The Last Cavalier: Being the Adventures of Count Sainte-Hermine in the Age of Napoleon
4/5
()
Unavailable in your country
Unavailable in your country
About this ebook
The lost final novel by the master of the epic swashbuckling adventure stories: The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.
The last cavalier is Count de Sainte-Hermine, Hector, whose elder brothers and father have fought and died for the Royalist cause during the French Revolution. For three years Hector has been languishing in prison when, in 1804, on the eve of Napoleon's coronation as emperor of France he learns what is to be his due. Stripped of his title, denied the honour of his family name as well as the hand of the woman he loves, he is freed by Napoleon on the condition that he serves in the imperial forces. So it is in profound despair that Hector embarks on a succession of daring escapades as he courts death fearlessly. Yet again and again he wins glory – against brigands, bandits, the British, boa constrictors, sharks, tigers and crocodiles. At the Battle of Trafalgar it is his bullet that fells Nelson. But however far his adventures take him – from Burma's jungles to the wilds of Ireland – his destiny lies always with his father's enemy, Napoleon.
Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) was a prolific French writer who is best known for his ever-popular classic novels The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.
Read more from Alexandre Dumas
The Red Sphinx Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Wolf Leader Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Count Of Monte Cristo (Unabridged) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Count Of Monte Cristo Manga Classics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Last Cavalier: Being the Adventures of Count Sainte-Hermine in the Age of Napoleon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Count Of Monte Cristo: The Wild And Wanton Edition Volume 3 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Count of Monte Cristo (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lady of the Camellias: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Count Of Monte Cristo: The Wild And Wanton Edition Volume 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlood Royal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Nutcracker of Nuremberg - Illustrated with Silhouettes Cut by Else Hasselriis Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Count Of Monte Cristo: The Wild And Wanton Edition Volume 4 Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The Count Of Monte Cristo: The Wild And Wanton Edition Volume 5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Count Of Monte Cristo: The Wild and Wanton Edition Volume 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBetween Two Kings: A Sequel to The Three Musketeers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Three Musketeers: Bilingual Edition (English – French) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClassic Tales of Adventure: Don Quixote, Gulliver's Travels, The Confidence-Man, The Mark of Zorro, and The Three Musketeers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Short Stories Of Alexandre Dumas: "All generalizations are dangerous, even this one." Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Last Cavalier
Related ebooks
History Of The Consulate And The Empire Of France Under Napoleon Vol. IX [Illustrated Edition] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Companions of Jehu by Alexandre Dumas (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStorms of Retribution: Adventures of Talon de Gilles, #8 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOfficer's Prey Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Master Of Verona: Star-Cross'd, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wolf Leader by Alexandre Dumas (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Titus Chronicles-The Saga of Yanna Part I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Surgeon with the Kaiser's Army Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5By Blood Spilt Trilogy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCondottiere Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBarbarian of Thrace: Revolting Slaves Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSwords of El Cid: “Rodrigo! May God curse him!” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBonaparte's Warriors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwenty Years After Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoldier of Rome: Beyond the Frontier: The Artorian Dynasty, #6 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Short Stories from the British Indian Army Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bonaparte's Sons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bonaparte's Conquerors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoldier of Rome: The Last Flavian: The Artorian Dynasty, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Cavalry Officer In The Corunna Campaign 1808-1809:: The Journal Of Captain Gordon Of The 15th Hussars Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWolf Hunt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Four Emperors: A Novel Of The Roman Empire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Somme: The Epic Battle in the Soldiers' own Words and Photographs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Flavius Aetius Twilight of Empire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChains of Nobility: Brotherhood of the Mamluks (Book 1) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMemoirs of General de Caulaincourt - The Russian Campaign Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoldier of Rome: Heir to Rebellion: The Artorian Chronicles, #3 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Forestall the Darkness: A Novel of Ancient Rome, AD 589 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Thrillers For You
Fairy Tale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girl Who Was Taken: A Gripping Psychological Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Perfect Marriage: A Completely Gripping Psychological Suspense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Animal Farm Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Flight: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pretty Girls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Huntress: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Family Upstairs: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Terminal List: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Maidens: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The It Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Troop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Zero Days Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Needful Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Whisper Man: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lying Game: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Billy Summers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Turn of the Key Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Eyes of the Dragon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Different Seasons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr. Mercedes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Good Indians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Last Cavalier
