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| The Last Cavalier: Being the Adventures of Count Sainte-Hermine in the Age of Napoleon | 
 enlarge | Author: Alexandre Dumas
Publisher: HarperPerennial
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 139289
Media: Paperback
Pages: 816
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.1 x 1.8
ISBN: 0007274696
EAN: 9780007274697
ASIN: 0007274696
Publication Date: May 6, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Clean and fresh, light reading creases to spine.:HarperPerennial:2008:Near Fine
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| Customer Reviews:
 Neither Monte Cristo nor Three Musketeers August 26, 2008
A lost masterpiece? Not for me. The frequent disruption to narrative thrust noted by another reviewer eventually became too much - I gave upon page 421. Dumas' strengths are undeniably there but payment by quantity undermines him. When Napoleon goes to hear a performance of The Creation, most of a page is given to a biography of Haydn; when St Hermine arrives in St Malo, a whole chapter relates the port's history; when his ship arrives at Mauritius, the narrative stalls again for another chapter of history. And St Hermine himself disappears from the story for well over a hundred pages. This is not The Count of Monte Cristo
or The Three Musketeers rediscovered. What Dumas needed was not a generous paymaster but a ruthless editor.
 A Dumas novel no one new existed! August 12, 2008
What a find this must have been, to discover an unknown work of Dumas hidden away in the Library of Paris. As the novel opens, it is the dawn of the 19th century and Napoleon rules as First Consul, not yet having being having been crowned Emperor, and the Royalist forces are still battling to restore the crown. Our hero, Hector, the Count Sainte-Hermine has seen his father and two older brothers nobly die for the Royalist cause. During a brief truce, Hector hopes to set all battles aside and declares for his true love, Claire de Sourdis. However, just before the marriage contract is signed, Hector is called back to the Royalist forces and is eventually imprisoned (and forgotten) for three years. When he is remembered and released, Hector is stripped of his title and must serve in either army or navy as a mere enlisted man, an insult for one of his class.
Hector signs on as a Corsair instead of the regular Navy and the adventure begins. Bereft of his lost love and his family fallen before him, Hector's only wish is to live life to the fullest and if he must, to die as nobly as his father and brothers did. Problem is, no matter how hard he tries, he never succeeds. Thus begins battles at sea, a fight to the death with a shark, hunting tigers and crocodiles and a close call with a python, as Hector carries off every situation with dignity, charm and elan. If this book hadn't been unknown until two years ago, I'd swear that Hector was the model for our present day super heroes. Swooning female? Out come the smelling salts and more from his bat-belt! It was so over the top and campy at times, but jolly good fun.
No, I'm not giving away the whole story -- actually the first half of the book has very little to do with Hector and very much to do with Napoleon at the start of his reign -- those who read the book jacket and expect it all to be about Hector and his heroics will be sorely disappointed. There is much politics, intrigue and battles about Europe. About half way through Hector comes back into the story and things cooked along for most of the rest of the book until the last 100 pages or so and then dragged down again. I'm not huge on battle scenes, so those were slow for me also, particularly the intricate details of the battle of Trafalgar. I confess to skipping a few pages there.
Readers should be advised that this recently discovered novel was never finished, and we'll never know where he planned to take the story in the end. There are many chapters of what appear to be needless characters, history and scenes, but not knowing how Dumas planned to complete the story, how are we to judge? I recall reading The Count of Monte Cristo (Penguin Classics)and so many chapters that went off into another direction until the end where he pulled all the threads together in the end, and perhaps that is what Dumas planned with The Last Cavalier as well. We'll never know.
All in all, entertaining but far from my favorite Dumas and not one I'll plan to read again and again. Note, if you are new to this author this book should not be your first Dumas novel. But, for Dumas fans (and I'm one) this was an interesting read and I also learned much more about Napoleon than I ever picked up from the history books. Four stars.
