Where I Bought the Whole Thing, Airships and All

An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors by Curtis Craddock
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Great book. Super fun to read. I'm a new fan.

A sundered world, made up of floating land masses reached by sailing ships, with royal families distinguished by their unusual family magic, make this an exciting place to explore even before we get to the plot. Such a setting is amazing, full of possibility, and though I've seen *similar* settings I've never found one that seemed so real or felt so possible as this one. The lands are reminiscent of France and Spain and the like, but only enough to suggest nationalities, giving the wild setting a slight grip on familiarity which I appreciated.

Princess Isabelle, born with a defect, is almost killed at birth, and is only saved by Jean-Claude, a musketeer who becomes her lifelong defender and ally. I found them easy to like and root for. Both of these characters are capable in their own way but also flawed, and they face a series of antagonists who are similarly round as well as morally gray. More so than in many novels, the characters here make sense to me; their reactions and their motivations, even speaking of the bad guys, seem to add up, and I credit the author for peopling his wildly imaginative fantasy with actual human beings. Some of them are really, really horrible, but even those characters are not wholly evil or incomprehensible.

The plot is centered around palace intrigue, with many factions working to place the prince of their choice on the throne of Aragoth. This leads to murders, assassinations, kidnappings, battles, ambushes, and all the action a reader could hope for. The airships and sky islands are handled better here than in any novel I can think of, and the unusual magic--blood shadows and mirror walking and the like--are convincing and well used. The same with the bits and pieces of ancient technology.

In fact, I don't really have any notes. It was both a refreshing book and a great read. The next book in the series is ordered.

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Where I get to the end of the Musketeers' story

The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm sad to finish it, but it was really good.

The third novel--whether broken into 3 parts, as it often is, or 4, as I had it--is mostly good, but has long stretches that are less interesting. A lot of focus on the court and finances and secondary characters that mostly disappear. That's okay, but it's not my favorite. But the last volume is back to the musketeers, and that's the best part.

It's also the sad part.

Aramis, Athos, and Porthos are 60 something, and D'Artagnan is a little younger. They're all still powerful, brilliant (well, not Porthos, I guess), capable, energetic, and honorable (with an asterisk for Athos), but age is about to catch up to them. It is terribly melancholy to see the heroes become old men and reach the end of their careers. Still, it's beautifully done.

Dumas can bewilder me with 17th Century French politics and matters of finance, but nobody writes better action or more amazing dialogue between brilliant men (and a handful of women). Even in translation, even 170 years later, it's still a brisk read.

And even though it's 170 years later, and most people who are going to read it already have, some have not, and the best parts of the story to talk about are spoilers. I'll leave them alone and just say that I enjoyed the novel and found it very touching. And I'm glad to finally understand what "the man in the iron mask" is all about. Now I want to see if I can find some better versions of these stories as movies or series than I've found in the past.

Anyway, recommended. For most folks, it'll take time, especially slow readers like me. But I didn't mind.

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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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