Start with the novel itself, unabridged: Robin Buss’s Penguin Classics translation is the one to get. Then pick by what you liked. For more Dumas, read The Three Musketeers or The Man in the Iron Mask. For the prison, escape and revenge plan, the closest modern books are Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination, which retells Monte Cristo in space, and V.E. Schwab’s Vicious, whose hero breaks out of prison to go after the friend who put him there.
The 2024 series has already aired
The Count of Monte Cristo (2024) is an eight-episode, English-language limited series directed by Bille August, with Sam Claflin as Edmond Dantès, Jeremy Irons as Abbé Faria and Ana Girardot as Mercédès. It premiered in Europe in December 2024 (RTS 1 in Switzerland on December 15, 2024; Rai 1 in Italy from January 13, 2025) and came to the U.S. on PBS Masterpiece in March 2026. If you have watched it, the novel still has a great deal the series had no room for.
Which edition of the novel to read
Dumas serialized the novel from August 1844 to January 1846. Which English text you get matters more than for most classics:
- Robin Buss, Penguin Classics (1996). Penguin describes it as complete and unabridged; the paperback runs 1,312 pages (ISBN 978-0-14-044926-6). Buss also restored material that Victorian translators toned down. This is the best choice for a first read. Robin Buss paperback on Amazon
- The anonymous 1846 Chapman and Hall translation. This is the text behind most other English editions, including many cheap and free ones. It is complete but older in style.
- Abridged editions. Some editions cut whole chapters (a 1955 Collins edition dropped the chapter “The Past”). If a listing does not name the translator or the page count is far below 1,000, assume it is shortened.
For audio, most unabridged English recordings, such as Bill Homewood’s for Naxos (about 52 hours 41 minutes) and John Lee’s for Blackstone, read the anonymous 1846 translation. As of September 2023, Penguin had not released an audiobook of the Buss translation. Check the translator credit before you buy.
Classic books like The Count of Monte Cristo
| Book | Year | What it shares with Monte Cristo |
|---|---|---|
| The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas | 1844 | Same author and decade; court intrigue, loyalty and swordplay rather than revenge |
| The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas | 1848 to 1850 | A secret prisoner and a plan to swap him for the king |
| The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy | 1905 | A hero with a false public face and a secret double life |
| The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope | 1894 | Impersonation, a captive king and a short, fast plot |
| A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens | 1859 | A man freed after 18 years in the Bastille, and the long reach of old wrongs |
The Three Musketeers is the natural next Dumas. It is lighter and more about friendship and adventure than revenge, but the pacing and the court plots will feel familiar. Richard Pevear’s Penguin Classics translation is a modern option (Pevear translation on Amazon ).
The Man in the Iron Mask is not a separate novel in French: it is the final part of The Vicomte de Bragelonne, the last book of Dumas’s d’Artagnan saga, in which the masked prisoner is Louis XIV’s identical twin. Read The Three Musketeers first if you can.
The Scarlet Pimpernel gives you the disguise side of Dantès: an English baronet who plays a dim fop in society while secretly rescuing French aristocrats from the guillotine.
The Prisoner of Zenda is the shortest option here: an Englishman who looks like the king of Ruritania takes his place after the king is drugged and captured.
A Tale of Two Cities is the most serious of the classics. Doctor Manette’s 18 years in the Bastille and the way old injustices resurface during the Revolution sit close to Monte Cristo’s themes.
Modern revenge novels for Monte Cristo fans
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester (1956). The most direct modern descendant. It is a future-set retelling of Monte Cristo: Gully Foyle is left to die in space, is educated by a fellow prisoner, finds a fortune and remakes himself to take revenge. It was first published in the UK as Tiger! Tiger! (Vintage paperback on Amazon ).
Vicious by V.E. Schwab (2013). Two college roommates discover how to gain superhuman powers; ten years later, Victor Vale breaks out of prison with a fellow inmate to take revenge on Eli, who betrayed him. It is the closest modern match for the escape-and-reckoning structure. The sequel, Vengeful, followed in 2018 (Tor paperback on Amazon ).
Red Rising by Pierce Brown (2014). After his wife is executed, Darrow, a miner on Mars, is remade and sent undercover among the ruling Golds. It is more rebellion than private vengeance, but the hidden identity inside an enemy elite will appeal to Monte Cristo readers. It opens a trilogy, followed by Golden Son and Morning Star (Del Rey paperback on Amazon ).
Sources
- PBS Masterpiece: The Count of Monte Cristo (U.S. broadcaster, cast, director)
- Collider: The Count of Monte Cristo PBS release (eight episodes, 2026 U.S. release)
- Penguin Random House: The Count of Monte Cristo, translated by Robin Buss
- We Love Translations: What’s the best audiobook of The Count of Monte Cristo? (audiobook narrators, running times and translations)
- Britannica: The Three Musketeers
For the source question, see what book the series is based on , and for the endings, how the book and movie endings differ .