I really enjoyed this book. I find the idea of turning classics into manga books really cool and found that it was done quite well. I like that the traditional manga format was used and liked even more so that it is explained how to read it that way. I never knew about such things until very recently. I had never read The Count of Monte Cristo before, but found the story really intriguing. I think this manga style will convince others like myself who had not read the book to give it a try. I think that the graphics would be stunning to see in print. I am excited to check out more manga classics.

This book is a classic revenge story. If you don’t know the plot of this book by now, you’ve been living under a rock.

Art wise, it’s the classic Manga Classics look. I hope there’s a colored Manga Classic soon, it would be stunning.

Character wise, they’re so iconic that they invented the tropes we’re so sick of today.

Story wise, it was fun to read. I really likes how the plot kept moving forward and how every character, no matter how small, was connected to every other one.

Overall, this was a nice book and I hope I get to read the original soon.

Raing: 4 stars

I received this book via Netgalley in return for an honest review. I really enjoyed this Manga version of The Count of Monte Cristo. I just read the classic version last year, so it was fun to revisit it in this format. I thought the artist and author did a great job re-telling this story and loved the graphic design in the book.

This was an incredible read. Not because this was a condensed story, but because the author managed to capture the essence of the original plot in a short(ish) format. Wonderful for all age groups and a must for the library. Thank you NetGalley and Manga Classics for this eARC. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I remember reading the story as a child in the comic book Donald Duck but not as a comic but as a adaptation summarizing it by three pages each week. I was wondering if I had read the original novel as well. Probably. I do remember seeing a movie. So I knew the story.

The fun for me in reading this adaptation was that it was the first manga I ever read and very much liked the way the creative team explained how to read a mango but even better told about their decisions in adapting a classic novel to a Japanese style of comic book. How she scanned society pages looking for a man who could be the inspiration to the count and such.

Manga is not my favourite style of comic book though. The way people are pictured is too childish for my taste. But for an experiment I really liked this well researched and imagined version of the classical tale. It is also a great way of introducing literature to people who will not be enthusiastic about the more old fashioned, many pages original. And remember I was introduced to this great story by a comic book too.

After several man get Edmond Dantes vows revenge. After finding the hidden fortune of another prisoner and escaping, he reinvents himself as the Count of Monte Cristo in an attempt to enact his revenge. Will he succeed? This manga adaptation does a great job bringing to life this classic tale. Poon and Chan’s illustrations are expressive, detailed, easily accessible, and make this story easier to understand for a wider audience of reading abilities An explanation of how the original novel was adapted to manga format, a character relationship guide, and character designs and sketches are also included. Recommended for most library collections.

4/5 stars

"The Count of Monte Cristo" has always been a favorite classic of mine. It's essentially a story of revenge, love, and how far a person will go for both. Edmond Dantes, a newly made ship captain, is arrested on the day he is to wed the beautiful Mercedes. While in prison for ten years, Edmond discovers he has been wrongfully imprisoned and deceived by three men of his acquaintance that all benefited from his imprisonment. Edmund befriends an elderly prisoner who tells him of a hidden treasure on the isle of Monte Cristo. They both pass time in prison by Edmond being tutored by the elderly man in all things knowledgeable, plotting revenge and eventual escape.

I really enjoyed this condensed, animated version of the story of Edmond Dantes. It reminded me how much I liked the actual book that I read years ago while providing it in a completely different format I love! The drawn scenes within this story were amazing and the dialogue was not as blunt and forced as I've noticed in most graphic novels or manga. The scenes and character interaction seemed to flow smoothly page to page which made it a fast read! The text itself was a little difficult to read and blurry on occasion. I'm assuming this issue is due to the manga being in electronic format or an ARC. Hopefully, the final copy is corrected, clear and beautiful!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Udon Entertainment for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The ability to bring such a great classic as the Count of Monte Cristo to another target audience through Manga gives us hope for literature's survival. I first read Alexander Dumas' classic when I was in middle school and have loved it ever since. I've read it in many different mediums and even watched it in film several times but I'm convinced that manga is a great way to introduce and/or further the exposure of today's younger audiences to this classics.

This was great. I love the art and imagery involved and how it brings the story to life.
Thanks Netgalley and publishers for allowing me to read this.

Absolutely stunning artwork! This graphic novel helps bring new life to an old classic. This would be a wonderful teaching tool for people who do not enjoy sitting down to a book full of words on a page and nothing else.

