I finished reading this several months ago but never got around to posting about it. It also took me forever to finish reading this book because it was largely uninteresting. I came in expecting some swashbuckling, swinging from chandeliers, etc. but instead had to read about some low stakes drama about traveling to England to get a necklace and then replace a missing pearl in order to cover up an affair. It wasn't until like 3/4ths of the way into the book until I finally got to see some of the daring bravado that I was yearning for when the musketeers and D'Artagnan (who is actually the main character) had to speak of important matters in private and so they nonchalantly had a picnic out in enemy territory with their lives in mortal danger at all times. It is where Athos became the coolest of the musketeers and really the second most interesting character in the book. The most interesting character was Milady who was quite the evil schemer. The last 1/4th of the book focuses mainly on her story and was mostly enjoyable and it really salvaged the book.
Alexandre Dumas books I've read, ranked:
- The Count of Monte Cristo
- The Three Musketeers
Two quotes:
"A rogue does not laugh in the same way that an honest man does; a hypocrite does not shed the same sort of tears that a man of good faith does. All falsehood is a mask, and however well made the mask may be, with a little attention we may always succeed in distinguishing it from the true face."
"[R]epentance is becoming to the guilty. Whatever crimes they may have committed, for me the guilty are sacred at the feet of God!"
