Review - The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Series: The D'Artagnan Romances #1

Genre: Historical Fiction 

Age Group: Adults

Audiobook- 22hr 45 mins

Dover Publications - 560pgs

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Rating: 3/5

With its rousing cry of "One for all, and all for one," Alexandre Dumas's thrilling adventure novel has captivated generations of readers since its initial publication in 1844. Action, intrigue, and romance abound in this swashbuckling epic, which traces a country lad's path to the French court of the early 1600s and the glorious fraternity of the king's men, the Musketeers.

A son of impoverished nobility, D'Artagnan arrives in Paris to find the Musketeers disbanded by the cunning Cardinal Richelieu, who hopes to seize power from the weak-willed Louis XIII. The daring and ambitious youth proves his mettle in the company of the famous Musketeers — Porthos, Athos, and Aramis — and joins them in a heroic struggle to defend the king and his lovely queen, Anne of Austria.

So often, I am not patient enough for classics. The language is different than what I am used to and the action takes a lot longer than a lot of modern books. In the end it is me that is the problem and not the book. Though my experience with Three Musketeer movies did not prepare me for this book, I did find some of the plot lines very interesting.  

There are actually four main characters in this story and their antics are amusing. All four of them have a strong bromance even though some of their actions would not be considered heroic. Through the book we follow a series of plots that are somewhat interconnected and each new thread picked up just as the last one was losing my interest. The audiobook definitely helped me get through this book and still enjoy it. 

However, Dumas meanders in many different directions throughout the story and a lot of our "heroes" actions are rather selfish and immoral. I wasn't exactly impressed since my impressions as a child put the Musketeers on the same level with Robin Hood. Overall, I think the book could have been trimmed down a bit by being less repetitive and more concise, but the action and adventure was fun to read.I enjoyed some of the plot lines, but I was annoyed that women were either in need of saving or were villains. All the things that annoyed me about this novel were combined when we spent four or five chapters following a women's every move in a jail cell. 

My Last Review: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow 

Top Ten Books On My Fall TBR List

Though I have made this list of ten books for Top Ten Tuesday, I doubt I will finish all of these by the end of the year let alone in the next three months! Last year I did this same post and I only read two books from that post! That is my record so we shall see if we can beat it.

 

  

  

My Last Top Ten Tuesday --> Top Things I've Been Doing to Avoid Blogging (Still True)

Review- Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Genre: Biography

Age Group: Adult

Hardcover 818 pgs

Penguin Press (2004)

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Rating: 5/5

In the first full-length biography of Alexander Hamilton in decades, National Book Award winner Ron Chernow tells the riveting story of a man who overcame all odds to shape, inspire, and scandalize the newborn America. According to historian Joseph Ellis, Alexander Hamilton is “a robust full-length portrait, in my view the best ever written, of the most brilliant, charismatic and dangerous founder of them all.”Few figures in American history have been more hotly debated or more grossly misunderstood than Alexander Hamilton. Chernow’s biography gives Hamilton his due and sets the record straight, deftly illustrating that the political and economic greatness of today’s America is the result of Hamilton’s countless sacrifices to champion ideas that were often wildly disputed during his time. “To repudiate his legacy,” Chernow writes, “is, in many ways, to repudiate the modern world.” Chernow here recounts Hamilton’s turbulent life: an illegitimate, largely self-taught orphan from the Caribbean, he came out of nowhere to take America by storm, rising to become George Washington’s aide-de-camp in the Continental Army, coauthoring The Federalist Papers, founding the Bank of New York, leading the Federalist Party, and becoming the first Treasury Secretary of the United States.

Though I enjoy biographies, I don't think I would have found this one or enjoyed it as much without the Hamilton musical. I was deeply obsessed with the music when I originally borrowed the audiobook from Overdrive, but I picked up the physical book at Christmas when I couldn't finish 36 hours of audio in two weeks. Finally after many fits and starts I made it my mission to focus on this monster this summer. Unlike Angelica, I am completely satisfied. 

Hamilton's life is a whirlwind and completely captured my attention. He overcame tremendous odds to even make it to the American Colonies and it was a very interesting read. I really enjoyed the writing style and the narrator of the audiobook was fantastic. I did find myself skimming most of the sections about Hamilton's financial policies. They were a bit over my head and his personal as well as his political battles interested me much more. 

While some of the topics can be a little dry, the final few chapters detailing the duel and its aftermath had me in tears. Chernow does a fantastic job of weaving Hamilton's story through the many historical events he was at and connecting you to his life. I can highly recommend this to any fan of the musical as well as any history buff.

My Last Review --> Iron Kiss by Patricia Briggs