Another boring work from Monsieur Dumas after The Three Musketeers.

Okay okay, not that boring. Perhaps I'm not accustomed in reading "royal conversations" or whatever high level language used by Dumas, but I find it really dull. It was a struggle for me to finish that book, with more than 350 pages. I can read Victor Hugo's 1000-pages (at least) Les Miserables, but this book? There's just too many descriptions and the dialogues made me kinda dizzy.

Why I do not give only one stars in this review is because the characters are very strong. Who could forget Athos' nobility, Aramis' vast resources/talents, Porthos' loyalty and last but not least, D'Artagnan's heroism? The beginning and the middle part of the book make you sleepy, but not the ending. Hence, the three stars :D

One more thing, the movie (with Leonardo di Caprio) really sucked. Those Hollywood morons always manage to destroy literatures.

Beautiful ending to the D'Artagnan Romances. I cried so hard at the end.

This five-star rating is for The D'Artagnan Romances as a whole, including 'The Three Musketeers,' 'Twenty Years After,' 'The Vicomte de Bragelonne,' 'Louise de la Valliere,' and 'The Man in the Iron Mask.' I have happily given my time in following the trials of this adventurous foursome.

By far, 'The Three Musketeers' is my personal favorite. The initial introduction to D'Artagnan, Porthos, Aramis, and Athos and their multi-country exploits is well-crafted and exciting; and the antagonist, Milady, puts many other villains to shame.

'Twenty Years After' is a strong follow-up, if for no other reason than the antagonist, Mordaunt, descends from Milady and continues that storyline of intrigue.

'The Vicomte de Bragelonne' and 'Louise de la Valliere' were struggles to get through. Most of these two novels focused on the intrigues of the court of Louis XIV; our friends the Musketeers make very few appearances in these pages (though when they do show up, s**t goes down). Having finished 'The Man in the Iron Mask,' I now understand why the relationships of the court were so important to understand, however I don't know that Dumas needed such painstaking detail in getting the point across. I also think there was enough going on historically in that time to allow him to give D'Artagnan and his friends some more screen time to pick up the pace a bit.

'The Man in the Iron Mask' is a grand finale, though it does leave a couple of questions lingering. For one, the title's namesake makes a very short (albeit important) appearance in the story without much of a resolution; I was hoping for a bit more political intrigue in the playing out of Dumas' theory of the real man in the iron mask of the Bastille. Second, Aramis' fate is left to the unknown; this is in stark contrast to the detail Dumas provides to the destinies of D'Artagnan, Porthos, Athos, and even Rauol. However, in the end, I respect Dumas' decision to put a final ending to the storyline.

I will miss hanging out with these characters, especially Aramis and Athos (and least of all Raoul), but I've most definitely enjoyed the ride.

Many years in the future the musketeers, now all in different stages of life, reunite for more adventure and conspiracy.

I wished I had read The Three Musketeers first.

A girl in my world literature class gave a book report on this book that sounded exactly like the movie, which I had loved. I wanted to know if she was cheating so I read the book myself. Well... she was cheating. But the book was still good, if REALLY thick in 18th century French politics.

I came to this book suspecting I'd read it before, though it turns out I'd probably confused it with another work by Dumas. But at least I knew the story, right? Wrong. So wrong. The story I know is here turned on its head and the plot seems ridiculous when compared to the thrilling tale we've seen in the movies. And that plot, already stuffed with impenetrable etiquette and intrigue, is made incomprehensible due to swathes of missing backstory. It turns out this work is just the 3rd volume of the 3rd part in a massive trilogy - not, in fact, the more stand-alone work I believed it to be. And it's bleak!

Spoiler

The ending is so grim I pity any poor soul who reached this point after wading through the previous four volumes.

I'm conscious I may have encountered a bad translation, and my edition gives no indication of this being the final instalment in a larger work, but I find myself disputing this book's status as a classic. Disappointing.

Good book. Was less about the man in the iron mask and more about the lives and deaths of the three musketeers.

Vastly different from the movie and so depressing. Overall, I'd only recommend the first two books in the D'artagnan/Musketeers saga (Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After)