What do you think?
Rate this book
The Three Musketeers
One of the best-loved adventures of all time. When young D'Artagnan comes to Paris to seek his fortune, he is challenged to a duel with not one, but three of the king's Musketeers. But Athos, Porthos and Aramis become his trusted friends as he tries to prove himself worthy of becoming a fourth Musketeer.
544 pages, Paperback
Published September 19, 2019
16 people are currently reading
314 people want to read
About the author
Alexandre Dumas
5,765 books12.6k followersThis note regards Alexandre Dumas, père, the father of Alexandre Dumas, fils (son). For the son, see Alexandre Dumas fils.
Alexandre Dumas père, born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was a towering figure of 19th-century French literature whose historical novels and adventure tales earned global renown. Best known for The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and other swashbuckling epics, Dumas crafted stories filled with daring heroes, dramatic twists, and vivid historical backdrops. His works, often serialized and immensely popular with the public, helped shape the modern adventure genre and remain enduring staples of world literature.
Dumas was the son of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, a celebrated general in Revolutionary France and the highest-ranking man of African descent in a European army at the time. His father’s early death left the family in poverty, but Dumas’s upbringing was nonetheless marked by strong personal ambition and a deep admiration for his father’s achievements. He moved to Paris as a young man and began his literary career writing for the theatre, quickly rising to prominence in the Romantic movement with successful plays like Henri III et sa cour and Antony.
In the 1840s, Dumas turned increasingly toward prose fiction, particularly serialized novels, which reached vast audiences through French newspapers. His collaboration with Auguste Maquet, a skilled plotter and historian, proved fruitful. While Maquet drafted outlines and conducted research, Dumas infused the narratives with flair, dialogue, and color. The result was a string of literary triumphs, including The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, both published in 1844. These novels exemplified Dumas’s flair for suspenseful pacing, memorable characters, and grand themes of justice, loyalty, and revenge.
The D’Artagnan Romances—The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte of Bragelonne—cemented his fame. They follow the adventures of the titular Gascon hero and his comrades Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, blending historical fact and fiction into richly imagined narratives. The Count of Monte Cristo offered a darker, more introspective tale of betrayal and retribution, with intricate plotting and a deeply philosophical core.
Dumas was also active in journalism and theater. He founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris, which staged dramatizations of his own novels. A prolific and energetic writer, he is estimated to have written or co-written over 100,000 pages of fiction, plays, memoirs, travel books, and essays. He also had a strong interest in food and published a massive culinary encyclopedia, Le Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine, filled with recipes, anecdotes, and reflections on gastronomy.
Despite his enormous success, Dumas was frequently plagued by financial troubles. He led a lavish lifestyle, building the ornate Château de Monte-Cristo near Paris, employing large staffs, and supporting many friends and relatives. His generosity and appetite for life often outpaced his income, leading to mounting debts. Still, his creative drive rarely waned.
Dumas’s mixed-race background was a source of both pride and tension in his life. He was outspoken about his heritage and used his platform to address race and injustice. In his novel Georges, he explored issues of colonialism and identity through a Creole protagonist. Though he encountered racism, he refused to be silenced, famously replying to a racial insult by pointing to his ancestry and achievements with dignity and wit.
Later in life, Dumas continued writing and traveling, spending time in Belgium, Italy, and Russia. He supported nationalist causes, particularly Italian unification, and even founded a newspaper to advocate for Giuseppe Garibaldi. Though his popularity waned somewhat in his final years, his literary legacy grew steadily. He wrote in a style that was accessible, entertaining, and emotionally reso
Alexandre Dumas père, born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was a towering figure of 19th-century French literature whose historical novels and adventure tales earned global renown. Best known for The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and other swashbuckling epics, Dumas crafted stories filled with daring heroes, dramatic twists, and vivid historical backdrops. His works, often serialized and immensely popular with the public, helped shape the modern adventure genre and remain enduring staples of world literature.
Dumas was the son of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, a celebrated general in Revolutionary France and the highest-ranking man of African descent in a European army at the time. His father’s early death left the family in poverty, but Dumas’s upbringing was nonetheless marked by strong personal ambition and a deep admiration for his father’s achievements. He moved to Paris as a young man and began his literary career writing for the theatre, quickly rising to prominence in the Romantic movement with successful plays like Henri III et sa cour and Antony.
