La Reine Margot in Reading 1001

Jul 16, 2016 Michael Finocchiaro rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: made-into-movie, fiction, historical-fiction, french-19th-c, read-in-french

I read this one hoping to find another series as engaging as the d'Artagnon romances but even if I enjoyed this story, its characters did not engage my imagination as much d'Artagnon, Porthos, Athos, and Aramis (or Dantès from Monte Cristo). This story is the beginning of a cycle based on the life of Henry IV. Margot who starts out as a haughty bitch eventually mellows out and gets a bit more real - that is essentially the plot. It is interesting and in that Dumas cliff-hanger way exciting but m ...more

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Jul 19, 2017 Amie marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books

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Feb 03, 2023 Sammi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 23-boxall-challenge, royalty-and-courting, boxalls-1001-books-list, france

“...know you not that you are my sun by day, and my star by night? By my faith! I was in deepest darkness till you appeared and illuminated all.”

Dumas has slowly become on of my favorite authors, because he rarely (if ever) lets me down. His books always slap. After reading The Knight of Maison-Rouge (my favorite Dumas work so far), I knew that Queen Margot would be an absolute treat and it was! I absolutely loved La Reine Margot (Queen Margot) - it is fast-paced, adventurous and has a cast of l “...know you not that you are my sun by day, and my star by night? By my faith! I was in deepest darkness till you appeared and illuminated all.”

Dumas has slowly become on of my favorite authors, because he rarely (if ever) lets me down. His books always slap. After reading The Knight of Maison-Rouge (my favorite Dumas work so far), I knew that Queen Margot would be an absolute treat and it was! I absolutely loved La Reine Margot (Queen Margot) - it is fast-paced, adventurous and has a cast of lovable/hatable characters that you really get to know.

Deep in the heart of the War of Religions in France during the French Renaissance - the palace is at the Louvre; King of Navarre, Henri de Bourbon has just recently married the french queen Marguerite de Valois but it is a marriage of power and ambition rather than love. & with Margot (besides France and her brothers) comes her mother, the true, unhinged STAR of this show: Catherine de Medici and she.is.the.drama.

We immediately dive into a massacre, an assassination plot and several love affairs. Catherine's out here poisoning people left and right (literally trust nothing - not your lipstick, not your book, not your mother, not the air, nothing) while Margot is hiding multiple men in her closet. This book is SUCH a hoot, there is so much going on, so much drama, so many dead people and misaligned plots... it is an absolute delight. The 600 pages just fly by because you are like "what will these people do next?!" ... and to think it's based on real history.

The cast of characters are so spritely, vibrant and wacky...They have depth, feeling and sometimes 0 morals. The plot is vastly layered with an appropriately satisfying yet upsetting conclusion. There are conspiracies, friendships, poisons, betrayals, court-gossip/drama, tender love, spies, the glamour of France, evil omens, and a throne everyone is not-so-quietly fighting for.

I will say with so much going on, it can be a little confusing if you don't know the history really well (& I know it but not well enough - I was confused at times on just what exactly was happening and who it was happening to) and this (along with the animal deaths) was the main reason it wasn't a full 5 stars.

All in all, I LOVED this book; I can see myself revisiting it in the future and I will certainly be watching the movie. Thank you Dumas for this French treat. ...more

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