Three Musketeers (Great Illustrated Classics)

Reading Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) is a great way to spend the summer. Like [b:The Count of Monte Cristo|7126|The Count of Monte Cristo|Alexandre Dumas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1611834134l/7126.SY75.jpg|391568], The Three Musketeers found its way into popular culture. The story is familiar, though often altered: I now realise that the 2023 films starring François Civil, Eva Green and Vincent Cassel were not as close to the novel as I thought. (But still: excellent work! Hollywood could never have done such a terrific job.)

At its core, The Three Musketeers is a picaresque novel. In 1626, the young d’Artagnan travels from Gascony to the French capital to join the Musketeers, the famous guards of King Louis XIII (and, as Dumas describes: ‘devil-may-care fellows who are perfectly undisciplined to all but their captain’). On arrival, d’Artagnan manages to offend the three most fearsome among them: Aramis, Athos and Porthos. Before their duels start, however, they find a common enemy in the guards of the powerful Cardinal Richelieu, who runs the country from behind the scenes. D’Artagnan and his new friends soon discover a conspiracy surrounding the king’s wife, Queen Anne of Austria, and the English prime minister Lord Buckingham.

Dumas’ narrator is entertaining and exciting, albeit a tad on the long side. I like how the author made the three musketeers into entirely different characters, as if they were Spice Girls avant la lettre. Then again, I was surprised by their relatively small role in the story, given that the novel bears their signature. (It seems their motto ‘All for one, one for all’ gained its popularity in retrospect.) D’Artagnan is an interesting protagonist, but far too young (20!) for the credit Dumas gives him. Last but not least, the scene in which Milady De Winter attempts to escape from prison must be one of the most nerve-wracking in literary history!

The Three Musketeers feels like the template for most Hollywood action movies. The heroes are flawed, but we root for them nonetheless. The villain is brilliant, but pure evil. The heroes, of course, win in the end.

The first half of the book was quite good. Dumas introduces d'Artagnan and the three musketeers. We learn about their histories and watch as they become close friends. So far, so believable.

The second half of the book, however, made it impossible for me to suspend disbelief. The problem was Milady's character. Or rather, the complete lack of anything that could be mistaken for character. To justify his ending, Dumas has to make her completely evil. But we must just accept that she's evil. She seems more of a device to drive on the plot, a foil for the musketeers, than an actual person.

This wouldn't be a problem if there weren't at least half a dozen chapters that dealt with Milady's captivity. Watching an author explore the depths of a character that has no depths is excruciating.

In the end, I suppose I would have enjoyed the book more were more of a fan of the genre that Dumas helped to spawn. Fans of 24 and the Die Hard films will probably love the book.