WOW. This was immense. Enormous book and enormous story told. I had a misperception about this novel that it was an action story - the Count is an action hero - and that's totally wrong! This is the ultimate revenge plot, carried out amidst the finest Parisian drawing rooms, studies, and bedrooms. 

The first ~half is pretty expositional. You get origin story and meet a wide range of characters from Monte Cristo's past and that will make up his future. To be honest, it wasn't until the halfway mark did I really start to understand what the thrust of this novel was. I felt it ultimately paid off, but I am predisposed to enjoy prose and plotting of this nature! And it did take a long while to get through that first half, as I did keep putting it down for long stretches.

The second half is where the plotting begins to reveal itself. It's MASTERFUL. I could hardly put it down. I read half the book in less than a week! It's still long and verbose, but all the time spent sketching the characters and society and series of events I felt paid off. I was astonished. How insane must this have been to read in serial!!!! Talk about cliffhangers!

It's funny, witty, painful, clear-sighted, unflinching, and vivid. This translation was a treat- I ended up buying the e-book so I could be sure to read the unabridged Buss version. I'm SO excited they've just made a new movie, I cannot WAIT to watch it.