The Three Musketeers

Title: The Three Musketeers

Author: Alexandre Dumas

Number of pages: 720

Started: 23 February 2008

Finished: 10 March 2008

Opening words:

On the first Monday of April 1625, the market town of Meung, the birthplace of the author of the Roman de la Rose, was in a wild state of excitement. The commotion could not have been greater if the Huguenots had arrived to make a second La Rochelle of it. Many of the wealthier citizens, seeing the women running towards the High Street and hearing the children screaming on the doorsteps of their houses, hastily buckled on their cuirasses and, to give themselves an air of greater assurance than they really possessed, seized muskets or halberds. Thus armed they made for the Jolly Miller Inn, where they found a dense and excited throng of people in from all directions.



Plot summary:

The classic historical adventure novel, set in the 1620s at the court of Louis XIII, where the musketeers Athos, Porthos and Aramis, together with their companion, the headstrong d'Artagnan, are engaged in a battle against Richelieu, the King's minister, and a beautiful, unscrupulous spy.

The synopsis is taken from Amazon.

What I thought:

This is not really my sort of book, but I ended up really enjoying it. I thought it was very wordy in places but then I discovered that it was serialised in a news paper, which would explain why he felt the need to use quite so many words! I thought it was quite an ‘honourable’ book and the Musketeers were willing to do battle on their friends’ behalf even if they thought it meant death. I wasn’t sure that I believed such people existed but it was an interesting view of the world. It was also interesting to read a book where the English were the enemy and you were meant to be wanting the French to win. An enjoyable read.