I'LL SEND THIS 'M-BAG' TO THE NEW ZEALAND CONVENTION !!

RELEASE NOTES:

IT'LL BE FUN FINDING ME THIS TIME !! ENJOY !! CAN'T GO WRONG WITH A CLASSIC !!!
MY MISTAKE !!! THE 'NZ BC CONVENTION' WILL BE IN DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND IN FEB '06, NOT AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND IN APRIL '06 !!!!

Caught for the m-bag going to our friends in New Zealand.

Mike -- this one actually had the wrong BCID number in it, but I figured out the right one and am removing your label and putting a clean one in. Hope you don't mind! (I'm using BookCrossing Artists Series Bookplate #3, printed in August of 2003 -- before I was a BCer -- it's titled "Forgotten Lore", and was done by Tess Garman)

Another book out of the bag.
It was a good movie so the book will be even better.

Thank you vc-mike for sending this to us for our convention.

Picked up from the HUGE pile of books at the welcome function for the fabulous Dunedin Convention. Many thanks, vc-mike and Antof9, for sending it all the way to New Zealand, and thanks once again to the wonderful convention organisers!

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This is one of those books I'd often heard about, but really knew nothing about before I started reading. The first thing that surprised me was what hard work it was - although it is centered around the 3 (or 4) musketeers, it is more about court politics than adventure, and the political machinations get incredibly complicated at times (there's still a few plot twists I haven't quite got my head around). Plus there's the names - everyone seems to have two or three titles and a couple of nicknames as well as their given name, so sometimes I thought I was reading about a new character, only to realise it was just a new name for an old character, so I'd have to go back and re-read that section in that light. I had the same problem when I read War and Peace, trying to keep all the characters straight in my mind. Of course, if I'd read the other two Three Musketeers books before this one (which is the third in the series) I might not have had this problem.

The other thing that surprised me is that the eponymous man in the iron mask is an incredibly small part of the story - in fact, he only appears for a few chapters, and then is never heard from again (although I suppose the repercussions of his appearance are what drive everything else that happens).

It's a weird book, really - it jumps between court intrigues (sometimes tedious, sometimes fascinating, but always complex), personal dramas (sometimes very moving - one of the death scenes almost had me in tears (I won't mention whose death, for fear of spoilers, but if you've read the book I'm sure you'll know who I mean)), high adventure (D'Artagnan chasing Fouquet was incredibly gripping!), and philosophical musings. Half the time I was reading it I didn't want to put it down, the other half I was bored and tempted to skip ahead (but maybe that's more of a reflection on me than on the book).

Overall verdict? I'm glad I read it, but I'm not sure I'd attempt another book by Dumas in a hurry - it was too much like hard work!

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RELEASE NOTES:

Left on a table in the cafe after our impromptu meetup this afternoon.

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