Rating: 
Summary: Try the Movie AND the Book!
Review: Too many of my amazon friends have given up or strongly hinted at the ending to this classic tale. This reviewer will try to avoid that trap. Set in England at the time of the French Revolution, "The Scarlet Pimpernel" features a brave Englishman who rescues French nobility from a certain date with the guillotine. Back home, the Brit is not taken seriously, usually described as "foppish". Across the Channel in France, he is the bravest guy around, carrying out daring rescues in a variety of disguises. Oh, those disguises! And that is all this reviewer will divulge! Those whose curiosity is whetted will just have to buy SP and read it. Though a bit florid, SP is fast reading, exciting and thoroughly enjoyable! A word on the movie version(s) seems required: The standard is the 1934 release with Leslie Howard as the SP, Merle Oberon as his wife, Lady Blakeley, and (in the "Prisoner of Zenda" tradition), Raymond Massey as the French agent, Chauvelin. There is a bad guy if ever there was one! The 1934 movie does NOT closely follow the book. Marguerite, Lady B, is vastly more prominent in print. That settled, enjoy SP in print or video. As is usually the case, the book wins but both are excellent entertainment in their own right. Isn't it poetic that Mr. Howard met his tragic real life demise as a British secret agent in WW2? Wouldn't Melanie have been proud of him?
Rating:
Summary: Pure Fun
Review: This book is just plain fun to read. No profound insight into humanity or burning indictment against someone or something - this is just great, fast paced fun. It reminded me of the Sherlock Holmes adventures or a modern suspense movie. The Scarlet Pimpernel is an Englishman who leads a group saving the lives of French Aristocrats who are being systematically hunted down and killed in a French revolution. His identity is secret and he is really putting egg on the face of the revolutionaries so they attempt to find him through the aid of the expatriot Marguerite St. Just, now Lady Blakeney and the head of society in England. The plot comes into full throttle when she puts them on the trail of the Pimpernel only to discover afterwards the identity of the Pimpernel herself. The race is on. Will they find and kill the Pimpernel before she can find and save him?
Rating:
Summary: Adventure, Disguise, Romance, Drama... It's all Here
Review: This story introduces us to a circle of friends in England during the French Revolution who, for the sport of it, travel to France in disguise to rescue French aristocrats from the certain death of the guillotine, right under the noses of their captors. The identity of their leader, the Scarlet Pimpernel, is a guarded secret but one that interests more and more people as more and more French aristocrats are discovered in safety in England. Constant danger, wit, romance, and adventure befall the reader at every turn. I've noticed in other reviews that people complain about the book starting out slow or gruesome or whatever. I don't remember noticing this myself, but I think any book worth reading can take a little patience in parts. Just let yourself absorb the story and give the author a chance. Don't spoil the book by watching the movies first. It's more fun to see the mystery unfold in all its subtleties and intensity in the book first.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, but it takes 50 pages to get into
Review: I normally write long reviews, but I think I already said everything I need to say. This is a great story, and it will stick with you. I still smile when I think about it. I'm smiling right now, actually.
The problem with the book is that it takes very long to get into. My mother gave up, and she can normally make it past these things. I was determined to read it, and once the plot actually started, I didn't want to put it down. The book's not that long, which makes it easier to manage than some classics.
I DO recommend the book. I couldn't give it 5 stars, but it is honestly exciting. Who is the Scarlet Pimpernel? I would be cruel if I told you.
Rating:
Summary: Good Story - Great Romance
Review: This review is directed primarily to ladies. This is a great book, girls! It starts out real gory, but hang in there (no pun intended), it will turn into an incredible romance. About 20 years ago, a college friend urged me to read the Scarlet Pimpernel. I read the first few pages and was so horrified by the bloodshed that I did not read further. That was a big mistake. After I graduated, I spotted the unabridged book in a CHILDREN's section of a library. What!? I checked it out and after I read past the first chapter or two, the story was so wonderful that I've been recommending it ever since. The first few gory pages set the scene. After you get through that the story develops into an amazing romance with lots of adventure. Warning: if you expect this book to end like the movie with Jane Seymour in it, it doesn't. The movie ending is actually the ending of one of the Scarlet Pimpernel sequels. This book has an OK ending, but if you want to read the dramatic ending that the movie has, you will also have to read one of the sequels, too--only I don't remember exactly which one it was. From what I remember the Baroness's husband helped her write the story and you can see his hand in it, I think, which really makes a great story. There are elements in it that are really action-packed and then there are the tender scenes. All nicely done, not too syrupy. This is a great book. Go for it. Read it, then the sequels. Also, I liked both versions of the movie. The old black and white with Leslie Howard and then the more modern version with Jane Seymore.