In the 1840s, Dumas turned increasingly toward prose fiction, particularly serialized novels, which reached vast audiences through French newspapers. His collaboration with Auguste Maquet, a skilled plotter and historian, proved fruitful. While Maquet drafted outlines and conducted research, Dumas infused the narratives with flair, dialogue, and color. The result was a string of literary triumphs, including The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, both published in 1844. These novels exemplified Dumas’s flair for suspenseful pacing, memorable characters, and grand themes of justice, loyalty, and revenge.
The D’Artagnan Romances—The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte of Bragelonne—cemented his fame. They follow the adventures of the titular Gascon hero and his comrades Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, blending historical fact and fiction into richly imagined narratives. The Count of Monte Cristo offered a darker, more introspective tale of betrayal and retribution, with intricate plotting and a deeply philosophical core.
Dumas was also active in journalism and theater. He founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris, which staged dramatizations of his own novels. A prolific and energetic writer, he is estimated to have written or co-written over 100,000 pages of fiction, plays, memoirs, travel books, and essays. He also had a strong interest in food and published a massive culinary encyclopedia, Le Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine, filled with recipes, anecdotes, and reflections on gastronomy.
Despite his enormous success, Dumas was frequently plagued by financial troubles. He led a lavish lifestyle, building the ornate Château de Monte-Cristo near Paris, employing large staffs, and supporting many friends and relatives. His generosity and appetite for life often outpaced his income, leading to mounting debts. Still, his creative drive rarely waned.
Dumas’s mixed-race background was a source of both pride and tension in his life. He was outspoken about his heritage and used his platform to address race and injustice. In his novel Georges, he explored issues of colonialism and identity through a Creole protagonist. Though he encountered racism, he refused to be silenced, famously replying to a racial insult by pointing to his ancestry and achievements with dignity and wit.
Later in life, Dumas continued writing and traveling, spending time in Belgium, Italy, and Russia. He supported nationalist causes, particularly Italian unification, and even founded a newspaper to advocate for Giuseppe Garibaldi. Though his popularity waned somewhat in his final years, his literary legacy grew steadily. He wrote in a style that was accessible, entertaining, and emotionally reso
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
February 25, 2026
2025 Mimi wants to read this edition: 9781626860551 from Canterbury Classics, 2014.
2025 Mimi here. I also grabbed a copy today from another bookstore in town with this ISBN: 0140367470. I am totally starting this now and jumping from my ongoing library pile for a comfort read.
While 2015 me didn't write a review or list the edition, I'm 99% sure I read the Penguin Classics version from B&N. I remember feeling so giddy while reading because I have a strong love of multiple Three Musketeers movies & show adaptations. I'm hyped to read this 1994/2003 edition which is 443 pgs!!
2026 Mimi note, get a hold of the copy of The Three Musketeers: A New Translation in Modern Accessible English
2025 Mimi here. I also grabbed a copy today from another bookstore in town with this ISBN: 0140367470. I am totally starting this now and jumping from my ongoing library pile for a comfort read.
While 2015 me didn't write a review or list the edition, I'm 99% sure I read the Penguin Classics version from B&N. I remember feeling so giddy while reading because I have a strong love of multiple Three Musketeers movies & show adaptations. I'm hyped to read this 1994/2003 edition which is 443 pgs!!
2026 Mimi note, get a hold of the copy of The Three Musketeers: A New Translation in Modern Accessible English
November 16, 2017
I was very familiar with numerous screen adaptations, even the kids cartoon 'Dogtanian' so there was always an expectancy to enjoy this novel.
Overall I found it to be very thrilling and glad to have ticked it off the list.
Overall I found it to be very thrilling and glad to have ticked it off the list.
February 8, 2026
Obsesionada con este libro y con los mosqueteros (!!!). Leí este libro de pura chiripa (lo compré porque estaba barato jaja), pero me llevé la increíble sorpresa de que la historia está llena de aventuras, humor y amistad.
A lo largo del libro me fui encariñado con los mosqueteros por ser personajes de palabra, siempre justos, leales y de buen corazón.
