Wednesday, September 27, 2017

The Count of Monte Cristo Magna Classic Retelling by Crystal Chan- OPTIONAL

Chan, Crystal The Count of Monte Cristo Magna Classic Retelling, 390 pages.  Manga Classics, 2017.  $ 18.  Mature Content: G; Language: G; Violence: PG.

This is a manga style re-telling of the classic story by Alexandre Dumas. Edmond is a young man poised on the brink of happiness –about to become a ship captain and marry the love of his life. But there are others who had the same dream and they conspire to have just that. Edmond finds himself in prison. There he meets a man who changes his life and when he manages to free himself, Edmond now has the power to revenge himself on his foes. But how he accomplishes their downfall is a complex dance that will ultimately change Edmond himself. Features the traditional Manga illustrations and back to front reading format.

I have much enjoyed other books from this series, but this one was going to struggle to meet my high standards, because The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my all time favorite books and I have re-read it many times. I think without having my foundational knowledge of the story I would have been completely lost. There are just too many characters, name changes, and plot twists to accurately distill this story into 400 pages. I found many of the characters had a similar look as well, if not all the same exact age, so that would only add to the confusion. Those hoping to use this as a cliffnotes version would be a total loss.  

HS - OPTIONAL.  Stephanie, Library Teacher

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