This didn’t grab me as wholly or as instantly as The Count of Monte Cristo but honestly I don’t think anything could… that is the best book I’ve ever read. This was incredibly close by the end though. It wasn’t boring or slogging which is difficult to say for a nearly 800 page historical fiction set in the mid 1600s France dealing with political intrigue of the time.

Holy crap this was good. Dumas is a master storyteller and his building of characters and motivations and the slow reveals of their personality and past is enthralling. His writing isn’t lyrical but it is entertaining. Humorous and exciting it keeps you engaged but there are times you stop reading, set down the book and stare at a wall. Then pick up the book, reread a line, put it down and stare a while longer. He has lines that punch you in the heart out of nowhere.

Easily a 5 star read.

I finished the book, set it down, picked up my phone and ordered The Red Sphinx, the next book in the Three Musketeers series (which I didn’t know was a series until I was trying to find the next best Dumas to read after TCOMC).