Creé una cercanía que no creía posible y los voy a extrañar siempre 🥲 por eso me puse a ver las diferentes versiones en películas y estoy emocionada por leer el segundo y el tercer libro de esta serie 🫶🏼
A lo largo del libro me fui encariñado con los mosqueteros por ser personajes de palabra, siempre justos, leales y de buen corazón.
Creé una cercanía que no creía posible y los voy a extrañar siempre 🥲 por eso me puse a ver las diferentes versiones en películas y estoy emocionada por leer el segundo y el tercer libro de esta serie 🫶🏼
January 24, 2022
As much of a page-turner as one could hope for from a novel translated from French over a hundred years ago. A real swashbuckler, innit? A great read but more fun than cerebral; more focus on pacing than prose.
One peculiarity I noticed was that if a character had something to say, they rarely merely “said” it. Neither did they utter, murmur, mention, exult, claim, exclaim, proclaim, shout or yell.
Rather, they cried. Characters cried a lot in this book. They cried furiously. They cried out in surprise, joy and rage. They cried in shouts and they cried in whispers. They cried in agreement and they cried objections. I don’t remember if any milk was spilled in the story, but if it had been one can rest assured how the incident would have been related from one character to another.
One peculiarity I noticed was that if a character had something to say, they rarely merely “said” it. Neither did they utter, murmur, mention, exult, claim, exclaim, proclaim, shout or yell.
Rather, they cried. Characters cried a lot in this book. They cried furiously. They cried out in surprise, joy and rage. They cried in shouts and they cried in whispers. They cried in agreement and they cried objections. I don’t remember if any milk was spilled in the story, but if it had been one can rest assured how the incident would have been related from one character to another.
November 30, 2011
The book started off pretty slow, but by the end the plot had really thickened and it ended up being a pretty good book. Its not a light read, being a classic. Overall I decided it wasn't too bad. This would probable be a good book for mystery lovers, because the plot is so thick and the mystery of murders and betrayals so deeply intertwined in the story, it makes a good mystery/adventure book.
March 20, 2018
I actually really liked the plot and style of writing in this book. I definitely found it interesting however found little time to read. My only problem was a few of the characters and how they were over dramatic.
October 9, 2011
A book packed with sword fights and revenge!
January 31, 2020
Well I started the new year and a new decade with a classic. It was a wonderful early days international spy story. Spy’s allegiances broken action packed.
May 11, 2023
definitely a page turner but i really can’t get past the misogyny and how awful the musketeers are.
January 16, 2026
virkelig nogle af de mest irriterende karakterer jeg nogensinde har været i selskab med
December 23, 2012
Ermagerd, yeah. This was such a good book.
To be honest, the only reason I picked it up was because of my requirement to read classics in my high school years. And I thought I was going to be yawning in boredom, but might as well give it a try anyways. I think that teens, such as myself, aren't really interested in reading Classics but instead like to read YA fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi, etc. (If they like to read at all.) Because. Well. Classics aren't exactly the easiest thing in the world to understand, are they? There's a lot of interpretation involved, and don't forget the VOCABULARY. I always find the most vocab in the classical novels to research.
And when I finally read this I realized that classics aren't half-bad as I thought they were, lol. As I said, I actually liked this book a lot.
The author does a pretty good job with description. I could picture all the people he described. Although it sort of annoyed me that all classics have more narrating than dialogue. And I love dialogue. In my own writing I get excited whenever I get to the dialogue parts.
Also, the author, like most classical writers, are really good irony writers and so much things are freaking ironic you almost fall out of your chair every single time.
So of course there's a barbie movie version of it. (Yeah I watched it, duh) And there are several similarities except the barbie one was altered a little for the sake of little girls. There isn't any killing (there's a lot of killing, and lots of action to go along with it) or really awkward love-scenes (quite a few of those, I'm just glad classical authors don't describe them in depth. Don't want this to be a 50 Shades of Grey here) in the barbie movie. In the movie, there isn't any romance at all. And the main character is a girl. But the similarities, even small, are still there because the main characters both have the same ambitions and they're both pretty insistent on doing what they want to do. (The qualities of a musketeer!)
