The Three Musketeers

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Summary: Duma's excellant Romantic Novel
Review: Alexandre Duma's Three Musketeers was an excellant but long read. It was assigned to me as an english project, and although I was under the time deadline, I found myself drawn into the book more and more. The tale follows D'artangan, a young and gallant Gascon, and his journey to, and occupancy in, Paris. The story changes angles and approaches many times, to the point where someone who at first seems an enemy, eventually becomes a friend. The book dips back into a theme of chivalry, as goes with the time period of the book. It comes back to a mentality where women are revered, respected, and fought for and fought over. At the slightest malicious word, swords are drawn and a duel to the death is fought.

I would recommend this book to anyone who finds themselves with the time to be drawn into a classic romantic novel, and enjoys reading about "swashbuckling adventure"!

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Summary: The Three Musketeers
Review: I absolutely loved this book. It was a terrific tale of adventure, romance, sword fighting, dueling, deceit, and more. There is something for everyone in this book. There was not one page that I didn't enjoy reading. I had heard so much about the book but had never given it a chance until recently, and now I'm really glad that I did. Once I started reading it was hard to put it down. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read. If you are into action, romance, friendship, or any type of genre, this is the book to read. It's got it all.

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Summary: a great book if you have the time
Review: The Three Musketeers is a masterpiece of deception, romance, treachery, and action. It follows a young hotheaded Gascon through his journey from his father's house to Paris and his adventures with the Musketeers, the king's personal bodyguards.
The Three Musketeers is action packed and rarely has a dull moment. Between the lives of the four friends Athos, Porthos, D'Artagnan, and Aramis at least one of them is always between a rock and a hard place, and because of their motto: "all for one and one for all," they all are in tricky situations almost constantly.

I enjoyed this novel not only for its fast pace, but for the plot twists and the determination of everybody in the book. The friends don't rest until the orders of the royalty are carried out and the cardinal won't stop until the three musketeers (and D'Artagnan) are either killed or by some miracle in his service of armed guards.

The musketeers' commitment to their cause and to each other is at the least admirable and at the most incredible. The book is not only an action packed story of adventure and swordplay, but also a story of friendship and love. There are no bounds to the visual imagery in this book or the inventive ways these friends get into trouble and fight their way out.

This book is rightly a classic that will continue to be read as long as people are fascinated by romance and action. Once you pick The Three Musketeers up the action and deception never stops, so be prepared.

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Summary: Despicable human beings
Review: Dumas' story does not age well. The musketeers live in an age when honor, nobility and dignity rules everything-- which turns them into absolutely horrific human beings. They treat their servants as property-- Porthos even forces his servant to take another, more "adventurous" name. They terrorize the common folk-- at one point, Athos destroys an innkeeper's entire stock of food because he blaims the owner for an unrelated assassination attempt. And they treat women terribly-- the main villainess, MiLady, is really only "bad" because she refuses D'Artagnan's lustful advances.
The pacing is also about as fast as molasses rolling uphill in winter.
The musketeers are supposed to be a classic of swashbuckling. But when you actually read their adventures, you find they're nothing more than arrogant, murderous sociopaths.

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Summary: GREAT BOOK BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS
Review: This great book is very well written by Alexandre Dumas. I think it is an amazing story about dÁrtagnan. This is a great story about friendship and loyalty. This is a great story for all ages. The Three Musketeers is great in many ways so read it today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Summary: The Three Musketeers
Review: ¡§One for all and all for one!¡¨ said D¡¦Artagnan, an honorable musketeer. The book written by Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers, is a story loved by readers of any age. The Three Musketeers, with its 18th century heroic, historical background, is a fascinating tale of adventure and romance. The novel illustrates the struggles and evil schemes of the time. D¡¦Artagnan, who teams up with the three musketeers- Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, use their strength as well as their strong friendship to save the Queen¡¦s honor and defeat the malicious plans of the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.
This book is influenced by Romanticism, which depicts a view of the society colored by nationalism and heroics. Alexandre Dumas¡¦ elegant style of writing illustrated a palpable picture of French society. The book demonstrates the luxurious lifestyle of monarchs and religious leaders. The royal family had magnificent jewelry and threw a lot of parties. And of course, a story about Musketeers, or the elite guard of the king, must have plenty of sword fighting. The novel is full of duels, kidnappings and intrigue. There is never a dull moment.
The book also has a complex drama of love and fame, which makes every word of the book interesting and exciting to read. D¡¦Artagnan loves and is loved by many women throughout the course of the book, but his suave swordsmanship rarely shows through in his romantic endeavors. The book moreover illustrates the abuse of religious power at the time; the Cardinal holds a strong spiritual power that equals the king¡¦s power. The Cardinal uses his power to eliminate people who displease him. The book is full of emotion, and the complex story-line gives a lesson on friendship and teamwork. If the three musketeers did not help D¡¦Artagnan, he would have been murdered by the Cardinal. D¡¦Artagnan accomplishes all of his missions with the help of his friends.

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Summary: Instant Classic
Review: The Three Muskateers is a fantastic novel about friendship, loyalty, and honor. It has its dry spots, but is definitely worth reading. It gives a background of Spain in the 18th century, and is filled with both excitement and humor. This book is definitely worth reading.

