Swashbucklers

[nikolai]

Any advice on what to read? I'm thinking of working my way through Dumas and Sabatini. Does anyone have any opinions on the highs and lows of their various works? And are there any other writers or books you could recomend? My knowledge of the genre kind of stops after these two authors.

nikolai.

 

[CCamfield]

Sure!!

Well obviously you have to read The Three Musketeers, that's kind of a given. I haven't read all the sequel stuff, just the first one (Twenty Years After? Ten Years Later? I forget) which had some good stuff... more historical fiction than swashbucklery action, though.

Sabatini's romantic elements can be a bit cloying at times. (Rather contrived "oh, s/he couldn't love me", misunderstandings, stuff like that.) That being said, he wrote some really good books, particularly Captain Blood, the Captain Blood short stories, and Scaramouche (but not its sequel).

Another good but rather forgotten swashbuckler writer was a Brit named Stanley Weyman. Adventures of a Gentleman of France is really great; one of my favourites period. Under the Red Robe doesn't have as much action (more romance... the main character is interesting, as a scoundrel working as an agent of Cardinel Richelieu, warring with his neglected better side) but is a good read too.

Weyman is impossible to find in physical form these days, though. A bunch of his books are available as text files at Project Gutenberg, and I have converted a couple of these, as well as some books by Sabatini to PDF. I could email them to you or you can grab them from the files section of the "swashbuckling" list at yahoogroups.com, if you have or create an ID there.

Some links...

The Sabatini website is at http://www.rafaelsabatini.com/
There's a good overview of Weyman at http://www.violetbooks.com/weyman.html

Also there are lists at Yahoo Groups devoted to Dumas, to Sabatini, and to Weyman. There's also the swashbuckling list I mentioned which is a general one devoted to books and films.

 

[barsoomcore]

Okay, have I got a deal for you.

AFTER you've read at least The Three Musketeers (it's the only one that's super-easy to find, but you can dig up the others if you look around), you can now start in on Steven Brust's BRILLIANT update of the Dumas legend,

The Phoenix Guard
Five Hundred Years After
The Paths of the Dead
The Lord of Castle Black
Sethra Lavode

The last isn't out yet but should be imminently.

These are awesome books that will change the way you talk, the way you write, and will make you want to play REAL swashbucklers, who live by honour and friendship and duty, laugh in the face of danger and carry through whatever happens with grace, courtesy and aplomb.

Do yourself a favour and read these books.

They're set in the same world as Brust's Vlad Taltos novels, but you don't need to have read those to read these. Those are just as highly recommended, however.

 

[Particle_Man]

Sure!!

Well obviously you have to read The Three Musketeers, that's kind of a given. I haven't read all the sequel stuff, just the first one (Twenty Years After? Ten Years Later? I forget) which had some good stuff... more historical fiction than swashbucklery action, though.

For what it is worth

1) The Three Musketeers
2) Twenty Years After
3) The Viscount de Bragelionne (I think), subtitled ten Years After.

The third one is MUCH longer than the other two, and the last part of the third one is sometimes sold as its own book, entitled "The Man in the Iron Mask".

Alexandre Dumas rocks the house!

 

[CCamfield]

More Dumas trivia than you can shake a stick at

For what it is worth

1) The Three Musketeers
2) Twenty Years After
3) The Viscount de Bragelionne (I think), subtitled ten Years After.

The third one is MUCH longer than the other two, and the last part of the third one is sometimes sold as its own book, entitled "The Man in the Iron Mask".

Alexandre Dumas rocks the house!

Not having read them all I can't be certain, but there's this one website which says:

"There are generally considered five books in the Three Musketeers saga. The first and the last are usually easy to find. The middle three are usually hidden deep in the bowels of your local library, often disguised as the ?collected? Alexandre Dumas. I?ve looked on Amazon.Com and joined their associates program in order to help you buy these books if you want to:

1. The Three Musketeers -- everyone knows about it.
2. Twenty Years After -- No one knows about it.
3. Ten Years Later -- This is generally the same book as ?Le Vicomte de Bragelonne?. However, the copy that I have on-line is almost certainly not.
4. Le Vicomte de Bragelonne -- the beginning of the end.
5. Louise de la Valliere -- the continuation of the end.
6. The Man in the Iron Mask -- the end of the end.


Anyhow, a big thumbs up to Barsoomcore for mentioning the Phoenix Guards. Extremely fun swashbuckler fantasies! I'm sticking to paperbacks so I've only read as far as The Paths of the Dead.

Another classic swashbuckler author worth mentioning is Anthony Hope, who wrote The Prisoner of Zenda among other books.

 

[nikolai]

I just want to say thanks, particularly for the Weyman info and link. It really expands my knowledge of what's out there. I'm going put together a list of authors, see what they've got in local bookshops and libraries, and go from there. Thanks again.