Rating: 
Summary: I am awed.
Review: I second all the reviews here: Victor Hugo was great, his *Ninety-Three* a masterpiece. Lovers of literature, students of history alike will enjoy this grand epic of the year 1793, its warring ideals and the giants of men who embodied them. Hugo makes history come alive, and heroes are what drive it. Every one of the novel's characters, whether an imperious general or a half-mad-with-grief, rag-clad peasant mother searching desperately for her children, has a quality absent from much of today's literature: dignity. I have read few novels that bless the reader with as pure and exalted a vision of man's majesty as this one.
Rating:
Summary: I am awed.
Review: I second all the reviews here: Victor Hugo was great, his *Ninety-Three* a masterpiece. Lovers of literature, students of history alike will enjoy this grand epic of the year 1793, its warring ideals and the giants of men who embodied them. Hugo makes history come alive, and heroes are what drive it. Every one of the novel's characters, whether an imperious general or a half-mad-with-grief, rag-clad peasant mother searching desperately for her children, has a quality absent from much of today's literature: dignity. I have read few novels that bless the reader with as pure and exalted a vision of man's majesty as this one.
Rating: 
Summary: He did better
Review: In 1793, the immediate after-effects of the French Revolution are being played out: the Republic is beset by assaults both from outside France and by counter-revolutionary forces within its borders. The Marquis de Lantenac arrives in Brittany to lead the counter-revolutionary insurgency which has been centred on the Vendée. The Convention has already sent de Lantenac's nephew, Gauvain, to the Vendée with a force to put down the rebellion. This is the main thrust of "Ninety-Three", although Hugo weaves several other sub-plots into the novel. The action takes place principally in Brittany, but there are scenes in Paris with interesting vignettes of Danton, Robespierre and Marat. The main thing to be said about "Ninety-Three" is that it's no "Les Misérables", no "Notre Dame de Paris". It has its strengths, but the faults in the plot and in Hugo's writing made it for me a less satisfying read than those other works. "Ninety-Three" is melodramatic (frequently overly so), the use of coincidence is often outrageous, there are wildly improbable sections (the accurate identification of each ship in a French squadron at night being one early example), there are long sections devoted to descriptions of architecture, and one long part which is merely a list of the members of the Convention. All these traits are present in other of Hugo's works I've read, and I suppose could be expected of a "romantic" writer, but I felt that in "Ninety-Three" they were out proportion, making up for the ordinariness of the main plot, and outweighing the fine sections of good descriptive writing, of meaningful reflections on morality, political convictions and war. Overall, not his best, more of a cross between Walter Scott and "The Scarlet Pimpernel". G Rodgers
Rating:
Summary: One Of The Greatest Masterpieces Of Hugo
Review: It have to be sayed: "93" is one of the greatest works of Hugo! After reading many novels, poems and plays, and analyse some of his letters and other contents, I think that its almost impossible to say that "93" doesnt have passion and skills of one of the greats poets/ romancists of the XIX century. The message that an good society can be created, that every man can be a great being by his own sacrifice is touching and inspiring. "93" is more them a book, or a revolutionary testament, is an piece of art made by a dreamer that believed in a beautiful and possible society, a real humanity.
Rating:
Summary: One Of The Greatest Masterpieces Of Hugo
Review: It have to be sayed: "93" is one of the greatest works of Hugo! After reading many novels, poems and plays, and analyse some of his letters and other contents, I think that its almost impossible to say that "93" doesnt have passion and skills of one of the greats poets/ romancists of the XIX century. The message that an good society can be created, that every man can be a great being by his own sacrifice is touching and inspiring. "93" is more them a book, or a revolutionary testament, is an piece of art made by a dreamer that believed in a beautiful and possible society, a real humanity.
Rating:
Summary: Please get this book back into print!
Review: NINETY-THREE has all the thrills a novel-reader could desire -- hairsbreadth escapes, daring rescues, pitched battles -- and also contains plentiful detail on the French Revolution in its most radical phase. Carroll & Graf, PLEASE make it available again! Though not as well known as Les Miserables or The Hunchback of Notre Dame, it has all the drama and all the lovingly elaborated backdrop of those novels.
Rating:
Summary: This is Hugo's best, if not greatest, novel.
Review: Ninety-three is a fast-paced, action packed novel by an author who knew how to deprive one of sleep due to the novel's thrill and suspense. The characters and events are masterfully intertwined in order to build up suspense even up to the very last two paragraphs. Political symbolisms clearly exist, and the main characters are symbols of their own political standpoints and views of humanism. Take very good notice of their physical descriptions and associate them with the ideas of that momentous epoch. There was a momentary lapse of action, which I believe was necessry in order to portray to the reader a glimpse of the events in Paris during that tumultuous year of the Reign of Terror. In fact, one of my favorite scenes is when Robespierre, Danton, and Marat-perhaps the greatest (and most tragic) firgures of the Revolution-were having a little 'chat.' Hugo really knew how to mess with history. The drama is perhaps the greatest quality of this novel. You don't have to know anything about the Revolution to love this book.
Rating:
Summary: This novel is far and away Hugo's best work.
Review: Ninety-three is the consumate example of a brilliant writer in action. While I don't want to overstate the case, it seems - at least while you're reading it and caught up in the action - that all of Hugo's previous work had been mere practice. The plot is taut and quick, carrying the reader from the dense Breton woods to the fetid Parisian streets. The characters, too, are giants among men - reflecting the conflicting ideologies of their time in a manner beyond mere politics. The descriptions of the men, while esoteric at times, are also compelling. (The description of Cimourdin, for example, is one of the most eloquent I have ever read.) This is not only an outstanding novel for those already in love with Les Miserables and Notre Dame de Paris, but for those who are seeking a enjoyable and somewhat shorter Victor Hugo experience. SB
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: One of the three best novels I've ever read
Rating:
Summary: Truly great.
Review: This book show-cases some of the most brilliant writing I've ever read. Hugo is a literary God. The events of Ninety-Three occur during (and somewhat define) the period of the French Revolution. For this reason, all the characters' actions are tremendously important. The fate of a large part of the world literally hangs on their actions. Toward the end of the book, during the battle at La Tourgue, you can almost see the future itself, balanced on a knife-edge, swaying back and forth with the actions of the main characters. The characters in Ninety-Three are giants among men. Lantenac, Gauvain, Cimourdain -- all are heroic in their own way. Even minor characters like Radoub the soldier, Tellmarch the beggar, and Halmalo the sailor are honourable and admirable people. There are scenes in Ninety-Three that are among the best I've read anywhere. (The "loose cannon" on the Claymore and the fire at La Tourgue being good examples.) The only problem I had in reading Ninety-Three was one of my own making. Hugo makes a lot of historical or mythological references, especially in describing the Convention in Paris, which I didn't fully understand. That was due only to a lack of knowledge on my part -- it is no criticism of Hugo's descriptive genius. I am sure that when I read it next time (as I will), I will take more from the reading. Ninety-Three is just about perfect. Read it.
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