Reviews

The Last Cavalier: Being the Adventures of Count Sainte-Hermine in the Age of Napoleon by Alexandre Dumas, Lauren Yoder

luna545's review

adventurous informative reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

frances_chan's review against another edition

5.0

I've enjoyed all the other Dumas novels I've read so far, and this was no exception. I couldn't put it down and read it in three days! The characters are wonderful; the men are honourable and the women are feminine (things we've almost lost in today's culture), and it was an inspiring read. There was a sense of respect and honour even between enemies, and it was refreshing to see them do the right thing even if it meant personal loss.

Dumas adds a lot of historical background information about the people and places he describes, which I found very interesting, but some people want to skip those chapters. Overall, it was a wonderful and exciting book that I'd highly recommend to anyone.

kim_hoag's review against another edition

1.0

A terrible book. I completed it only because it was Dumas' last (unfinished) book and I wished to give the man and author my respect, after enjoying a number of his other books. But, man, did it need editing. It was exactly half the length of War and Peace but seemed twice as long. Forget the fact that it was entirely derivative, especially from The Count of Monte Cristo, it was just boring. It had nothing to do with Dumas' suggestion in his preface that many might not appreciate the book since it is more history than novel; it is just boring. Long lists of names are trotted out too often, entire scenes of little veracity, entire sequences for little reason other than to display the “historicity” of the novel. Mostly, the novel is about the hyperbolic adventures of a character who was, evidently, the first Tarzan: killing a 43 foot, yard wide snake that was crushing two elephants at the time. A woman literally dies for love of him which he cannot requite since he's being honest to the true love that had been denied him; despite the fact he fathers some children from an Indian woman who dies and the children just seem to consequently disappear. The blurbs promise a swashbuckler; there may have been buckling, but with very little swash. Everyone, even villains, fall for the magnificence of this demigod of a hero (humble, oh, so very humble). The editor finished the ending, but that I did not waste my time with. I am not sorry I read it, I am sorry that Dumas ended his career with this. (Some books, like Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman, should never have been found and published.) He was a great man. His father was a brilliant general who slighted the rising Napoleon and was later destroyed by him. I expected the book to reflect that, but, in deference to the Bonapartists, as he says, he makes Napoleon out as nothing but a genius. I prefer Tolstoy's version of a crumbling, mad egoist.

samcarlin's review against another edition

3.0

Not my favorite Dumas book. There was a lot of rambling in the first half of the book, but I really enjoyed the second half when we really see the title character's story.