On the story side, it’s been too long since I read the original novel for me to remember exactly the details, so I can’t really judge if important parts are lacking that deserved to be kept. I just felt the period during which Edmond Dantes finds the treasure and transforms into the Count of Monte Cristo is too quickly explained. In spite of that I thought we get in this adaptation the complex plots, the carefully orchestrated vengeance, and how everything ends up matching and fitting together little by little. We also get numerous characters and that can be a bit complicated at first to remember who’s who, but it would be the same with the original novel.
Purists will probably protest the cuts done but I’d say it’s not really different from those done for a movie adaptation – and The Count of Monte Cristo has known around twenty adaptations for film and around ten for small screen! And for those the prospect of reading a more than 1000 pages novel discourages, a 400 pages manga is much more accessible.
I really liked that at the end of the manga – so at the beginning of the book in the occidental reading direction – the adaptation team created a characters chart and explained some of the choices done concerning the story and the drawings.

Actually, on the drawings side we see graphic arts classic of manga, with sometime a close-up on an eye or a foot that can be disconcerting when you’re not used to the genre but are used to highlight a specific moment or emotion. Each character is drawn in a unique and recognizable way, the faces expressions are very well-made, the ladies’ outfits are refined and the settings are splendid. Of course, as it’s a manga, the characters in the same generation as the Count seem to be in their twenties, even the Count, when they are supposed to be at least in their forties, but it only made me smile.

To conclude I thought this really well done adaptation was a good way to discover a literary classic. I wonder which other novel they have adapted in the same way.

I’ve seen Manga books before, but never sat down and read one before. As a French teacher I’ve read the story many times and the plot is involved and complicated, covering a timeframe of many years. It usually takes me a fair while to read the story.

This book is brilliant. The story has been carefully adapted to the Manga format, with certain aspects simplified, but loses none of the drama. I loved the illustrator’s style, there are lots of dramatic costumes and flowing hair. The review copy isn’t in colour, but I can imagine that a full colour version would be dazzling! I was also impressed by the careful background notes, the tree showing the links between the characters and the instructions on ‘how to read a Manga book’ for beginners.

I understand that this is part of a wider series and if they are all as good as this one, they’re worth looking for. Recommended for readers aged 10+ and a definite possibility for readers who find the original book a bit daunting.

A wonderful adaption of the classic "The Count of Monte Cristo". The artwork was lovely and well thought out, carefully matched to the original book descriptions. I absolutely loved how clearly and well adapted the story was, I don't feel like I missed a lot of the story, it covered the majority and showed great attention to details. It was portrayed in a way that would make the story very clear for first time readers and reminiscent for fans of the original. I would love to read more by this author and from this Manga Classics Series!



My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Udon Entertainment, and the author, for giving me the opportunity to read a digital copy of this book. This did not influence my rating of the book.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A cute manga of a classic story, but I wasn't a fan of black and white. It would have been much better in color.

I love the Manga classics so far. The art is solid, I believe the story boards to be as close to the original stories as possible. What a great pleasure it is to read through a 400 page Manga adapted from a 1000 page book.

As someone who still haven't read the classic book, this manga is something that really gave me that force to go and find myself the will to buy the enournous classic!

With nice art, it's something that you can devour in one day, or take your time to enjoy it.

From what I know and saw of the book, it's actually pretty impressive it was done in just one volume. But I'm pretty sure it was very well resumed to the main points so we can see what matters the most in the form of a manga, to give us just a taste for those who want to read the book and are just scared from the sheer size of it, and to give it a chance for those who can't read all that much to get to know this classic in a easy and fun way!

It's something that I really see myself reading more than one time since the whole story and art are just marvelous.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Udon Ent. for the chance of reading this ARC!

Thanks is a lovely adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo, and I think an acceptable shortened version of the story for manga.

It retained most of my favorite parts while still keeping the main themes of the novel.

A great alternate to the original story, and a good way to get folks interested in the classics.

I loved the graphics and the book itself. It's slightly difficult to enjoy a book when you have to read it on your desktop because publishers don't provide a kindle link but other than that this book that I got from NetGalley is great!

'Manga Classics: The Count of Monte Cristo' by Stacy King, Crystal S. Chan and Alexandre Dumas with art by Nokman Poon is an ambitious undertaking for an adaptation. Manga Classics gets it right.

A young man on an upward career path with a beautiful woman to marry finds his path overturned by three conspirators. He finds himself wrongfully imprisoned. With no one to talk to but the man in the cell next door, he's got nothing better to do than to plot his revenge. When the man in the cell nearby dies and leaves his fortune to the now not so young man, it is opportunity to escape and enact his revenge. Now the rich Count of Monte Cristo, he uses other disguises and criminals to get his revenge.

There is a nice afterword talking about the adaptation, which is good, because there are parts of the novel left out or transformed. In this case, it keeps the story faithful to the book and makes the manga move along a bit more. At 401 pages, this is a hefty adaptation. The art is really good in this one and I enjoyed revisiting this story.

I received a review copy of this manga from Udon Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this manga.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love these adaptations, they're a fun and easy way to get interested in classics. The art is always quality and I enjoy reading them. The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite stories and this was really fun .