La Reine Margot was, in my opinion, a pretty good story. There is lots of deception on the part of the Queen de Medicis, one of the more fascinating characters in the story. The book gives a glimpse of France during the Huguenot/Catholic struggle for power. The beginning is slow, but the story is good. I found it difficult (not being familiar with the history) to learn the characters' names. The first chapter is particularly trying, but I pressed on and the book seemed to ease up a LOT and give way to a story of plotted murders, backstabbing, a little superstition/witchcraft, and many close calls. La Reine Margot wasn't nearly as good as The Count of Monte Cristo (if you have not read this, it is definitely a page turner!), but it was a good story that gives a little insight into history while livening it up with Dumas's sword-fighting, heroic style. Notice that I tend to be a little harsh by granting it three stars, but this is only because The Count of Monte Cristo was truly his best work and must be set apart from his others.

This is a Historical novel that takes place in France, in the XVIth century. There's a very very bad black widow -as a matter of fact, black mother as well this is Catherine of Médicis-, a beautiful and amorous young queen married to somebody she does not love but with whom she forms an alliance just in order not to be a widow herself and go to a convent, a romantic heroe, his true friend -who sometimes loves him a little bit too much and a bunch of intriguers. Alexandre Dumas, in his newspaper serial style - this novel was first published that way-, interweave different stories aboiding boring descriptions and getting to the point: quick dialogue, short chapters, attractive characters, and everything to catch you from the first page, which he achieves. It really is a page turner, with several love stories that never goes with marriage and several marriages that never goes with love but with alliances. I have read that some United States reviewers are a bit confused because of the historical part and that's a problem unless you know European History or have a book with comments and notes. If you end the book and want to know what happened afterwards, read British Enciclopedia or something like that, because all characters are historical, even the Romantic hero La Mole and his friend. To those that have seen the 1990s French movie, you have the advantage of imagining the whole story with the beautiful faces of Isabelle Adjani and Vincent Perez, and the great soundtrack and spectacular staging from his director, which reminds of an opera. To those who doesn't I'd say go to your videoclub and try to find it!! It's not a substitute but a perfect complement.

This is a lesser known Dumas novel than, say, the Count of Monte Christo. But it is just as good as the others he did: vivid personalities, attention to detail, and fabulously intricate plots. It tells the story of Margot and her marriage to the King of Navarre, an ambitious Hugenot in constant danger of assassination. With the backdrop of the religious wars, she finds love in a knight that she attempts to cloister from the dangers of court intrigue. It ends in tragedy, hope, and the promise of further adventure.

Based on available historical sources at the time and embellished with Dumas' unique sense of drama, it is a spectacular read, full of danger, sudden developments, and psychological depth. While it may not be as deep as Stendhal's best works, it is absolutely first rate as a historical novel, a genre that Dumas helped to develop. It stimulates the reader's desire to plung more deeply into French history as well.

High recommendation.

I really wanted to like this book since I had loved Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo" and the first two books about the musketeers so much, but unfortunately, I found it to be a big disappointment.

The main story in this book is a love story involving Louise de la Valliere and King Louie XIV. This story could have been very good and interesting but it wasn't because of the poor characterization. Louise and Louie were both dull and uninteresting. Dumas entirely failed to make me feel what these two characters felt. This whole story was just very weak and lacked thought.

Another story in the novel involves Aramis and a prisoner in the Bastille. The scenes that were spent on this story were good, but there were too many dull and uninteresting parts packed in between these scenes to make the read flow really well.

Then there were just several other stories thrown into the book that had no business being there. They were boring and pointless and added nothing meaningful whatsoever.

Also, Dumas seemed to have developed a fondness for long paragraphs while writing this book. There were quite a few paragraphs in the book that went on for two or three pages and they were very difficult for me to read.

And like "The Vicomte de Bragelonne", this book does not have very much to do with the four musketeers. This time, Athos is hardly in it, which annoyed me extremely since he is my favorite. D'Artagnan, Aramis, and Porthos are in it a little more than Athos but not much. The first several chapters of the book involves at least one of the four musketeers, but don't let this fool you. If you're reading this book for the characters, you will be greatly disappointed by the amount of time they have in the novel.

And I DID NOT think that "The Man in the Iron Mask" was worth reading through this one to get to. That book was an appalling disaster in my opinion.

I read the Vicomte of Bragelonne, and the story is about Raoul, son of athos. The book contain all the three stories, Bragelonne, La Valliere, and The man in iron mask. This is the original book, some editors, split the book in three, and La Valliere is the second part of it. In my opinion is not the best story of Dumas, because like a reader you simpathetic, whit Raoul and Louise cheat him whit the king. I recomend read the entire book of bragelonne.

