, you are not a reader, but a by stander in d'Artagnan's exciting life. So dig in and be prepared to be transported back to France, in the 1800's, where wit, bravery, friendship and sword play will have you cheering for the Musketeers!

-- Peter Brodnax

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11 year-old's book review - the abridged version edited by Deborah Felder

Warning: spoilers
Setting
The Three Musketeers takes place in 1625 in France. The story starts in a small village called Meung where the main character, D'Artagnan and two villains are introduced. Most of the story happens in Paris, France, where the musketeers train and protect the french King Louis VIII and his wife, Queen Anne. One trip to England is made by D'Artagnan to help the queen when the evil Cardinal Richelieu tries to frame her.

Characters
The main character is D'Artagnan of Gascony. He is a young man from the country who wants to join the musketeers more than anything. He leaves home with 15 gold coins, a little old horse that gets made fun of, and a letter from his father to introduce him to Monsieur de Tréville, the captain of the king's musketeers. D'Artagnan's father had been a musketeer and served with the captain. D'Artagnan is a courageous fellow. After a fight in Meung, he ends up challenging three different men to duels. He later finds out that all three men are musketeers, and instead of dueling, he helps them to fight against Cardinal Richelieu's guards. The three musketeers then become his friends. D'Artagnan is hired by Monsieur de Tréville to train in the musketeer regiment. D'Artagnan meets and falls in love with Constance Bonacieux, one of the queen's loyal maids. Constance asks D'Artagnan to help the queen out. The cardinal is trying to get the queen in trouble with the king. D'Artagnan does help the queen. He is a loyal and devoted musketeer.

The three musketeers are supporting characters and include Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Athos is moody and has secrets. He used to be the Count de la Fère, and was married to the villain Milady de Winter many years ago. Porthos is a funny musketeer who even jokes during combat. Aramis is more serious, and later decides to become a priest. The three musketeers are all brave men who are great swordsmen and do whatever it takes to protect their friends, their king and queen, and their country.

Queen Anne is important in this story because her friendship with the Duke of Buckingham is a way for the evil Cardinal to dethrone her. She is secretly in love with the Duke.

Cardinal Richelieu is an evil man who uses the church for power. He doesn't like the musketeers and is involved in many evil plots. He is an advisor to the king, and he stirs up a lot of trouble. He uses his guards to fight against the musketeers.

Milady de Winter is another bad person in this story. She is hired by the Cardinal to do his dirty work. She convinces the Duke of Buckingham's own guard to kill the duke. A long time ago her name was Anne de Breuil and she was married to the Count de la Fère, who finds out that she is a criminal. She disappears to escape getting killed. During this story, she goes by the name of Milady de Winter. She poisons Constance and the four musketeers set out to find her and make sure she is put to death.

Monsieur de Tréville is the captain of the king's musketeers and is in charge of their training. He and D'Artagnan's father were musketeers together many years ago. Monsieur can tell right away that D'Artagnan is a good person and will be a great musketeer.

Plot
The plot is about D'Artagnan and his journey to become a musketeer. The story starts with D'Artagnan on his way to meeting the captain of the musketeers. Before that happens, he meets three actual musketeers by accident. All three were going to duel against D'Artagnan but the duels are cancelled when the cardinal's guards attack the musketeers. D'Artagnan sides with the musketeers and the four men become friends.

After D'Artagnan is hired by Monsieur de Tréville, he meets and falls in love with Constance Bonacieux, who serves the queen. D'Artagnan and the three musketeers help Constance to help the queen out of a bind. D'Artagnan does help by traveling to England and bringing back two diamonds that the queen gave to the Duke. This was part of a plot the cardinal had planned to make the queen look bad in front of the king. The queen secretly loves the Duke, and he loves her too. The cardinal hires Milady de Winter to take care of D'Artagnan. It is at this point in the plot where readers discover that Athos was a count in his previous life. The musketeers chase Milady de Winter but they are too late. Cardinal Richelieu's plan was to have the Duke of Buckingham killed, and Milady made sure it was done, before also killing Constance. The musketeers capture Milady and she is executed. The story ends with the cardinal publicly awarding D'Artagnan a commission as lieutenant in the King's Musketeer Guards. The cardinal has to reward him even though he doesn't like him. The story ends with Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan cheering "All for one, and one for all."

Author
Alexandre's main purpose in writing The Three Musketeers was to entertain readers. The sword fights and action were great. D'Artagnan was truly a hero. There was dueling, mystery, bad guys, and some romance too. The lesson learned from the story is that honor and bravery are important.

Opinion
I would recommend this book. I liked the story but I had a hard time pronouncing the french names and places. The dueling scenes were great, but too short. I will need to read the full version or watch the movie to see more action. I thought the most suspenseful part was catching Milady to have her executed. The funniest part was when Cardinal Richelieu looked like a fool at the king's ball when he tried to make the queen look bad. My favorite part of the book was D'Artagnan being brave enough to challenge three different men to duels, then finds out they are all musketeers, and ends up working with them, not against them.

I haven't read another book like this where the story takes place a long time ago in another country. I read about the past when I read the Little House on the Prairie books, but there was no duels, and the story took place in the U.S.A. I have read about suspenseful fights in The Spiderwick Chronicles, but that was fantasy. This story could have really happened.

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11 year-old's book review - the abridged version edited by Deborah Felder