 Flawed August 8, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
As the previous reviewer noted a great deal of excitement surrounded the publication of this book, apparently lost until being recently rediscovered by scholar Claude Schopp, after having followed a literary trail which led from an unpublished letter to the eventual reassembly of the work in to a novel from its original serialised form.
The story is typical of Dumas, take an individual (possibly based on a historical figure) and weave them in, around and through key events drawn from French history - in this case the aftermath of the French Revolution and Napoleon's move from champion of freedom to despised despot. Here, in this text, the figure is the Count Sainte-Hermaine, a Royalist set to re-engage with wider society until recalled to a former life by a debt of honour. Eventually imprisoned for three years (having narrowly avoided death through the machinations of the Minister of Police), the Count is released - and thereupon seeks death in the best manner appropriate (having been advised to do so by Napoleon) - to be thwarted, in a rather romanticised manner, by his innate excellence.
Readers familiar with the work of Dumas may already detect the parallels apparent with 'The Count of Monte Cristo', the fight of the wronged individual to attain justice or revenge at whatever cost, in defiance of the present order and what might be termed 'God' or 'fate'. Reading through the text one is continually struck by the echoes and influence of the earlier text ('Monte Cristo'), leading, ultimately, to the reader to comparatively consider the two works - a judgement which I shall leave each reader to make alone.
As with the 'Count of Monte Cristo' this is an extremely long text, a fact influenced no doubt by the circumstance of Dumas being paid by each line he wrote. This quantative consideration perhaps explains the moments which abound throughout, when the impetus of the narrative drive is lost, and the story is unneccesarily stalled. The legacy of its earlier form also contributes to the (naturally) episodic and linear way in which the narrative moves. Unfortunately this also has the effect of producing an entirely predictable framework, which, when coupled with the particular characteristics of the Count Saint Hermine, renders the text free of dramatic tension. Whatever the situation encountered by the Count, the reader instinctively knows that no great ill will befall him, no individual will better him, no event is beyond his comprehension - and as the book progresses these factors combine to produce longueurs of increasing frequency.
This is not to suggest that the story is without merit, Dumas is too great a writer for that to be the case, but one suspects that the reconstruction effected by Schopp requires further consideration. Mr Schopp is, however, to be congratulated for making available again a novel by an often great story teller.
Buyers should also be aware that, despite its length, the book remains unfinished, although in an essay accompanying the text Claude Schopp suggests that further sections of the story might exist undiscovered and unrecognised in MS form.
On a more practical note, the publishers ought to consider subjecting new editions of this text to a greater standard of proof reading - spelling mistakes and printing errors and omissions abound throughout the text. Given the importance attached to the publication of this work such a poor standard is to be deplored (particularly given the importance of such matters to Dumas).
In conclusion, this is an intriguing read, offering a respite from the current conventions demanded of the novel form. It is, however, a structurally flawed text, which, in order to join other works by Dumas accorded the status of 'classic', requires a greater degree of editorial attention and intervention.
 Get ready to Swash your Buckle! May 30, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
It must be 35 years since I last read an Alexander Dumas novel. Add to this the sub-title "The Lost Masterpiece" and you can imagine that I approached this book with a little trepidation even though I had read a good review in a Saturday newspaper. My thoughts went along the lines that if it that much of a masterpiece why had it lain forgotten for 130+ years?!
Well - I need not have doubted it for one minute! The book is a great read - it bubbles along so quickly that you can not put it down (I went past my stop on the train because of a specially exciting part) - the characters both real and imaginary are well drawn, the action is compelling (maybe slightly gory for, say, the under 10's) and it is all beautifully written.
Yes it truely is a masterpiece and I would recommend it to anyone interested in historic fiction. It does help if you are familiar with the period but if you are not please do not let that put you off.
I have only two tiny quibbles - the translation is not brilliant all the time - only the odd word - and I think it was probably printed for the American market because the word 'gotten' crops up too often for my liking but, hey, please do not let that put you off either.
The Last Cavalier has left me wanting to re-read The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo and to seek out other Dumas works.
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