So, the main character in this novel, d'Artagnan, an ambitious young man in his twenties, is actually pretty likable but his actions are ridiculous and forward and he has to pay dearly for it afterwards. And he's cocky too. LOL. He's often referred to in this book as 'our hero'. He is, pretty much, I guess.
Okay so a note on the romance. It is so freaking sad because, well, first of all, it was love at first sight, which isn't sad, but annoying still, and the lady was already married and then they fall for each other? Then what's the point of marrying her old fart of a husband besides for money. And at the end. I literally screamed out loud because of the flipping tragicness of it.
This is actually a really good example of the good guys prevailing (not to mention giving a few sacrifices) and the bad guys getting their deserved punishment.
There are a lot of deaths and I'm sad to say that not all of them were bad guys.
Out of the musketeers I like Aramis the best because I just do. LOL.
Honestly, I don't think the ending was a sad/happy one at all but was just a 'as a matter of fact the end'. We went through an adventure with our heroes, the end.
Yeah, as I have mentioned before, this is a really good book. Give it a try!
To be honest, the only reason I picked it up was because of my requirement to read classics in my high school years. And I thought I was going to be yawning in boredom, but might as well give it a try anyways. I think that teens, such as myself, aren't really interested in reading Classics but instead like to read YA fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi, etc. (If they like to read at all.) Because. Well. Classics aren't exactly the easiest thing in the world to understand, are they? There's a lot of interpretation involved, and don't forget the VOCABULARY. I always find the most vocab in the classical novels to research.
And when I finally read this I realized that classics aren't half-bad as I thought they were, lol. As I said, I actually liked this book a lot.
The author does a pretty good job with description. I could picture all the people he described. Although it sort of annoyed me that all classics have more narrating than dialogue. And I love dialogue. In my own writing I get excited whenever I get to the dialogue parts.
Also, the author, like most classical writers, are really good irony writers and so much things are freaking ironic you almost fall out of your chair every single time.
So of course there's a barbie movie version of it. (Yeah I watched it, duh) And there are several similarities except the barbie one was altered a little for the sake of little girls. There isn't any killing (there's a lot of killing, and lots of action to go along with it) or really awkward love-scenes (quite a few of those, I'm just glad classical authors don't describe them in depth. Don't want this to be a 50 Shades of Grey here) in the barbie movie. In the movie, there isn't any romance at all. And the main character is a girl. But the similarities, even small, are still there because the main characters both have the same ambitions and they're both pretty insistent on doing what they want to do. (The qualities of a musketeer!)
So, the main character in this novel, d'Artagnan, an ambitious young man in his twenties, is actually pretty likable but his actions are ridiculous and forward and he has to pay dearly for it afterwards. And he's cocky too. LOL. He's often referred to in this book as 'our hero'. He is, pretty much, I guess.
Okay so a note on the romance. It is so freaking sad because, well, first of all, it was love at first sight, which isn't sad, but annoying still, and the lady was already married and then they fall for each other? Then what's the point of marrying her old fart of a husband besides for money. And at the end. I literally screamed out loud because of the flipping tragicness of it.
This is actually a really good example of the good guys prevailing (not to mention giving a few sacrifices) and the bad guys getting their deserved punishment.
There are a lot of deaths and I'm sad to say that not all of them were bad guys.
Out of the musketeers I like Aramis the best because I just do. LOL.
Honestly, I don't think the ending was a sad/happy one at all but was just a 'as a matter of fact the end'. We went through an adventure with our heroes, the end.
Yeah, as I have mentioned before, this is a really good book. Give it a try!
December 9, 2025
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas is a classic adventure story through and through. War, sword fights, political intrigue between kings and queens, wildly over the top romance, and an unbelievable amount of drinking and debauchery from our four heroes, who never seem able to hold onto a single coin for more than five minutes.
D’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis drink, gamble, and stumble their way into and out of ridiculous predicaments. At one point, on a bet, they casually have breakfast on a ruined section of a fort the French are actively attacking, using muskets grabbed from dead bodies to fight off the defenders, then calmly return to eating and drinking their wine. It feels like a scene straight out of Monty Python. Absolutely hilarious.
Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable story, full of swagger, charm, and absurd courage. I gave The Count of Monte Cristo five stars, and this one lands just a step behind it at a very solid four stars.
