The Three Musketeers is an action-packed classic with elements of romance and political intrigue. It's filled with engaging characters, from the hothead D'Artagnan to the soulful Athos and the evil Milady, a brilliantly sketched female villain. Milady is the perfect femme fatale—beautiful, but without a shred of goodness. D'Artagnan, on the other hand, is an inexperienced young man trying to make it in the world. Although he's not particularly brilliant or gifted, he's very likable, tumbling in and out of love and rushing headlong into life.
The story begins with D'Artagnan leaving home to seek his fortune. His idea is to become one of the King's musketeers and he has a letter of introduction from his father that might help him to accomplish this aim. However, on the way to Paris, D'Artagnan is beaten up and his letter stolen, the culprit being the Comte de Rochefort who works for Cardinal Richelieu, a powerful man who is ostensibly on the King's side but secretly working against him.
D'Artagnan manages to reach Paris but without the letter of introduction, he can't become a musketeer. And to make metters worse, he now falls into the bad graces of the three musketeers - Athos, Porthos and Aramis - and engages to fight duels with each of them, one after the other. The Cardinal's men catch the three musketeers and D'Artagnan trying to duel and attempt to arrest them, upon which the three musketeers and D'Artagnan join forces and defeat them, even though they are outnumbered. This fighting in unison cements a friendship between the three musketeers and D'Artagnan, who manages to get a place in a different regiment.
After this, the four friends set about trying to prevent a war between England and France by retrieving the jewels that the French Queen gave to the Duke of Buckingham. They meet many evildoers on their way, including Milady but they finally manage to get the jewels back and prevent a war. However, Milady, who was out to kill Buckingham, eventually succeeds in this aim, getting someone else to do the dirty work for her. She also kills D'Artagnan's sweetheart, leaving it up to the three musketeers and D'Artagnan to make sure she comes by her just desserts.
Alexandre Dumas was a man who never did things by halves. He wrote extensively, at first producing plays which were very successful and later, novels, which were published in serial form in journals read by the public. The Three Musketeers was enormously successful, with people standing in line waiting for the journal to become available. Another of Dumas' famous works, which has become a classic, is The Count of Monte Cristo, a tale of deception and intrigue. Altogether, Dumas wrote a total of 100,000 published pages. Although he was married, he had nearly 40 affairs and four illegitimate children, one of whom, known as Alexandre Dumas, fils (son) went on to become a well-known writer himself. Dumas' story is an inspiring one because he was partly black and often faced discrimination from his contemporaries, but he rose above all this to become one of the best-known writers of his time.
Download The Three Musketeers from The Audio Bookstore and prepare yourself for a rollercoaster ride through French history. This audio book is packed with action and suspense and will always keep you guessing.
"This is an excellent adventure story. The gallantry displayed by the various characters can sometimes get a bit old; while this may be the typical behavior of such men at the time in question, I am personally skeptical. Once you get beyond that, this is a story about love in dangerous times, and about the facing of those dangers head-on. This book is filled with murder, intrigue, assassination, and affairs of state."
— Josh (4 out of 5 stars)
“Get ready for a rousing action-adventure, courtesy of Alexandre Dumas and Simon Vance…Simon Vance’s performance is period-perfect. His characterizations are passionate, full-blooded, and memorable. Vance turns historical events into the background for romance and derring-do, sprinkled with healthy doses of irreverence, wit, and irony. Friendship, loyalty, and honor make this all-for-one-and-one-for-all listening.”
— AudioFile“Full of irresistible elements: swordplay, guns…intrigue, derring-do, loyalty, romance, famous historical names…A can’t-miss storytelling proposition.”
— Boston Globe“One of the finest adventure novels of all time. It has sword fights, espionage, significant jewelry, wonderfully devious villains, and all manner of high jinks. If you’ve been put off by one of the (many) lackluster film adaptations, do give the book a try—it’s wittier, livelier, cleverer, and more charming than any of its imitators.”
— Tor.com“Remains compelling and timeless.”
— Library Journal“I do not say there is no character as well drawn in Shakespeare [as D’Artagnan]. I do say there is none that I love so wholly.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Kim" Fun, fairly quick read, with the exception of the seemingly endless (and uninterrupted) description of Milady's captivity in England. Pardieu, I can see why most movies skip that segment. The antiquated, gentlemanly language was refreshing. "
— Larry, 2/14/2014" A riotous, absurd (it could never be written now), and entirely readable romantic adventure. As a serialized adventure of its time, it has its 'modern' flaws, but only a bitter soul would dislike this book for 'technical' reasons. The Count of Monte Cristo is always going to be my favorite Dumas (what a man!) book, but I look forward to reading the rest of the D'Artagnan adventures. "
— Unbridled, 2/14/2014" Read it in a day, couldn't put it down "
— Louise, 2/14/2014" Life your life to the fullest and damn the consequences. those are for after, those ore fo love and for love to answer for honor. "
— Jim, 2/14/2014" My favorite book ever. Nothing else to be said. "
— Jerry, 2/12/2014" I became a little disappointed sitting with so well-known classic and finding it so vague. Although all the happenings, intrigues and characters are various, the way they were described seem to be superficial and run out of emotions. I don't know if it's just my version of translation or there's really lack of descriptions, but this drawback was constantly discouraging me from lecture. "
— carnival, 2/11/2014" Forget the movies the book is really something to get excited about. "
— Tim, 2/10/2014" Audiobook. A bit of a slow start but I ended up rather enjoying it. Humorous and adventurous. I was surprised at how people were killed willy-nilly throughout the story. :) "
— Heather, 2/10/2014" I found that book long winded and boring. The films and cartoons are much more entertaining than the original story. I'm still happy I read it. "
— François-Denis, 2/6/2014" The female villain in this book is a great one. I loved all the characters, and I loved the plot. It is different than The Count of Monte Cristo. Both are wonderful, but The Three Musketeers is more action-packed, from cover to cover, while The Count of Monte Cristo has more down time. I look forward to reading the rest of the books in this series. "
— Em, 2/4/2014" I have to admit that despite its length, it was a very good story! Great plot, characters, and action!! A little disappointed with the ending though and I'm not fond of Dumas' portrayals of women as monsters or damsels in distress. "
— Nicole, 2/2/2014Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870), French novelist and playwright, was one of the most famous and prolific French writers of the nineteenth century, producing some 250 books. He is best known for his historical novels The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, and he was among the first authors to fully exploit the possibilities of the serial novel. He is credited with revitalizing the historical novel in France. His riveting, fast-paced adventure tales that blend history and fiction have been adapted into nearly 200 films. His last unfinished last novel, The Last Cavalier, lost to historians for 125 years, was completed in 2005 and quickly became a best seller.
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.