95. La Reine Margot

La Reine Margot
Marguerite de Valois
Alexandre Dumas
1845
Around 500 pages

I have been writing all day and I figured I would just drop by here since I haven't posted in about a month.  I then realized that I am behind about five reviews.  Oy vey.  Guess I better get to work.

This book only took a couple of days to read but it took me about a month to find.  The library I belong to seems to have every Dumas book in every language except this novel.  I usually go to Amazon if my library fails me but the only copy for sale was going for fifty dollars.  Fifty dollars!!  I will go on and on about how much Dumas is worth but I guess in reality I cap it at $2.99.  Anyway, after much searching on various eBooks sites I found it for five dollars.  So this is another book that the normal, non lists obsessed reader will probably never come across.

This is a shame, however, because not only was this a great read but it was also an educating one (albeit Dumas flashed his artistic license more than once).  This is the story of Queen Margot who is married to the King of Navarre by her scheming mother Catherine, who reminded me a lot of Milady.  Margot meets and falls in love with La Mole, which is unfortunate since he is a Huguenot and Catherine is scheming to kill them all.

If there is one word that I always associate with Dumas it is adventure and this novel is no exception.  It has everything: love, poison, affairs, and plotting.  It is, however, a lot gloomier than his other novels and while I love me some darkness, it was extremely unexpected here.  Of course, that just makes me an idiot for not expecting it since this is a book about the St. Bartholomew Day massacre.  Still, I thought Dumas would put a happier spin on it.

So a great novel but certainly not my favorite Dumas and I find it a bit puzzling that this was chosen out of the hundreds of novels he has written.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Could not find a single fact about this one but here is a trailer:

UP NEXT: Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.  Man, I love this guy.