Where Alexandre Dumas writes everybody under the table

Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It was many years ago that I read The Three Musketeers, and was surprised that I liked it so much. Then years later I read The Count of Monte Cristo, and was surprised that I liked it so much. Now it's been several more years, and following the rule of three... you know where this is going.

The copy I read was an old hardcover my wife found for me for Christmas, and she insisted she didn't spend much at all (which is perfect). Turns out, it was a beautiful edition, with a handful of pictures, from probably 1896 (hard to be sure) and it's in great shape. What a pleasure to read such a novel in such a nice edition!

Dumas can tell an adventure story, and I am not the first to say so. He sketches main characters with a few words, hardly bothers with introducing the minor characters beyond a name, and gets right to the action, which carries the reader for about 900 breezy pages. Many authors aren't half as engaging over a fraction as many pages, and you just have to applaud Dumas. It doesn't matter much if you know the history or the issues; the story reads fine without bothering too much about exactly who is who or why they're fighting. (Well, I did look up Mazarin and Charles I and other historical figures you find here, but I don't think it made any real difference in understanding or pleasure in reading. Didn't hurt, anyway.)

The endlessly inventive D'Artagnan is a wonderful character, and so is the highly ethical Athos, and the simple but loyal Porthos. I found Aramis less sympathetic, but still enjoyed the interplay between the four men, along with a few of their allies. They are reunited, and you cheer, and hope they have a great adventure; then they find themselves on different sides of events, and it's a worry; but of course they find a way to become brothers again, and the reader cheers once more. If I accidentally learned a little about France and European events of the 17th Century, that's a bonus, because this is an action novel, and it just keeps moving.

I recommend Dumas's novels to those who are interested in historical fiction but haven't taken the plunge. Ebooks are free to try, but I find holding the novel, especially an old copy, feels better, and makes the experience richer. Like so much, though, including every word here, that is just my opinion, and others may disagree.

As for me--I'm looking for the third book. It's supposed to be much larger, and always published in separate volumes, one of which is The Man in the Iron Mask.

Sounds perfect.

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