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MY ⭐️ RATING: 5/5
Format: Graphic Audio
BOOK DESCRIPTION
First published in 1844, The Three Musketeers is the most famous of Alexandre Dumas’ historical novels and one of the most popular adventure novels ever written.
The Three Musketeers is a swashbuckling historical adventure following d’Artagnan, a brash young man who travels to 17th-century Paris to join the King’s elite Musketeers.
Young d’Artagnan leaves his home in Gascony with dreams of becoming an elite Musketeer of the Guard. Upon arriving in Paris, his fiery temper leads him to a series of misunderstandings that result in duels with three of the fiercest musketeers of the age: Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. Impressed by each other’s bravery, the four men form an unbreakable bond.
Together, they become embroiled in perilous royal court intrigue. They must protect Queen Anne from the dangerous political machinations of the powerful Cardinal Richelieu and his alluring, ruthless spy, Milady.
The novel remains a timeless classic exploring honor, loyalty, and brotherhood.
MY REVIEW
I plan on going back and actually reading Alexandre Dumas’s story, but the GraphicAudio was free on Audible, so I had no choice but to take advantage of that. I have to say, this version was fantastic. There are some GA’s that don’t work very well, but everything about this was excellent so are you surprised that I gave this 5 stars? If you are, you shouldn’t be. From the way the production captures everyday life to every voice actor giving top notch performances. Even the slight change of making the main antagonist, Milady de Winter the narrator, was a smart touch that still kept true to Dumas’s vision while adding a slight variation.
Growing up on the 1993 Disney film starring Chris O’Donnell, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Oliver Platt & Tim Curry as well as the 2001’s more acrobatic version with The Musketeer, I had no idea just how dark this story truly is. For today’s audience, The Three Musketeers would be pretty problematic and shocking. I don’t want this to sound negative because this story was actually incredible. I got lost in it, and did a rewatch of both the aforementioned films after I finished the GraphicAudio.
The biggest shock to me was how much we have romanticized this story from its original form. D’Artagnan is not the same pure of heart hero portrayed in the films, but leans much closer towards the dark. He’s far more promiscuous, despite being desperately in love with another woman. He’s also a manipulator and one could easily argue he crosses into territory that modern readers would call rape by deception. Aside from that, I did like D’Artagnan, he still had that dashing and brave swashbuckling bravado that helped make him a household name.
“A rogue does not laugh in the same way that an honest man does; a hypocrite does not shed the tears of a man of good faith. 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.”
With that said, the femme fatale, Milady de Winter was my favorite despite being the villain of the story, which is regularly glossed over for some ridiculous reason. I felt remorse for Milady de Winter while feeling some disgust towards D’Artagnan. Dumas does a great job of showing Milady’s reasoning and in today’s age, it is easy to see and understand her side of things.
I can’t forget to mention Athos, Porthos and Aramis, who made every moment of theirs unforgettable. Because of the films, I expected their roles to be much larger than they were, but Dumas does something more interesting. Athos is a ruined aristocrat that’s nursing a dark past; Porthos, the loud, vain, giant who turns out to have a heart of gold; and Aramis, the soft-spoken schemer whose piety never quite hides the politician underneath.
Despite the heavier themes of the story, Dumas’s storytelling had me captivated with political intrigue and all the backhanded machinations. On top of that, my protégé and I, who listened to this with me, laughed so many times throughout. The story balanced out all of this along with exciting duels plus slower more atmospheric scenes that let the work breathe and the sharp character work in what is literary perfection.
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