Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arch of this book.

I think they did a fantastic job in condensing the brilliant classic into a manga. I really enjoyed it and I didn't feel it took anything away from the classic. This is a brilliant way to get people more engaged (especially those who love manga) into these classics.


4 stars

Actual rating: 4.5/5.

I’ve been wanting to read this classic for a couple of years now but I must be honest, I got intimidated by the +1000 pages that the original work has, so as soon as I saw that there was a manga adaptation, I just had to read it!

The story begins with a young Edmond Dantés, a guy who’s about to become the captain of a ship. Life’s been good to him, unfortunately, three men are jealous of his good fortune and on his wedding day, they deceive important people and they turn him to the police. Eventually he goes to a prison and spends more than a decade there.

But even on his darkest days, he meets an old man called Abbé Faria, the person who teaches everything he knows while they’re still alive. And it is thanks to him that Edmond discovers a hidden treasure and becomes the well-known Count of Monte Cristo.

And whilst the story is focused on his revenge against Danglars, Fernand and Villefort (the bank man, the guy who marries his fiancé and the prosecutor who imprison him), you can see the duality of the Count’s persona: he’s beyond grateful with those who have been good to him, and he always seeks to help those in need. But at the same time, he uses his witty to torture those who did him wrong.

To me, the Count of Monte Cristo was a character that I will never forget because he's the perfect impersonation of us humans. We always have both good and bad inside us and sometimes we trust the wrong people, and so, we become heartless; yet sometimes, we get to meet those who become a light in our lives, and we stay true to our heats.

The Count was really charming in his own way and I couldn’t help but to root for him, even in the end. I think that despite all his efforts not to be close to someone again, he inevitably found himself friends for life.

Anyway, as it is usual with the manga classic adaptations, the art is superb and it never gets boring! The ambience, the character design and overall, the work of the illustrator really help you visualize the different faces of the Count of Monte Cristo, as well as with the full cast.

I really had to stop myself from finishing it because other way, I would have read it in a single day! So, it’s obvious to say I would totally recommend you to read this if you have the chance!

The plot was all over the place and there were so many characters that I had to check back to the relationship guide many times. You can tell the novel had to cut down for the adaptation with time and plot jumps everywhere. The twist were kinda of silly but I enjoyed them

The Count of Monte Christo is my favorite classic novel and when I saw there was a manga version I had to read it. I had such a blast reading this. This neatly compacts all the fun and main parts of the very dense story and was nicely done. I loved the artwork so much and I am so happy I read this!

Though I'm not a huge fan of the art, I liked this adaptation. The whole book made a good job showing the most important parts of the story without dismissing Dumas' writing style. I think it's a great way to read a classic!

This was such a fun retelling of a classic story! I personally love reading manga, so if you enjoy manga but maybe not so much of the story by Alexandre Dumas then I would definitely recommend you read it in this version as it brings it to life in such a fun and engaging way.

Because it's a manga form, it doesn't go entirely in-depth with things like the books does which can make things a bit more passive than they probably should be. The art was great, a bit sketchy which I personally liked, but it came out blurry quite often, though I'm sure in actual manga form it will be different.

Though overall this was a fun read for anyone interested in reading this great classic but is too intimidated with the actual book itself!

Just watching the anime wasn’t enough for me. After learning the members of the Morcerf, Danglars, and Villefort families as well as their different relationships and dynamics, I was unable to let go of these characters. Fortunately, I found an unrelated manga adaptation by Manga Classics that was much more based on the original story. Even without reading the original story, the pacing of this manga allowed me to center in on more relationships between certain characters that deepened the overall plot and the meaning of the themes.

This was so enjoyable, to re-read the classic The Count of Monte Cristo as a graphic novel, manga adaptation.
It's been a while since I read the full book, and this interpretation gave me chance to remember some details that I had forgotten about.
I like the expressiveness of the faces and I think they did a good job with the details for the background.
I enjoyed this so very much!

This is the manga adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic The Count of Monte Cristo. The creators were able to successfully capture the essense of the main plots of the original book. The representation of the scenes and characters were good as well.

Manga Classics: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.
Publication Date: April 11, 2017 - You can pick it up anytime!

Description from NetGalley...
“On the very day of his wedding to the beautiful Mercedes, a young merchant sailor named Edmond Dante is falsely imprisoned for life, laying to waste his plans of marriage and hard-earned fortune. Following several long years in prison he has managed to escape and reinvent himself as the mysterious Count of Monte Christo. It is the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Count has been plotting his revenge on the three men who had him falsely imprisoned. With a new identity, an incredible education abroad and a vast fortune, has returned completely unrecognizable to those who had committed their crimes against him.”

Thank you to @NetGalley @udonent @mangaclassics for the digital ARC in return for my honest review.

My thoughts...
I read this book in school many moons ago and I haven’t dared pick it up again because it’s a huge book. But, when I saw this Manga version, I thought: “Why not?” It’s my first Manga - ever! I was surprised by how well done this was. It’s amazing how they managed to fit the book into this version. I was concerned that it would lose important contents, but I didn’t think it did. There were many characters in this story, and they were portrayed well in this version. The story and plot are really interesting, but some may find it a challenge to read the original. If you’re interested and has been putting if off, maybe you might appreciate this version. But, if you’re a classics purist, you might not like it. The art work is incredible and did a good job in portraying emotions and retelling a complex plot. I would for sure pick up other Manga classics to read.

