Product Description

This book includes an introduction and notes by Keith Wren, University of Kent at Canterbury. A historical romance, "The Three Musketeers" tells the story of the early adventures of the young Gascon gentleman, D'Artagnan and his three friends from the regiment of the King's Musketeers - Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Under the watchful eye of their patron M. de Treville, the four defend the honour of the regiment against the guards of Cardinal Richelieu, and the honour of the queen against the machinations of the Cardinal himself as the power struggles of seventeenth 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, and Dumas employs all his fast-paced narrative skills to bring this enthralling novel to a breathtakingly gripping and dramatic conclusion.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9913 in Books
• Published on: 1992-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 592 pages

Customer Reviews

Seen the movies?
My first introduction to 'the three musketeers' was during my childhood when I used to avidly watch 'dogtanian and the three muskehounds' - you may well laugh, but years later my fond memories of this cartoon impelled me to read the book. Yes the book is much better than any cartoon or film version, but when you read it you realise why. Basically, the characters are initially introduced in a rather sketchy manner - you only 'get to know' the characters as you read through the book. It is therefore understandable that this is difficult to portray in a film - hence reading the book is a must, it is a classic.

masterpiece of adventure/literature
An unusual book that reflects Dumas's views of both honour and chivalry as well as his interest in esoteric societies. Woven into the adventure romp are countless referernces to the philosophical dilemas that confront man's existence and most of all regarding his relationship with fellow man. It is hard not to identify with the politically incorrect charcters of the four heroes and even the villains lack any real malice.

By far and away the best aspect (for me) is the astoundingly uplifting quality of the narrative. Comparable to three pints of Youngs on an empty stomach after half a chapter you will feel that all is right with the world and after the battle scenes you may feel it necessary to re-enact the sword play with an old golf club.

Far outshines the authors other work and will provide you with many hours priceless entertainment.

Epic
I'd always wanted to read this book, having seen numerous films. However, all of those paled compared to this wonderful historical novel. I'm not one for lengthy descriptions normally, but the narratvie had the perfect mix of description and dialogue. I read it over three weeks, (when I should have been revising for my incredibly important, life changing exams oops) and felt that the chararcters were all well crafted and didn't always seem to fit the allegorical roles, with even the antagonists having their moments and the protagonists having their failings.
Overall, this is truly an epic and I enjoyed the history, and although not always accurate I felt it was still plausible enough to class as historical fiction.