However, despite the fact that the title character does nothing for me (my sympathy is all with Raoul), I do recommend this book. It is part of the Musketeer Cycle, after all, and that connection in and of itself is enough to keep this book in a place of honor on my shelf. As another reviewer said, you really do have to read the series in order; and I'd like to add that, with Le Vicomte de Bragelone/Louise de la Valliere/The Man in the Iron Mask, you should be certain that your books are of the same edition and from the same publisher. Different publishers tend to break these three books (which are intended to be one book) at different chapters.

Louise de la Valiere is the least action-oriented of the Musketeer novels, but the writing is brilliant and the characters are true to themselves. Also, the translation is well-done. Queen Margot is the Dumas novel that has never been properly translated in my opinion. (And yes, I do speak French and have seen the novels in their original languages.)

Just remember that Dumas is not a fan of "Happily ever after . . ."

I read Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo when I was a freshman and fell totally in love with his writing and the story. Surprising then, that I didn't pick up more of his books till three years later, after seeing The Man in the Iron Mask the movie. Guess what, the book and the movie are nothing alike, (what a shocker) but the book is better in all ways. Only Dumas can capture the sense of history and timelessness that is in his novels. I admit that the beginning of The Man in the Iron Mask is confusing for those who haven't read the previous four books(it was for me) yet the story is a wonderful one, richly told and full of the adventure and excitement that Dumas puts into all his works. Within pages I was hooked on the book and found myself totally engrossed with characters I had never met before. It has all the qualities of a first-class adventure story: bravery, friendship, love, death, and an indefinable longing for the world to be somewhat better than it truly is. The plot has little to do with Philippe (The man in the iron mask) and deals with the last adventures of Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and d'Artagnan, and the ties of friendship which bind them together. I cried throughout the last fifty pages of the book. After finishing it, I immediately read the rest of the Musketeer series and have become a life-long fan. I recommend this book to anyone who has a sense a romance and adventure.

I was inspired to read The Man in the Iron Mask after seeing the movie (the one with DiCaprio). I hadn't realized that the Musketeers were part of the story and was very intrigued. Which plot lines were in the original and which were developed by Hollywood? Wow! Was I in for a surprise! The movie and the book tell different stories, but both are excellent, entertaining, and thought-provoking.

I appreciate books/series which show how the characters have aged and developed. Dumas does this with the musketeer series. D'Artagnan is no longer the wide-eyed "Gee, what could happen to me next?" hero of The Three Musketeers. He has to deal with questions of loyalty vs. friendship, support for the king vs. honor vs. love of his friends. There are still adventures and swordfights, but also more character conflicts. There is no simple nasty villain for the "good guys" to fight.

When I first read The Man in the Iron Mask (the movie tie-in edition), I was confused about who many of the characters were. The beginning didn't make much sense since it came in part-way through the story. The first line of the first chapter in particular confused me since it referred to events which I as the reader knew nothing about. The book makes a lot more sense when read as part of the whole series (The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Valliere, The Man in the Iron Mask).

I STRONGLY suggest reading the Oxford World Classics edition, which starts with earlier chapters than other published versions and includes scenes that make the story more understandable: Athos confronts the King, Aramis reveals himself as a Jesuit and scopes out the Bastille, D'Artagnan confronts the King... These are some of the best scenes in the book, and it is a shame that other publishers don't include them.

I won't lie. When I first read this book I felt terribly cheated. I had followed the adventures of the Four Musketeers for months. And then, Dumas reminded me that they could trick Richelieu and Mazarin, but they couldn't outsmart Louis XIV nor time.

Know something? I loved it!

This book isn't as fast-paced as the previous stories. It has lots more intrigue and romantic tension, since it's centered around Raoul de Bragelonne (Athos' son) and, as D'Artagnan says, the youngsters of Louis XIV's court aren't what they used to be. Neither the musketeers! Athos has become quieter, Aramis more mysterious, Porhos more innocent and D'Artagnan is tired of devoting his life to persons that forget him once they're powerful. Their final fight against time makes this a great book, even if during the final chapters I cried a lot. Any Musketeer lover would.

Finally, and for moviegoers, my advice: don't even try to compare the movie to this book. It's completely different, though the musketeers are nicely portrayed on it, and shouldn't be compared. Alternate realities, anyone?

