I loved The Three Musketeers the first time I read it. However, that was nearly all I remembered about it. Having read it again, I have to say that some parts are great, but the last quarter was lackluster, in my opinion.

Dumas has his characterization down. From the first moment that we meet these characters, they are richly developed, and over the course of the book, they change. None of them is perfect. Interestingly, that is even a major part of the plot at the beginning. Yep, they are hiding things or otherwise have some reason to be prickly. It makes for a bunch of interesting characters.

As for the setting, the narrator will say, "Well, now this behavior would totally be rude, but at the time it was okay to take money from your mistress." This gives us a bit of distance from a setting that is a bit crazy with all the scheming, which I think we might need to believe some of the more overly dramatic bits. What I found most amusing was how much the men were focused on love and the women were focused on politics.

The plot is mostly really compelling. The beginning moves right along, and (as is common with serialized stories) it slides right into the next adventure. What got me was the end. Suddenly, we are focused on Milady de Winter. Now, she is an interesting character, but watching her seduce some poor guy just is not my thing. At points, I'm almost rooting for her, as she really does have to work for it. However, very bad women are not my thing, and quite a big chunk of the last quarter of the book is Milady de Winter being oh so bad. I skipped a lot. And the very end was a bit flat too.

I won't read this book again, and I'm not especially interested in others by Dumas. We'll see. I might change my mind.

Should you read this? If you like adventure and don't mind infidelity, sure! Just be aware that the end drags a bit, unless you are into very very bad women.