You mean his cunning escapes and Jacobin fervour and calm cool in the face of the knowledge that the police were looking for him? Or the kindly grandfather bit? I loved his politics and how he dealt with it.



True. But I would have liked him to have more shades of grey. As it is he is really Raoul from Vicomte de Bragelonne: a noble, heroic, good side character rather than one with the interest of a lead. I am worried that if he were to carry a book alone we would get The Last Cavalier.






True. I never had a problem with that when it came to Danglars, precisely because he had been established as a schemer with ambitions already in the beginning. I can see him getting rich by stabbing people in the back along the way. Fernand is a bigger problem for me. He never seemed to have the know-how or ambition. There is of course the possibility that betraying Dantés gave him the idea to petray Ali Pasha when he was in a position to do so, and that that set him up with the money &c., but I find it less natural.




That would have been good. Do you mean doubt on the reader's part?




Yes. I suspect this book is a ripe field for a feminist analysis.




I agree. Her function in the plot is reflected in the Count's use of her in the beginning (again, the plot as theme bit intrigues me). But the change from slave to love object strikes me as too sudden.