Anybody read the complete D'Artagnan books by Dumas (The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Valliere, The Man in the Iron Mask)? I'm closing in on the last couple of hundred pages of The Man in the Iron Mask and unless it goes bad all of a sudden, I'm going to say it's the best series I've ever read. It's consistently funny, exciting, intriguing, and educational about the culture and mores of the times in which it's set. It's certainly come in very useful when playing Flashing Blades.
I've only read the first and last. I like Dumas, but my tastes run more to the fantastical. I did enjoy 500 Years After, by Brust, for what it's worth.