D’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis drink, gamble, and stumble their way into and out of ridiculous predicaments. At one point, on a bet, they casually have breakfast on a ruined section of a fort the French are actively attacking, using muskets grabbed from dead bodies to fight off the defenders, then calmly return to eating and drinking their wine. It feels like a scene straight out of Monty Python. Absolutely hilarious.
Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable story, full of swagger, charm, and absurd courage. I gave The Count of Monte Cristo five stars, and this one lands just a step behind it at a very solid four stars.
April 8, 2016
If I could I would give this 6 stars. This is the most complete and enjoyable book I've read for a long time and would even read again. There is so much action, humour and cameraderie, the best when Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan are together. Action flits from France to England, caught up in politics and the very evil Milady. I accidentally read the 3rd of 5 Musketeer books first, and number 2 later, but didn't detract from the whole. Now cannot wait for last 4 and 5 - The Man in the Iron Mask.
August 24, 2012
Thoroughly enjoyed this classic. The adventurous plot made this book a real page turner for me as all the pieces fell together chapter by chapter. I also found myself chuckling at the courteous manner of d'artagnan when talking with enemies, after dueling, etc. So strange to me to be so polite to someone trying to kill you. Unfortunately when I picked this up I didn't realize it was the abridged version - hope I didn't miss too much.
June 14, 2017
Annoyingly, I have an unabridged version of this kicking around the house that I had missed when I picked this up. Still, it was a euro or something, and a nice quick read, so no harm done.
So, there are a few places where the abridging shows through, and other places where things seem to drag a bit. But, on the whole, this is quite a rip-roarer. I like short chapters in my pacey adventures, and this delivers.
So, there are a few places where the abridging shows through, and other places where things seem to drag a bit. But, on the whole, this is quite a rip-roarer. I like short chapters in my pacey adventures, and this delivers.
September 24, 2014
I'm sure glad that I pulled this book out of my grade school library. It's amazing what 20 years of additional life and 12 extra years of schooling can accomplishment in terms of comprehension. If Dumas made additional books involving d'Artagnan, it almost seemed like an afterthought judging by how the epilogue seemingly tried to tie loose ends. I'm intrigued to read the remaining books in the series to see if Dumas maintained consistency. Certainly worth the 25 days it took to read.
February 9, 2018
Meh! Like most books from this era, it was written in installments so it is very long and wordy and doesn't necessarily flow like a book written strictly to be published as a book. As for a read, it was decent book about people behaving poorly and justice being delivered to them. I had to laugh at how risqué it was for the time it was written with talk about romantic trysts, naked men and affairs! Ha!
September 13, 2017
I WAS enjoying this book. Fun, interesting characters, politics enough to make sense but not Byzantine, well-placed action scenes. Then, the thing clearly posted by the title of this edition on Goodreads finally came to my attention: Abridged. I feel cheated. I can't count it on my "famous books I've read" if it's abridged! Gah!
February 15, 2023
If anything reads like a man from the 1800s wrote a book, it is this. It read like Dumas imagined a caricature of a man in the 1630s and just went with it, while of course giving women either no agency or making them the cause of all suffering. But I love it for what it has given us; which is, of course, a BBC series of four cool guys having adventures.
September 1, 2024
When I first read this some years ago I quite enjoyed it, and now while it is still an enjoyable read I found myself constantly judging the characters for the countless poor decisions they make throughout the novel
March 25, 2008
Great swashbuckling classic. My only regret is that I read it as an abridgment.
January 15, 2009
Hilarious and intricate, with some amazing turn of phrase. Read it in french, and it was well worth the effort.
July 13, 2010
I hate abridgments.
May 29, 2016
People in general," he said, "only ask advice not to follow it; or if they do follow it, it is for the sake of having someone to blame for having given it.”
May 28, 2016
such an awesome book about friendship. the translation by Richard Pevear for the Penguin Classics edition is amazing
October 1, 2018
-it's FUN!
(but what happened to Kitty?) ..
(but what happened to Kitty?) ..
October 24, 2021
A rollicking good adventure. Published 1845.
April 19, 2025
(4.5) such a spectacular time, what else can I say?
Want to read
February 13, 20241P
1H
1H
November 25, 2024
Hilarious, this read was a great family classic!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews