Read this if you…
- want pure swashbuckling fun
- want a classic novel that is light
Skip this if you…
- hate fun
- are expecting some deep takeaway, stuff that REALLY makes you think, its just a fun romp
- are expecting it to be as good as count of monte cristo
Why It Matters
Dumas built the template for the adventure novel: swordfights, friendship, loyalty, betrayal, all moving at a pace that never lets up. D'Artagnan and the Musketeers are some of the most recognizable characters in world literature. And "all for one, one for all" became the default code for fictional male friendship.
The 
Take
Now THATS a swashbuckling tale. Just a ton of fun, very light, fun characters and adventures, funny parts. On guard!
Depicted in Art
Porthos, on the steps outside the Hôtel de Tréville, displays his gold-embroidered baldric to admirers — unaware d'Artagnan will see the cheap leather back.
Maurice Leloir, 1894
The Lillean executioner raises his sword over the kneeling Milady de Winter on the bank of the Lys at night, the four musketeers looking on.
Maurice Leloir, 1894
Athos, pistol drawn at an inn table, wrenches Cardinal Richelieu's signed blank pardon from Milady's hand.
Maurice Leloir, 1894
Half-length portrait of Athos in musketeer's cloak and plumed hat, sword at his side.
1846
The three young guards on watch duty together early in their friendship, plumed hats and crossed muskets.
Maurice Leloir, 1894
Constance steps between d'Artagnan and the Duke of Buckingham in a Paris doorway, the young Gascon drawing his sword on the duke he does not yet recognize.
Maurice Leloir, 1894
Milady de Winter, bound and dressed in white, is led by the musketeers across the dark countryside toward the executioner waiting at the river.
Maurice Leloir, 1894
Recommended Editions
Richard Pevear
Penguin Classics · 2006
Pevear (of the Pevear and Volokhonsky team) went solo on Dumas and it's the fastest English Musketeers in print. The banter actually lands, and the duels read at the speed Dumas wrote them.
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Deep Dive
What It's About
This summary gives away plot details.
Notable Quotes
“All for one, one for all!”
“All for one, one for all—that is our motto, is it not?”
More by Alexandre Dumas
- The Count of Monte Cristo
1844 · Adventure