Novels Similar to The Count of Monte Cristo

[Gazella]

The Count of Monte Cristo is my favourite novel of all time and ever since I’ve read it nine months ago I’ve been really wanting to find and read books that are similar to it. Basically, I’m looking for a novel that has a compelling storyline, lots of twists, adventure, tragedy, thriller. I’ve searched and these novels came up:


Les Misérables Victor Hugo

The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas

Scaramouche Rafael Sabatini


But I don’t know if the above novels are any good or not, or if they’re even like The Count of Monte Cristo. Any ideas?

[xg4bx]

The Three Musketeers is very good however be prepared for a time investment if you enjoy it; Dumas' complete ''d'Artagnan Romances'' is about 4500 pages worth of material. The 3M can be read, and stand, on its own however.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D'Artagnan_Romances

[ametzler]

Originally Posted by Gazella

The Count of Monte Cristo is my favourite novel of all time and ever since I’ve read it nine months ago I’ve been really wanting to find and read books that are similar to it. Basically, I’m looking for a novel that has a compelling storyline, lots of twists, adventure, tragedy, thriller. I’ve searched and these novels came up:


Les Misérables Victor Hugo
The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas
Scaramouche Rafael Sabatini

But I don’t know if the above novels are any good or not, or if they’re even like The Count of Monte Cristo. Any ideas?

Out of the three quoted above, I have only read the Three Musketeers, which I can strongly recommend, compared to TCoMC it is less bleak.

Another modern recommendation would be Dorothy Dunnet's Lymond Chronicles, starting with The Game of Kings.

[Gronk]

I finished The Count of Monte Cristo about a month ago and enjoyed it. My favorite book of all is Les Miserables. It will give you all those things you are looking for. There are three spots were it dragged a bit for me but it was well worth it to slog through. Of course everyone;s tastes are different but I think would enjoy Les Miserables. I have not read the other two on your list.

[Gazella]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

The Three Musketeers is very good however be prepared for a time investment if you enjoy it; Dumas' complete ''d'Artagnan Romances'' is about 4500 pages worth of material. The 3M can be read, and stand, on its own however.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D'Artagnan_Romances

Originally Posted by ametzler

Out of the three quoted above, I have only read the Three Musketeers, which I can strongly recommend, compared to TCoMC is less bleak.



Another modern recommendation would be Dorothy Dunnet's Lymond Chronicles, starting with The Game of Kings.

Yes, I'm well aware that the books are very long. If I read it, I'll just read The Three Musketeers.

I haven't heard of the author Dorothy Dunnet before. I'll have to check the series out. Thanks for the recommendation.

Originally Posted by Gronk

I finished The Count of Monte Cristo about a month ago and enjoyed it. My favorite book of all is Les Miserables. It will give you all those things you are looking for. There are three spots were it dragged a bit for me but it was well worth it to slog through. Of course everyone;s tastes are different but I think would enjoy Les Miserables. I have not read the other two on your list.

I think I'll read Les Misérables. I've read what it's about and it sounds really good. Plus, you've read The Count of Monte Cristo and have enjoyed it so I think I will as well. Thanks!

[WillAdams]

If you're interested in contemporary fantasy, Steven Brust has done some really great pastiches on _The Three Musketeers_ --- the ``Khaavren Romances'' or ``Paarfi stories'':

- The Phoenix Guards
- Five Hundred Years After

and The Viscount of Adrilankha published as three books:

- The Paths of the Dead
- The Lord of Castle Black
- Sethra Lavode

I just wish the main series which they were draw from was still being printed in mass-market / small paperback size.

[BenG]

If you like The Three Musketeers I would recommend Arturo Pérez-Reverte's Captain Alatriste books. They recount the adventures of a Spanish swordsman living in the 17th century in the service of King Philip IV, during the Eighty Years War. It even has some of the same historical characters like the Duke of Buckingham. It's Spanish rather than French swashbuckling.

There are six or seven books in the series.
http://www.amazon.com/Captain-Alatri...3797964&sr=1-6

[EndlessWaves]

Originally Posted by Gazella

I think I'll read Les Misérables. I've read what it's about and it sounds really good.

Like Moby Dick, it does contain a lot of junk only very tenuously related to the narrative. If you're wanting to read it for the story then an abridged version is well worth considering.

There are so many stories with similarities to The Count of Monte Christo that it's difficult to know where to start. If the main thing you're after is a novel with lots of different feelings in it then I'd recommend:

1. Any of Peter F. Hamilton's longer stories. Although they're sold in two or three books they're actually single novels:
Night's Dawn (The Reality Dysfunction, Neutronium Alchemist, Naked God)
The Commonweath Saga (Pandora's Star & Judas unchained)
There's also the Void Triology (again, one novel) but it features many of the characters from the commonwealth saga, so probably better to read it afterwards.

Personally I preferred Night's Dawn, but The Commonwealth saga is slightly more grown up.

2. The Man who was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton. Admittedly it's one of those books best read aloud with all the appropriate funny voices (The BBC did an excellent reading by Geoffrey Palmer that occasionally gets rebroadcast on fourextra) but in a lot of ways it's similar to The Count of Monte Cristo.

3. Perdido Street Station or The Scar by China Mieville.
Not much in the way of actual plot twists admittedly, but there probably wasn't room in between all of the new ideas and the plots are otherwise full of menace and mystery.

[BenG]

Originally Posted by EndlessWaves

Like Moby Dick, it does contain a lot of junk only very tenuously related to the narrative. If you're wanting to read it for the story then an abridged version is well worth considering.

Reading it just for the narrative kind of misses the point.

[crich70]

Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini is a good read if you want something with sort of a period feel and which has some adventure.

[Pablo]

The Three Musketeers, the best Dumas novel ever!

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Pablo

The Three Musketeers, the best Dumas novel ever!

I agree and I did enjoy The Khaavren Romances too. Brust even wrote them in a similar style.
Apache

[Gazella]

Originally Posted by Pablo

The Three Musketeers, the best Dumas novel ever!

Originally Posted by Apache

I agree and I did enjoy The Khaavren Romances too. Brust even wrote them in a similar style.

Apache

Wow. Really?? Even better than TCoMC?? Now this made me want to read it. I'll put it on my list. Which translation do you recommend?

[Gazella]

For those who read Les Miserables. Which translation is the best?

[HarryT]

Bear in mind that with all these you're not reading what the author wrote, but someone's reinterpretation of it, and that can be considerably different to the original. The most commonly-found translation of "The Count of Monte Cristo", for example, is the 1846 translation commissioned by the original English publishers of the novel, Chapman and Hall. Unfortunately, this was heavily edited for the rather rigid Victorian moral climate of the time, and, if you read it, you're really not reading what Dumas wrote at all.

The 1996 translation by Robin Buss, published by Penguin Classics, is faithful to the original, and is the edition of choice if you want to read Dumas' original story.