This books is beautifully illustrated and brings out new life to an old classic. I would highly recommend buying any of the books in this collection for those who are scared at the size of classics. But hopefully it might encourage them to buy and read the original version of it.

This beautiful manga brought to life one of my favorite classics. I did not think that the complex story of the Count of Monte Cristo would be a challenge to condense and was honestly quite scared that it cannot be done. However, this manga did it beautifully. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is too intimidated to read the actual novel because it is a very dense story. The art in this manga brought all of my favorite characters and scenes to life in such an amazing way, I felt every ounce of emotion each character was feeling and it was exhilarating.

Thank you, NetGalley for giving me a free copy of this for my honest review in exchange.

-- 5 stars --

A beautifully illustrated version of this classic story. This manga formatting of the book really helped to bring the story alive, and it was condensed in a way that didn't take away from the story at all.

DNF @ 50%

Despite the fact that I personally DNF'd this, I think it's is a really good retelling. It didn't suit me, but that's mostly because the unabridged Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favourite books of all time and I enjoy its length and complexity. This is a simplified retelling, with a lot of the extra detail taken out but a lot of the story is clearly portrayed through the dialogue. The art is clear manga style and the characters were clearly recognisable to me. I liked the way Dantés disguises were laid out, and I feel like this is a pretty faithful adaptation of the story. It didn't suit me, but it's exactly that that I think makes this really, really accessible to readers who might struggle with the admittedly very dense text of the 1243 page long original novel. I love The Count of Monte Cristo but it can be a bit hard to read. For anyone who likes manga and wants to get into classics, this is the ideal book and I highly recommend it.

The story needs no further introduction. The Count of Monte Cristo is a classic with a charm that lasts over time. A complex story that speaks of revenge, old grudges and redemption. Since I was a teenager, I have been really attracted to this novel and it made me think a lot about man's sins. Dumas also shows how from a good and sweet feeling like love, jealousy and hatred can arise, and what they can lead to do. Edmond Dantès is unable to forgive the actions of his enemies. And who could? Out of envy and jealousy towards him, men sentenced him to years of imprisonment in the dreaded and impregnable Castle of If, far from his woman, Mercedes. And returned from his nightmare he finds his fiancée married to one of those responsible for his sentence and that the adored father died of pain and hunger. Impossible not to let go of hatred and, consequently, sells his soul to the devil. He will plot to get his revenge and acquire more and more checkers to move for his purposes. But when his grudge goes too far, causing the death of an innocent, pain comes and the search for redemption begins. Thanks also to one of the people he used for his revenge, the beautiful Haydée, will be able to find peace of mind. A chance to be happy at last, without the darkness to pervade him.
The manga reinterpretation was faithful to the book and I found the designs really beautiful. The scenes that I continue to prefer in this story remain the meeting between Edmond and Abbot Faria during his imprisonment and when Haydée shows her devotion to the Count, her master. It's a love that goes beyond the paternal one, for which she would risk life without thinking for a moment. Edmond, in his unfortunate affair, still managed to meet people for whom it was still worth being good. He didn't let his heart give way completely in the dark and he was ready to pay for his crimes, but the Lord wanted to give him a way to be loved and not to live for revenge anymore.
A very cute manga that I recommend to anyone who would like to review this classic in a different guise.

Thank you to Udon Entertainment for access to this Netgalley digital copy. What an incredible journey! I have not read the original tale by Alexandre Dumas, but I can only imagine how much condensing the artists from Manga Classics had to do in order to make this story so fast-paced and enthralling. There are many players at work in this story, and yet the artistry for each character made it easy to follow along with the events, even though they unfolded over a number of years. As this digital copy was lower resolution than the final product, it did make it difficult to read some of the panels, particularly those of plot rather than dialogue. I would love to see the full definition of the final product because even at a low resolution, the artwork was stunning! This manga has left me with a desire to read the full work by Dumas and would be a perfect gateway into classic literature for younger readers.

While I was reading the manga, which is an adaptation, of course, I was remembering also the movie and the book. The manga adapted the story very well - the characters, the main plot, the revenge, the suffering, the betrayal, the love... everything is there. But, even if I have read the book before, the drawing-style made me appreciate the story of The Count of Monte Cristo like it was new. That is the magic about adaptations, which I like and respect. Of course, by being an adaptation the whole story that we read in Dumas' book is not seeing here word by word, scene by scene, but the Manga Classics Collection made a great work.
As a Literature student, I always defend the classic adaptations, because in most cases the adaptations are the first contact of young readers with the classics. Especially nowadays with retellings in books, mangas, and comics... All kinds of Literature are valid and welcomed.

It’s very accurate to the original play and the art is absolutely beautiful. The writing is also accurate and representative to the original, which is a bit of a downer because I couldn’t understand the flowery language in the play and I can’t understand it now, though I do respect the dedication to staying true to the original work.

Fairly quick read, difficult format to get used to if you don’t normally read manga (my issue, not the book itself)
Sad that it wasn’t in colour p, I feel like that made it harder for me to follow.

One of the better adaptations I have read/seen of The Count of Monte Cristo. The source material is more violent than your normal classic novel (in comparison to say, Austen or Shakespeare) and the manga does a good job of displaying that. Young readers will vibe with this adaptations far more than they would with the prose novel or a film adaptation.