Sade, long known for being the unprintable,unpublishable and,in the words of Henry James, the great "unnameable", continues to be avoided by the mainstream, as well as the syllabuses of academic literature courses. Several university professors have even frankly confessed to me that they wouldn't touch Sade with a pair of tongs. This is due to his delight in all manifestations of evil, his notorious enjoyment of cruelty and self-inflicted pain, his immoralism and his picture of a loveless and destructive cosmos. For Sade, the universe has no features: there is no God, no goodness, no truth, no unity. Nature, the great aristocrat, is indifferent and the bad and strong triumph while the small and weak go to the wall. These sentiments, presented in their most bald form, may strike us as banal, though they do contain an essential germ of truth and right. The main story in this collection, amply illustrates this theme, as a pious, intensely moral girl, upon meeting with adverse circumstances, travels through life enduring the most agonising injustices imaginable, ranging from slavery, robbery, beating, mutilation and rape by a group of lecherous monks she had ostensibly sought out for aid. Nevertheless, she refuses to yield to the temptations of revenge and hate of the world which so cruelly treats her, but holds fast to her religious and moral principles. As a result, Sade has her punished for her virtues. Other tales touch on Sade's preoccupations with evil and good, including one that touches on lesbianism, though the overall selection is not as dark as it seems, containing a number of episodes of genuinely original humour and irony. "Dialogue between a Priest and a Dying Man" is one such story, employing the fashionable eighteenth century form of the dialogue. It consists in a dying man outarguing his priest, eventually convincing him of the advantages of vice and converting him to atheism. It's a shame that Sade is so underrated as a humourist.

This book reveales the dark side of a society, the blackness corner of human soul. It is higly recommended to read because it enriches one's knowledge and knows more about the immortal, hopeless reality during Sade's time.

This is arguably the best starting point for one who is interested in the Marquis' writings.

This story is about two companions Maupassant's "A Corsican Bandit" who wander through nature. Forests, fields, valleys and landscapes. Pine trees, untangled Yet one another short story by this great trunks, umbrella pines, misshapen author. And the way he describes this one is trees, granite. even more gruesome than the last. They walk past a little wooden "A Corsican Bandit" is nearly a horror story cross and one of the men asks the describing very dramtic events... other to tell him about its The story takes place in a petrified valley origin. with beautiful surroundings. So the other man starts telling a story about a bandit named Sainte "Up on the two narrow peaks which dominate Lucie. this pass, a few old misshapen trees seemed Sainte Lucie was apparently a weak to have made their way with difficulty, like and spineless boy, with very little scouts sent on ahead of the huge dense mass strength of character. of trees behind them. We turned round and One day his father had been killed Saw the whole forest stretched out beneath by a young man in the vecinity. us, like an enormous green bowl with edges Sainte Lucie knew he was supposed made of sheer rock that seemed to touch the sky." to avenge his father, but couldn't find the courage to do so, until one day, the When it comes to Sainte Lucie, we same man provocatively, newly married, have a bit more information. drove past his house. Because of the fact that one of the Overwhelmed by a unfamiliar feeling, companions told a story about him. Sainte Lucie set out to kill him.... and did. From then on he continued his avenge, and killed and terrorised a large number of people who had been connected to his fathers murder.

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It's a straight narrative story. Starts off harmless, descriptive, nature-scene, Ends

I think the message is that the most innocent people can turn out to be what you least expect. That shows in the book when Sainte Lucie threatens one of the wedding guests that he'll shoot his leg, if he takes another step. Knowing Sainte Lucie to be weak and cowardly he says "You woudn't dare!" and sets off, and gets shot. Basically, theres more to people than you think.

The main characters in this "so-called" horror short story are the two companions and of course, Sainte Lucie. This is very interesting, because we hardly know anything about the two friends. We don't know their backround, don't know their hobbies, don't know their selection of clothes, we don't even know their sex! All we know is that they are two companions walking through valleys and mountains, and one of them, according from the information that we have received, seems to be some sort of guide, or atleast a person knowing the forests very well and every story behind them. The other interested.

Once the reader browses through the descriptions of Mapassaunt's life and philosophies in the roman numbered pages begining this title, he or she knows that the following stories are going to be quite dark. They are and they are also, for the most part, vividly descriptive, intriguing, full of symbolism and extremely memorable. From the incendiary betrayals of "Monseiur Parent" and "the Dowry" to gruesome consequences of moral lapses seen in "At Sea" and "the Model" to outride incredible savagery of "A Vendetta" and the title story, this book proves that Maupassant is a master of all things dark, pessimistic and brutal.

I loved this book so, it was one of those times it was heartbreaking to come to the end. Each story was a nice short gem, perfect to enjoy in a sitting.

moliere is one of the great comic genuises of our time. The miser, which is perhaps the most well known and definately my personal favorite play in this book, is a great example of his quick wit and irony. this translation, while for clarity completely perfect, seems to stray a little from other and more beautiful translations of this play i have read. However, what a treat for the actor and the reader alike. Second only to the misanthrope (and maybe Tartuffe) this, one of Moliere's classics, is a must read. Note also, for the actor, that there are some wonderful scenes that require great timing in this play and would be wonderful as a duo audition piece.