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Summary: Classic for a reason.
Review: For years schoolteachers have tried to get their pupils interested in reading by telling them they have to read this book. Of course this seldom works for there is a difference in reading for pleasure and reading because one is forced to do so. I must admit however that if this tact is ever going to work, it should work with this book. Dumas is the master of the adventure story and this just may be his best work. Sex, violence, intrigue, and one purely evil character are to be found in the pages of this book. What more could the modern reader ask for?

The story does not center on the actual three musketeers in question as the book might imply. Instead the young d'Artagnan is the hero of this story as the reader follows him in his successful quest to become one of the King's Musketeers. He soon becomes entangled in disputes with three musketeers who will become his best friends. Aramis, Athos and Porthos are an eclectic and eccentric group whose mere presence in a scene immediately adds color. D'Artagnan's adventures with his three friends have been immortalized on film many times, but do not be fooled. The films bear little resemblance to the book in many instances and seldom do they do Dumas' work justice. For one thing, the activities of our little group that would today be frowned upon seem never to make it to the big screen. For example, I have never seen a film version in which Porthos beats his lackey.

It is of course easy to review a classic like this and rave about how wonderful it is. Others who are no doubt much more intelligent than myself have indicated that this is one of the all time great books, so it must be so. In truth, I don't really care what others have said. What I care about is whether I enjoyed the book or not and I assure you that I did enjoy this book very much. Dumas' writing draws in his reader and it is often quite hard to put the story down in order to look after other important matters, like sleep. The reader will find no deep symbolism here, just good fun and a lot of it. Of course, just by accident the reader might just learn a little history but fear not for there will be no test.

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Summary: Action Packed High Adventure - Wonderful!
Review: My only exposure to the Three Musketeers having been the Disney movie, I was absolutely blown away by the book. Blown Away!!! The plot of that movie bears no resemblance to the book beyond the names of the characters and the personalities of the musketeers.

Our young Gascon, D'Artagnan, sets out for Paris on a laughable horse with a letter of introduction from his father to M. Treville, the Captain of the King's Musketeers. Fiercely protective of his dignity and consequently always ready for a fight, he does not make it to Paris before he loses his letter to a mysterious man in Meung who appears throughout the novel, each time sending D'Artagnan on a mad rush of vengeance despite whatever else is going on at the moment.

The King and the Cardinal have a competitive friendship that centers on the Cardinal's Guards and the King's Musketeers, each wanting his men to be the superior force. When D'Artagnan meets M. Treville and is placed in a regiment where he can prove his worth to be a musketeer, we meet Porthos, Aramis and a wounded Athos who have recently sparred with the Cardinal's Guard. He quickly runs afoul of each separately and is set to duel each an hour apart at the old ruins. As the swords cross, the Cardinal's Guards arrive to arrest them for their intent to duel. They come together to vanguish the Cardinal's men and thus begin the first in a series of skirmishes that make the three musketeers and D'Artagnan seem increasingly invincible in the eye's of the King, M Treville and, most importantly, the Cardinal.

Almost immediately, D'Artagnan falls into the palace intrigues, drawing the three musketeers willingly with him. The Lord Duke of Buckingham is madly in love with the queen, Anne of Austria, and takes silly chances to see her, much to everyone's peril. The King is furious not out of love for Anne but because he sees it as an affront to himself. He is much less concerned that she may be plotting against his reign as the Cardinal suggests than he is that she might be entertaining a dalliance with Lord Buckingham. All the Cardinal has to do is prove that the two have been in contact to unleash the King's fury on Anne. But when D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis become involved, that is a very difficult thing to do. Matters get more involved when Buckingham invades France and the Cardinal enlists the aid of the beautiful Lady de Winter who had already been trying to kill D'Artagnan for her own personal reasons.

There is SO much action and there are SO many intrigues, this must be one of the most entertaining books I have ever read. And funny! I laughed out loud when I found out what had happened to Athos after the first mission and I was incredulous and amused by the foursome antics on the battlefield of Rochelle, defending alone a recently taken position against a series of attacks just so they can have breakfast and discuss plans without being overheard!

Word to the wise: Buy more Musketeer books. I am waiting to read The Man in the Iron Mask until I can get Ten Years After and Twenty Years Later. (I'm told they don't have to be read in order but I can be persnickity that way)> I wished that I already had them on hand.

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Summary: Musketeers Triumph
Review: This is one book that has definitely earned its place among tbe top novels of all time. The characters are lively and developed, each with his or her own individual personality and part of what makes this book so appealing is the complex relations between them, ones that evolve through the book to suit new relevations in plot and character.

I haven't watched any film based on this book as of yet so I cannot say with any large degree of truth in the statement that the book is better than the film but I have my doubts that any film can properly display all the subtle nuances and plot details inherent in this book.

Lastly I must address the historical context of this story. Louis XIII is not a commonly discussed historical figure in French history as he is certainly no Henry IV or Lous XIV but it must be told that to say Dumas embroidered on history is an understatement, though he disguises it cleverly and makes it almost believable as a true historical work.