[Fearonsarms]

Originally Posted by JudgeU

Finished The Club Dumas last night, and figured I'd share my thoughts without giving anything away. So I'll speak in generalities as much as I can for any that are wanting to eventually give it a try.

I really enjoyed it. I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars. That said, this is one of the few instances where the movie is better than the book (in my opinion).

There's two plots in the book. One revolves around Alexander Dumas' The Three Musketeers, and the other around the Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows.

Obviously, the movie takes out the whole Dumas plot. Which was a great move. Not that the Dumas angle wasn't interesting, it was, but it really focused the story better. In fact, the Dumas plot is so similar to another movie (that I love) by David Fincher, that I'm left wondering if a hollywood writer totally ripped off this plot line after reading this book.


Some positives:
-You get actual physical pictures of those neat engravings from the Nine Gates
-The conversation with the Baroness is longer and goes into great detail on the engravings
-You get more information on the mysterious woman

Some negatives:
- The ending is a lot better in the movie
- The author tries to keep the story light, and even adds a comedic character, which I would have rather it gone in the opposite direction, making it darker and more foreboding.
- the Nine Gates gets a lot less page time than I wanted, and that's why I give it 4 stars instead of 5.

Fascinating thank you for all the detail without giving spoilers-very much appreciated :) I have to say it is very sad that the author went for a lighter tone. I agree I hoped it would have had the darker tone like the movie shame. But my curiosity for further details about the engravings and mystery woman will mean I'll give it a try at some point-cheers :)