The Three Musketeers

This one tied me up for a while, but ultimately it is a great adventure story.
Written around 1844, but set from 1625 onwards, Dumas brings to the table on the hero side camaraderie, honour and intelligence, and on the side of the villains - deception, plotting and cowardly poisoning. But it is far from a fairytale of good vs bad.

Our heroic Musketeers (D'Artagnan and “The Three”, but I suppose The Four Musketeers doesn't have the same ring) are not without fault - Porthos is having an affair with a married woman, who steals from her husband for Porthos, Aramis can't decide between a woman and the priesthood, D'Artagnan using deception and lies to trick the villainous Milady. They all treat women rather poorly, pick fights for unnecessary reasons, they are economic with the truth, and treat their servants with a mixture of distrust and contempt (as well as often praising them for their bravery and faithfulness!) - Athos does not even let his servant speak. Of course to a degree, this is all symptomatic of the time in history.

But ultimately the end justifies the means in most cases, and the Musketeers are the loveable rogues who manage to tread the line of honour without tipping too far into disrepute. I suspect if the heroes in this book were too squeaky clean they would have much less appeal than the excellent antagonist characters, who are almost more likeable in their villainy.

There were a few disappointments for me - at the commencement of the book, D'Artagnan meets his nemesis in Rochefort who he catches glimpses of during the novel, and only meets face to face again in the final chapter in what is probably the anticlimax of the book - we are told in a sentence or two that they duel four times, then become friends. There also lacked a little physical swordplay - starting off well with some duelling and arguments, but it petered out as the book went on. I expected more of that, mixed in with the plotting and intrigue.

But overall, an excellent read, good characters and an interesting setting in history.