Rating:
Summary: The Duel in a Woman's Heart
Review: Torn between love for her brother and her husband, Lake Blakeney is tortured by doubt and guilt during the autumn of 1792--a turbulent year for France and her English sympathizers. Members of the hated French nobility (sacres aristos!) are ruthlessly hunted down, incarcerated, then executed to the jeers of the abused masses--grisly fodder for Madame Guillotine. Regardless of the justice or injustice of their fate, readers are treated to a gripping tale of vicious schemes, clever counterplots, and international intrigue. A band of 19 English aristocrats pledge life and loyalty to their audacious and ingenious leader, known cryptically by his signature flower: the Scarlet Pimpernel. This band of disguised heroes undertakes to rescue the doomed French nobility from the insatiable jaws of the Reign of Terror. Hounded by foxlike Chauvelin, the merciless agent for the bloodthirsty Republic, the Scarlet Pimpernel is walking into a fiendish trap--unwittingly set in motion by his own, unsuspecting wife, who does not realize his true personoa behind his foppish mask. The distraught woman, a former actress at the Comedie Francaise, is forced to make intolerable choices by her implacable foe who stalks her happiness, tirelessly pursuing the
shadowy trail of the daring Pimpernel. How much emotional torture can a woman endure in such a short time? Once she tumbles onto the truth about her sham marriage, she realizes that the heart she scorned is truly a prize worth earning--even dying for! Romance, lust for political power, and duels of wit mark this fast-paced novel of intrigue set in the French Revolution on both shores of the Channel. This is a spy swashbuckler without the usual swordplay; instead, readers enjoy a lightning exchange of rapier wits, while two hearts struggle to deny their true passion.
Rating:
Summary: Nicely done.
Review: There are many thoughts I have about this book. For one I was hooked and I couldn't stop enjoying the first few chapters. I had never read a book about anything that happened in France. The book is about the early years of the French Revolution where the common people where cutting the heads off all of the aristocrats. The aristocrats fled for their lives to neighboring countries. Most going to England. Then a man whose identity is unknown comes and takes these aristocrats to England using the most brilliant in ideas to outsmart the French army. However, the book then shifts to England. Where in a little inn a group of Englishmen form the league of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Then it shifts again to Marguerite, the smartest women in Europe, who has in her opinion married an idiot, Sir Blakely, who we latter find out is in fact the Scarlet Pimpernel.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable, but too Romantic
Review: This book is a great adventure story, but I found it very dry and overly-Romantic. The characters are less than two-dimensional. Marguerite is stunningly beautiful, talented, and rich. She's also named the cleverest woman in Europe. She thinks her husband a foolish imbecile whom she ridicules in front of others. On finding out his identity, all of a sudden she's madly in love. I couldn't help but dislike her. You'll get really tired by the hundredth time Orczy refers to Marguerite's 'womanly instinct', her 'woman's heart', or her 'woman's wits'! It's so stereotypical. Chauvelin is a silly, evil little scary-looking man. Sir Percy is most tolerable of these, I suppose. Although you can guess 'who wins', the plot itself is unpredictible. The climax was quite a surprise, I think, entirely unexpected. But it all comes to what you knew it would from page 1. It's just fun to read, nothing more. The events will keep you hooked and interested. The best thing about the book is the historical and political background, the mixed political views, providing much tension and intrigue in the story. The language is unimpressive. I know it's just an adventure-romance, but I've read other books of that genre with much more literary merit and character depth. If you like sophisticated classics don't read this book. If you're just looking for something fun and suspenseful, I highly recommend reading it. It's enjoyable, and I suppose we must give Orczy some credit for writing the first masked-hero adventure.
Rating:
Summary: A story for Anyone who loves Adventure and Love
Review: Baroness Orzcy has written an amazing book of bravery, faith, and secrecy of the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel. For children, the beginning is a bit difficult, but plug on through, for the book is great.
French agent M. Chauvelin is an emeny of The Scarlet Pimpernel and is sworn to find out his identity. The story if about the S.P.'s cunning, brave, and daring life, as M. CHauvelin chases after him in a brake neck speed. The ending is so clever, I never suspected any of it. The Cleverness of the S.P. Is far to much for Monsieur Chauvelin to handle.
Great book! Anyone who is anyone would enjoy the book.
We seek him here, we seek him there
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere,
Is he in Heaven - Of is he in Hell
That demmed, elusive Pimpernel
Rating:
Summary: A story for Anyone who loves Adventure and Love
Review: Baaroness Orzcy has written an amazing book of bravery, faith, and secrecy of the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel. For children, the beginning is a bit difficult, but plug on through, for the book is great.
French agent M. Chauvelin is an emeny of The Scarlet Pimpernel and is sworn to find out his identity. The story if about the S.P.'s cunning, brave, and daring life, as M. CHauvelin chases after him in a brake neck speed. The ending is so clever, I never suspected any of it. The Cleverness of the S.P. Is far to much for Monsieur Chauvelin to handle.
Great book! Anyone who is anyone would enjoy the book.
We seek him here, we seek him there
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere,
Is he in Heaven - Of is he in Hell
That demmed, elusive Pimpernel
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