The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas - A Short Summary & Review
The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
A Short Summary & Review
By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures
A Rite of Fancy Book Recommendation and Review
A short summary:
The Three Musketeers follows the adventures of the young and ambitious d’Artagnan as he arrives in Paris seeking glory, honor, and a place among the king’s elite guards. What begins as a personal quest quickly becomes entangled in court politics, espionage, and international intrigue.
Alongside Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, d’Artagnan navigates a world where loyalty is declared loudly and broken often, where personal honor clashes with political necessity, and where violence is both casual and theatrical. Dumas blends history and fiction freely, creating a fast-paced tale in which friendship and bravado coexist with manipulation and war.
My favorite quote from the book:
Questions to ponder while reading:
My review:
Did you know d’Artagnan was loosely based on Alexandre Dumas’s own father? That fact adds an interesting layer—this is not just bravado, but a kind of familial myth-making.
I discovered that I’m more of a Porthos girl. His vanity, appetite, and unapologetic love of pleasure feel refreshingly honest amid so much posturing.
Still, one has to ask: do all governments scheme this much? The novel suggests that politics is less about ideals and more about leverage, secrets, and convenient loyalties. The amount of maneuvering rivals the swordplay—and there is a lot of swordplay.
How many duels in a day is too many? By modern standards, all of them. Violence here is fashionable, performative, and oddly recreational. And war, war is treated almost like a social accessory, something endured with flair rather than questioned.
Yet for all its absurdity, the novel is undeniably fun. The Three Musketeers is exuberant, excessive, and knowingly over-the-top. It reminds us that adventure stories often reveal as much about the values of their time as about heroism itself.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller based in Tontitown, Arkansas.
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.
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