Le Comte de Monte-Cristo

Why didn't I read this book earlier?!!This work is unbelievably rich, complex, and fascinating. Not a single moment of boredom, not a single uninteresting line, not a single dull page. As for the characters, what can I say! A large set of individuals as different and distinct from one another as there are people under the sun. We find the noble and we find the base, the forgiving and the revengeful, the brave and the cowardly, the loving and the hateful... Edmond Dantes or the Count of Monet Cristo! Is he a noble soul? A man with a God complex? or both at the same time? Having lost his youth, his woman, his father, and his freedom in a treacherous plot spun against him out of jealousy and greed, this man had gone through an extraordinary transformation. The cheerful and loving youth at the beginning of the tale was accordingly replaced by the merciless angel of vengeance who came back to the setting of his early misfortunes, and integrated the circle of those who deserved his wrath with the purpose of revenging himself in a cold, sober, and yet terrifying manner. Somewhere down the road, however, the innocent Dantes had fallen victim to a God complex which made him wreak havoc back and forth on the name of providence. Although the majority of his acts and decisions brought but the merited punishment on those who had asked for it, there are still some flaws in his design which proved, even to him, that judgement is the work of God alone, and if Man took such a task upon himself it would simply be vengeance. But the Count is not the only interesting character though the most intriguing. The Vicompte Albert de Morcerf, for instance, is an excellent specimen of the constantly developing character. This young man goes from the life of an idle dandy squandering money back and forth to that of a noble youth who sacrificed the fortune of his father, and set about his new life penniless in the world once he had ascertained the dishonorable manner in which it was amassed. It is not humanely possible to put all the interesting features of the book in a single review without making it extraordinarily long and tedious, and so I will let you experience the marvels of this work instead. Discover love with Maximilian and Valentine, infidelity with Baron and Baroness Danglars, duplicity with Villefort, morbid maternal love with Heloise de Villefort, unconventionality with Eugenie Danglars...

First book of 2026, and I know it’s already my favorite of the year. Such a beautiful piece of work. Amazing.

Best book I’ve read so far