The three Musketeers

Where did the term 'Bucket list' come from??? Honestly, I'dn never heard it and then everyone started using it- is it to do with a bucket and spade for a beach holiday? Should anyone care to enlighten me, I would be most grateful!
Anyway, I wonder that, because The Three Musketeers  has been on my book-to-read list for a long while.  When CBC and I were going out, fairly early on, I'd bought Dogtanian on DVD (do you remember it from the 80's- "One for all and all for one, Musket hounds are always ready...") and set out to watch an episode or two any time we were in for an evening. It was really fun and we really looked forward to our regular doses of 80's nostalgia.  By the time it had ended, CBC and I really wanted to read it, so we both bought copies of the original book by Alexander. CBC got on with his pretty shortly after, which is unusual for him to get hooked and to persevere with something which is a pretty good advert for the book in itself. I, myself, with always a large backlog of things to read, wasn't so lucky and I had lost (and CBC) my copy by the time I wanted to read it. I recently bought another copy in a charity shop and then promptly found the originals- typical. Anyway, I decided that it was a substantial enough read for Croatia, and took it along.

Image borrowed from www.foyles.com where you can buy the book here

My first impressions are that Dumas is a brilliant author at engaging you in the action. Like the episodes of Dogtanian, there are suitable events and use of suspense to make you keep reading. His dialogue writing is particularly engaging and the description is just enough to interest without being to much.
D'Artagnan, our hero is much more likeable than Dogtanian, and he is brilliant and young and full of pluck.  Cardinal Richlieu is much nicer and more understandable in his actions than he has come across to me before, so I warmed to him more. The other musketeers were written well and I liked them. D'Artagnan's love-interest, Madame Bonancieux (Juliet in the cartoon) is well-written but is out of scene for most of the book.  However, one character, Milady, the evil lady protagonist who attempts to thwart all good and is the evil doer of Cardinal Richlieu's intrigues, is truly evil- Dumas writes her SO well- I honestly hated her by the end of the book.  A particularly brilliant set of chapters, full of suspense that kept me reading through a beautifully-scenic boat-ride was the imprisonment of Milady later in the book.

The ending- well, it wasn't what I expected and BOY did I hate the ending- but it was well-written! It just wasn't what I wanted.

I urge you, if you want to give a classic a go, but they bore the hell out of you, give this one a go- it is a cut above the rest and full of adventure!
And if you like it, there are sequels...