2 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It is tempting to dismiss Dumas as not being a monument of fine literature such as Balzac and Flaubert. The clue to understand Last Cavalier is given by Dumas himself in its related novel: "The Companions of Jehu". Dumas said he wanted, like Balzac, to be remembered for a "Comedie Humaine" but one covering the times of the French Revolution and the age of Bonaparte/Napoloeon. Read under that filter given by the author himself, Last Cavalier is the missing piece of this giant historical frescoe that depicts this age from the intimacy and confidences of the private chambers of its actors, to the great ceremonies and battles that mark the convulsions of a European Revolution.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I was 10 when I read my way through the Musketeer-books that first time. They put me on a path I have followed since, both as a reader and a student. I still start grinning like a madwoman whenever I come across references to historical characters that remind me of these books, and I do not hesitate to place at their feet my subsequent interest in history.I have also been fascinated by unfinished narrative for a while, especially the kind of narrative which was originally published as a feuilleton and remains unfinished because of the author's death.When I stumbled across this newfound (2005) historic novel by Alexandre Dumas, never finished because he died … well. I had great expectations. I bought it, skipped away from the store clutching the copy, giggling. Now. My expectations, my demands when it comes to Dumas, are not only that the books be historically accurate (to a certain point). While it is my impression that the man knew his history, his interpretation of events is often a little to the side of the general consensus. I still struggle to realise that Charles I and II may not have been the paragons of virtue that Vingt Ans Aprés and Le Vicomte de Bragelonne had led me to believe. On the flip side, though, it is thanks to these books that I know what I do about the English Civil War, the Fronde, the Restoration and the introduction of the absolute monarchy in France. No, what I demand, first and foremost, of Dumas, is good writing and good characters. That is not altogether true. I expect characters that you can lift off the page and carry with you, characters that are not bound by plot or description. Is that too much to ask for?Reading The Last Cavalier, which is the English name of this new book (the French Le Chevalier de Sainte-Hermine (1869)), was a terrible ordeal. Not because it is bad -- it isn't. It has some excellent parts. Let me try to explain. Dumas usually (and I am basing this on what I have read: I am not yet old enough to have read his entire opus) writes two main types of characters. Or at least I experience them as different.The first is what I think of as the fictional. They are often also based in real people (d'Artagnan being the star example, I suppose), but they are obscure enough that the author can mostly meld them as he sees fit. I suspect the reason why The Three Musketeers and the subsequent books have attained such a central place in world literature is because he here created truly live characters complete with idiosyncrasies and character flaws -- none of them are perfect, and that makes them more interesting to read, more endearing.The second type is the major historical character, those we already know of and quite a lot about. I have always admired Dumas' ability to make them complex and … real? He does not only focus on the larger political concerns, war and peace, does not paint in thick strokes of one colour. He presents the minor concerns, how they affect the larger decisions, their nobility and their flaws (although in the case of Charles I and II, that was lost on me). You have probably noticed how what I appreciate here is much the same as in the earlier group of characters. Complexity and humanity.There is a reason why I have divided the characters in this way, however. In the last type of characters, The Last Cavalier does live up to my expectations. The descriptions of Napoleon are exciting, and the same holds true for Caroudal and Nelson (although the latter does feel rather more like a sketch). They were entertaining. So entertaining that whenever the story returned to the protagonist, Hector de Sainte-Hermine, I just got depressed and put the book down. The gap between what this book could have been and what it is is overpowering, and this is primarily due to the protagonist. He is, thankfully, out of sight for long stretches, but when he shows back up he is so nauseatingly perfect I didn't know whether to laugh or vomit.If I had had to read one more time about how far he can throw cannon balls (with one hand, twelve meters), how accurately he can shoot (three bullets on top of each other in the bullseye), how high he climb in the mast of the ship during a storm while all others hesitate &c., &c. … if I had had to read "Huzzah! Huzzah! for Captain René one more time (René is a pseudonym he takes on), or yet another description of how easily he inspires complete loyalty in his men … ick. He kills Nelson, by never takes credit; he shoots tigers without any problems (all you have to do, after all, is shoot them in the eye, for a tiger is only dangerous when injured); he is nobel, faithful to a woman who thinks him dead; other women die of their love for him; he takes no credit for his feats, demands nothing, bleh … .It may be that Dumas felt there was simply too much to live up to for someone not disgustingly perfect. He had written about the Sainte-Hermine family before (in Companions of Jehu, for example), and as the last of the brothers Hector could not be allowed to betray the honour of the family in any way. And yet, he had to portray the last of a royalist family during the heyday of Napoleon. I also suspect the killing of Nelson was one of the core ideas. But the result is laughable. In a truly tragic way. That being said, I am glad I read it. I should perhaps again emphasise that the parts treating the larger historical events and characters are truly interesting (even if he goes a little overboard with details of the Battle of Trafalgar). I especially liked the sequence on Lady Hamilton, the great love of Nelson (I have known of her for a long time, but I have known very little about her). Similarly, the parts on Cadoudal and the Companions of Jehu in Bretagne. I notice I am almost about to suggest one read only these sections and skip everything to do with the main character, but that may be going too far.All this bitterness is due to my severe disappointment. The foundation of this story is potentially brilliant; the constellation of historical persons and evens intriguing; even Hector's background story is quite seductive. So why couldn't he make it work?