(no subject)

[skygiants]

I think it was coffeeandink who recommended me Tansy Rayner Roberts' Musketeer Space as a good vacation read? That was some time ago and it took me ages to get around to acting on it but I'm very glad I waited until when I did because WHAT A GOOD READ for stressful days!

Musketeer Space is exactly what it says on the tin: Tansy Rayner Roberts' extremely long, extremely faithful Three Musketeers mostly-genderswapped space AU.

I have of course read published AUs of classic literature before; mostly it's not very good and left me wishing I had read the equivalent, better-written Yuletide story on AO3 (I'm looking at you, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.) Musketeer Space, on the other hand, was serially self-published and therefore is perfectly capable of containing all the virtues of a very long Yuletide fanfic:

- Tansy Rayner Roberts very clearly deeply loves The Three Musketeers, something which is always true of people who write long Yuletide fanfic and often NOT very true of people who write published AUs of classic literature (I'M LOOKING AT YOU, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES)

- and as a result makes the correct assumption that her readers are going to be thrilled to see every single ridiculous incident and minor character in the book lovingly updated for space nonsense (I laughed so hard so many times, I'm so pleased with the sports fanatic space nuns!)

- Lots Of Gay Content

- (I'm not entirely sure whether Tansy Rayner Roberts started out planning to ship f!D'Artagnan and f!Roquefort or that's a thing that kind of happened along the way but it was definitely a good thing that happened along the way)

- a thorough understanding that as fun as the original book is, all the characters in it ... are terrible ...... and, relatedly, an extremely deft hand at keeping the characters very recognizably the original characters while also updating the context so that you feel OK rooting for them!

- I even liked Athos

- I never like Athos

- she even kept Athos a dude, Athos is basically the only person who is still a dude (Milord de Winter for the record is also a dude) and I STILL LIKED HIM. HOW

- this is some kind of magic

- anyway well done Tansy Rayner Roberts, this was an extremely enjoyable six hundred page adventure, favorite Three Musketeers adaptation by far and in fact also beats out the original Three Musketeers due to the fact that this time I don't spend all six hundred pages wishing Milady had murdered Athos instead of the other way around

Comments

[annotated_em]

This. This sounds amazing and I need to go lay hands on a copy like, yesterday. *hastens away*

[skygiants]

I read on a long train train trip and was actively excited to get back on the train going the other way so I could finish it!

[sovay]

mostly it's not very good and left me wishing I had read the equivalent, better-written Yuletide story on AO3 (I'm looking at you, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.)

What's the better-written Yuletide equivalent of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?

By the same token, have you read "Mr Bennet Travels Through Time"?

P.S. I'm pretty sure I like Athos in the 1948 MGM Three Musketeers, although I have not seen it in decades, but I am also pretty sure that's because even at age fourteen or whatever I had good taste about Van Heflin.

[skygiants]

upon what grounds, aka Emma And Zombies, which does better in 3000 words than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies did in its entirety!

Also I HAVE NOT YET and I have very much meant to ever since hearing about it, so thank you for the link and the reminder! :D

Generally Aramis is my favorite Musketeer and ... that's true here also because I am very much here for dashing lesbian Aramis constantly getting into ill-advised relationships with other people's wives, but space Athos does all right for himself. He could probably still be played by Van Heflin.

[kore]

OMG, EMMA AND ZOMBIES? //jets off

[baggyeyes]

I second your good taste about Van Helfin.

[sophia_sol]

Do you think this would read okay for someone who has never read the original Three Musketeers? Because this sounds really fun!

[skygiants]

Oh, for sure, it's a fun space adventure regardless! And if you read it and you end up curious about the origins of a character or plotline you can always go read the Wikipedia summary and you'll get just about the same effect. :D

[sophia_sol]

Excellent, glad to hear it!

[caramarie]

I read it without having read the Three Musketeers and I really enjoyed it! (I had seen the Paul W S Anderson film version, but I don't know that that would've helped...)

[sophia_sol]

Sweet, good to have confirmation it's worth it from someone who's read it without having read the original, thanks!

[schneefink]

I loved Musketeer Space :D Ngl I was initially a bit disappointed that Athos was still a dude because I loved the idea of an all-female Three Musketeers, but despite that I ended up liking Athos and his history with Milord de Winter.

[skygiants]

Yeah, originally I was like "why not f!Athos though?" and then I got halfway through and I was like "ok FINE I guess Athos can stay."

(Similarly, I was like "hmm if we're not genderswapping Athos could we also not genderswap Constance?" but I ended up being fine with Conrad, especially since Ro was the endgame romance anyway. :D)

[schneefink]

I remember not really being interested in Constance, so I was surprised how much I came to care for Conrad, especially his relationship with Prince Alek, even knowing that he was going to die :(

[skygiants]

I honestly forgot that he was doomed! it came as a genuine surprise! ... and honestly even if I'd remembered Constance was doomed I don't know that I would have assumed Conrad was doomed. :(

[kore]

Oh, this sounds fun!

[skygiants]

I would definitely recommend, it was super engaging space adventure!

[larryhammer]

Sold.

[skygiants]

:DDDD

[raven]

I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. omg. I'm really glad you loved it also. Dana! Aramis! Also Athos and Milord de Winter are waaaaay more engaging than they have any right to be. There is also a prequel novella, in case you haven't seen it?

[skygiants]

Ahh I heard about it but haven't read it yet, I've been saving it! (ARAMIS THOUGH. Aramis is always the dreamiest Musketeer anyway but how very much more so when a tragically dashing lesbian!!!

Also, man, D'Artagnan Accidentally On Purpose Seduces Milady is a 100x better plot when everyone else knows about it and thinks it's hilariously ill-advised.)

[lacewood]

I read this last year and it was a DELIGHT. I could read 3 million books about lady musketeers and Their Most Morose Bro and their shenanigans FOREVER. I've been thinking of rereading the original one day because I've basically.... forgotten all of it... but do I need to now when this version exists. DO I.

(I think what makes Athos work is that everyone knows he's A Mess(TM) and they both take this seriously and take this seriously NOT AT ALL.)

[skygiants]

Yeah, I thought about rereading afterwards, and then I was like '....nah, I'm good. This gave me all the Musketeers-ing I need!'

I also read Wikipedia summaries of the sequel novels to decide if I was happy or sad that Tansy Rayner Roberts was unlikely to tackle them and decided that probably I was happy, because I DO want a sequel but I definitely want it to be a DIFFERENT SEQUEL.

Honestly the best thing about this book is that EVERYONE is A Mess (accurate to the original) and EVERYONE KNOWS IT and hilariously calls each other on it ALL THE DANG TIME (100% improvement on the original.)

[coffeeandink]

I liked Athos so much better than I usually do! But Milord de Winter so much less than Milady de Winter. :(

[skygiants]

Yeah, I definitely liked Milord de Winter less than Milady de Winter but I was honestly fine with that, because normally I like Milady de Winter so much that I can't root for anybody else and that ends up somewhat defeating the purpose....whereas I was totally OK rooting for Milord de Winter to lose!

[sapote]

all six hundred pages wishing Milady had murdered Athos instead of the other way around

I just realized that the reason why I HATED the Three Musketeers from early childhood was that I had a comic book version and was Team de Winter all the way, so once Athos murdered her I was done with the (comic) book forever and by extension any and all related properties... Of course at that point I already assumed that any woman in a story otherwise full of men was the protagonist, so from my point of view they'd killed the protagonist and I was stuck with ??? more pages of bumbling side characters who WERE NOT. INTERESTING.