I can’t really decide whether Dumas is great without being good, or instead good without being great - I suppose it depends on the point of view. He is unquestionably amazing, astonishing, a grandfather of Adventure as a genre. Sure I guess there was Don Quixote and the Knights of the Round Table and Odysseus and Enkidu and it really does go back aways. I’m not really sure what Dumas has that the others lacked, and I’m not super eager to downplay Cervantes and Homer. Perhaps it is just that Dumas is culturally the closest, writing in with the rhythm and language (in translation) of an empathetic modernity. But he definitely got something right, and is a joy to read - not for the depth of characters, or insight into the human condition or beauty of the language but just for the excitement of it all. It is fun to watch these lovable(?) rogues foil the dastardly plans of their enemies, and what more do you really need.