Rating: 
Summary: great book for the rebellious intelligent
Review: This book was well thought out. Superior intellect at work with great insights on politics and the inner workings of man. Although romance is the great overtone, this book tells a lot in so little and has you captured till the very end.
Rating: 
Summary: Great fun and more
Review: This is an exciting historical novel set at the time of the French Revolution. It is a fast, fun read, but has more serious and meaningful elements too.Motivated by seeing the even better film as a youth I tried reading this then, but was defeated by the purplish prose. A few weeks ago I caught the film again on TV and, re-inspired, gave the book another shot. This time I could hardly put it down. I was surprised by many of Sabatini's turns of a phrase, his care for detail, and the crisp, compact dialogue. His description of the first appearance of the Count, the villain of the piece but also a man with some very real admirable qualities, is breathtaking, revealing what a wonderful job Mel Ferrar did with the part. There's an excellent review of the film on Amazon stressing the importance of its play within the play facet. This applies also to the book, though not so directly as the theatre troupe's role pretty much disappears midway through. What's there not to like? To criticize it as not being the heaviest of works is to miss the point, but it has more depth than could be expected. But on more than one occasion, particularly as the novel progresses, the author points out the point instead of letting his excellent tale weaving doing it for him, thus adding a slight didactic warp. 4 stars because, hey, although its terrific fun, well written, and with some unexpected depth, it's no War and Peace or even Of Human Bondage. But it puts the books I've read by Clancy and Grisham to shame in every respect. Guess I'll try one of Dumas' novels now. I also couldn't get through them as a youth.
Rating:
Summary: Great fun and more
Review: This is an exciting historical novel set at the time of the French Revolution. It is a fast, fun read, but has more serious and meaningful elements too. Motivated by seeing the even better film as a youth I tried reading this then, but was defeated by the purplish prose. A few weeks ago I caught the film again on TV and, re-inspired, gave the book another shot. This time I could hardly put it down. I was surprised by many of Sabatini's turns of a phrase, his care for detail, and the crisp, compact dialogue. His description of the first appearance of the Count, the villain of the piece but also a man with some very real admirable qualities, is breathtaking, revealing what a wonderful job Mel Ferrar did with the part. There's an excellent review of the film on Amazon stressing the importance of its play within the play facet. This applies also to the book, though not so directly as the theatre troupe's role pretty much disappears midway through. What's there not to like? To criticize it as not being the heaviest of works is to miss the point, but it has more depth than could be expected. But on more than one occasion, particularly as the novel progresses, the author points out the point instead of letting his excellent tale weaving doing it for him, thus adding a slight didactic warp. 4 stars because, hey, although its terrific fun, well written, and with some unexpected depth, it's no War and Peace or even Of Human Bondage. But it puts the books I've read by Clancy and Grisham to shame in every respect. Guess I'll try one of Dumas' novels now. I also couldn't get through them as a youth.
Rating:
Summary: Sabatini is no Dumas, but Dumas is no Sabatini.
Review: This is the first and only book I've read by Sabatini. I found at first that I didn't at all like the protagonist of this great book. I am a fan of Dumas, and read this book after reading the entire D'Artagnon romances, and in Dumas' work I loved his charaters. Sabatini though gave me a character that I didn't really like, at first... but then as I came to know him and understand him I learned, maybe not to love, but at least to respect him. The story is a fun read and though the climax didn't move me in the way that the Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After or the Vicomte De Braglone did it was still a great moment, a moment in a book that I can still see in my mind vividly.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: This novel of Mr. Sabatini's set in late 18th Century France, during the revolution, is brilliant. His characters, as always, are amazing. I truly enjoy reading his adventurous novels and smiling at his keen wit and personal sense of human nature. Scaramouche has a depth to it that raises it far above the average. His novels, like life, are a perfect mix of comedy, tragedy, romance, adventure, and insight. Bravo, Mr. Sabatini!
Rating:
Summary: An engrossing historical romance.
Review: When his best friend, a young clergyman, is killed in a mockery of a duel by an arrogant noble, just to quiet his eloquent expressions of democratic ideals, Andre-Louis Moreau vows revenge. From that point, through meteoric careers as a consummate actor and scenario writer, then as a fencing master, and finally a politician, the brilliant Moreau keeps thwarting the aims of the aristocratic Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr. However, the nobleman causes pain to Moreau as well, and the time must come when the two will meet to settle their enmity once and for all. You are not likely to guess how their confrontation finally turns out. Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, this swashbuckling novel is exciting throughout, and it presents one of the most dashing heroes in fiction, a man who can fight equally well with his mind, his mouth, his pen, and his sword, a man who stirs up events wherever he goes. I can't decide whether I like this novel or CAPTAIN BLOOD better, but these two books of Sabatini's are among the very best adventure novels.
Rating:
Summary: I've never met someone who read it before but...
Review: when I was 14 my father gave me this used, yellow pages,hard covered transalated to hebrew book. I didn't imagin that it will become a part of me in my next 14 years.
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