#7 in Classics
The Count of Monte Cristo
- 1,302
- Pages
- about 24 h
- Reading time
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Editor’s note The Count of Monte Cristo ran as a serial in a Paris newspaper from 1844 to 1846, written by Alexandre Dumas with his collaborator Auguste Maquet, and it is the longest book most people ever read for pleasure, about 1,200 pages. Edmond Dantès, a young sailor in Marseille in 1815, is denounced by three men who each want something he has and is locked in the Château d’If for fourteen years, where a fellow prisoner, the Abbé Faria, educates him and leaves him a fortune; he returns to Paris in 1838 as the Count and takes the three apart one by one. Read it unabridged; the cuts in the short editions remove the slow, patient middle that makes the ending land. In German, Der Graf von Monte Christo.
About the book
After fourteen years of wrongful imprisonment, merchant sailor Edmond Dantès escapes his grim island fortress. With the promises of youth erased and his betrothed now married to someone else, Dantès lives for one purpose: revenge. Thanks to a benevolent prison confidante who reveals the location of a hidden treasure, Dantès buys his way, unrecognized, into society. Adopting a new identity as the Count of Monte Cristo, he sets out to destroy the rivals who framed him for treason. But the count’s obsessive quest could have irrevocable consequences for the innocent—and for himself. What unfolds is an epic tale of breathtaking intrigue and righteous retribution from Alexandre Dumas, the nineteenth-century master of high adventure.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.8 across 1,615 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 91% of the weight and the score stays at 8.7 — the Classics average of 7.7 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 8.8 | 1.6K | 100% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“The Count of Monte Cristo isn't merely a novel ... it's a masterclass in the long game. Dumas didn't write plots; he built labyrinths and mazes. Every corridor and turn leads somewhere unexpected, every revelation detonates with surgical precision, and at the heart of it…”
“Never gets boring. The writing is engaging, with characters full of stories and curious twists of the story. Didn't ever feel it was as long as it actually is because it was so entertaining!”
Frequently asked
How long is The Count of Monte Cristo?
It has 1,302 pages — longer than 99% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
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Same shelf — Classics — with scores between 8.2 and 8.5, closest to this book.
