Richard Pevear, Alexandre Dumas: Three Musketeers (2008, Penguin Books, Limited)
736 pages
English language
Published Nov. 8, 2008 by Penguin Books, Limited.
Il s'agit certainement de l'archétype du roman de cape et d'épées, un véritable régal à lire.
Basically a 17th century male buddy story, featuring four basically shallow, self-centered, and often quite not nice hotheads gallivanting around having fun and waving their swords around in the service of the king. Entertaining read and interesting view of the times, but really didn't find the characters much more likeable or worthy of admiration than your average Hollywood buddy movie. Milady and Richlieu (the baddies) are really the most interesting and deep characters by far.
A ripping good read. Dumas' chronicles of the exploits of the 3 musketeers (though really, 4) are the perfect balance of [a:Steinbeck|585|John Steinbeck|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1182118389p2/585.jpg]'s fun loving winos in [b:Tortilla Flats|163977|Tortilla Flat (New Longman Literature Steinbeck)|John Steinbeck|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172329564s/163977.jpg|890203] and the chivalrous knights of King Arthur's round table.
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 …
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.
