Despite being a lengthy novel, this was a fast read. Dumas packs his stories with action, intrigue, suspense, conspiracy. I really enjoyed the first half of the book. It tapered off towards the end and I wished for more successes for the protagonists. Great writing overall and I loved being reunited with D'Artagnan and the musketeers.

Maybe it is better to read the other books about "The d'Artagnan Romances" first, but it didn't bother me to not get all the references, as I do know some things about the musketeers.
I would have thought that the book is more about the man in the iron mask, but it is mostly about d'Artagnan. But I really liked the story and the relationships between the characters.

It was not as bad as you would have expected it to be.

I was a bit disappointed in this book because the majority of it had nothing to do with the actual Man in the Iron Mask, but the aftermath of his being exposed as the brother of the current king. It was also occasionally difficult to follow because it was the last of a five book series, the first being "The Three Muskateers", which I read. I skipped the middle three as after reading the synopsis for each, I felt I wouldn't be missing much from skipping 2400 pages.

The ending was quite good, IF Dumas had left out the Epilogue. I thought the ending was just right, and then boom, here comes an Epilogue full of a new war, more internal intrigues, and so much packed into a few pages that I felt like Dumas threw the Epilogue in just to write about D'Artagnan's death. I felt that writing about his death really wasn't necessary, or at least, writing all that extraneous stuff beforehand was really too much.

I'd like to give the book 3 1/2 stars, but I can't, so 3 stars it is. Worth reading, but be prepared to occasionally be confused, and at times a bit bored. There are enough good parts, though, to make up for this.


Lori Anderson


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I didn't know how to review this book and just started writing randomly until some thoughts about the book illuminated me and I could write some a proper rant about this book review.

So, here it is.

First, I never really figured out it was part of a series "The D'Artagnan Romances", so when I found this book free for being public domain I couldn't stop myself and got it immediately. I was really excited to start this book. I don't really remember the movie but I remember I liked it, that's why I thought I would absolutely adore this book.

I thought this book was going to be about Phillipe, the man in the iron mask and how he was being punished that way because the king Louis XIV wouldn't risk his royalty, and the battle to free him, something like that. The truth is this book was more about the musketeers and the man in the iron mask is only a subplot of it.

I didn't really enjoy the story, only in parts, small moments in the overall story that took forever to get to, and I can't find that appealing at all. I can't be bored reading for one hour and only enjoy 3 minutes of it, that's not what I call entertaining or interesting. I really cannot give it more than 2 stars.

I'm not sure if it has to do with the fact that I didn't read The Three Musketeers or Twenty Years After first, but I just didn't find the characters likeable at all, probably that's why I didn't like this book more.

There were some parts that I didn't understand and just feel stupid for some reason.

For example:

Aramis plotted all the thing to switch the king with the prisoner, and did it amazing, it worked, and then he has to go to M. Fouquet and tell him everything he did, so he would go and spoil everything.

Why did he do that???

It doesn't make any sense!

I mean, he goes there and says that he will tell him everything because he's a friend and he doesn't want to hide anything, but he knows if he do that he will go and liberate Louis XIV from the prison and send Phillipe back to it... That's not NOT right!

If Aramis is so damn cunning that he could manage to switch them without anyone noticing, it doesn't make any sense why he went to reveal everything...

And that's about the most interesting thing that happens in this book, the rest is boring and I didn't like it.

And obviously this makes me mad.

I have been making my way steadily through these books for years and this was definitely a fitting end. It seemed to have all the best bits from the other books, plenty of action and intrigue but this one had more emotional depth than the others. I suppose that also comes with having followed the lives of these characters for so long, but the lovely way that the 4 musketeers are written and described I feel like you can't help but love them.

If you've made it this far through the volumes you're going to want to finish them, and The Man In The Iron Mask is an excellent finish.

Although Porthos deserved more, he always deserves more.

Since I seem to be giving up books at the moment. I probably will come back to this at some point, but the friend I've been reading it with agrees that the Frenchmen are not sassy enough for our readalong, and the whole thing lacks the charm of Musketeers, so we are swapping it out for the Scarlet Pimpernel as soon as either of us can get our hands on a copy. Decent book, but not fit for current purpose.

what the f did I just read?

I wish I could give this three stars, but this book truly was "just okay." The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After must be read before this book, otherwise you will be very confused. I'm surprised that The Man in the Iron Mask is more famous than Twenty Years After (although neither are good stand-alone novels; they really require reading the previous novels first) because I found TYA to be much more humorous, more exciting, and more engaging all around. The only thing I liked more about TMitIM is that the particular translation I read, which is much newer than the translation of TYA that I had read, made for smooth and easy reading. (The translations of TTM and TYA I read were tiring to read at times.) The last ~300 pages of TMitIM are not very interesting, although I will give Dumas credit for always writing good "death and grieving" scenes. I read this trilogy because The Count of Monte Cristo is my favorite book and I was hoping for something similar, but these three books are nothing like it. The first two are humorous, light-hearted, and adventurous, but the last one (TMitIM) is not particularly engaging and its only purpose seems to be to conclude the story and lives of the four protagonists.

I really enjoyed this book!

I tried to read this book as a child, but got nowhere with it, probably because it concludes a narrative thread that runs through a series of earlier novels, with numerous references to and dependencies on those. The edition I read this time (Wordsworth) had enough notes and explanations to resolve any difficulties and, (hurrah!), I finished it.

I have to say that, although the concept is superb, I didn't enjoy it as much as, say, The Three Musketeers; the pace was more laboured and the ending quite cumbersome to modern eyes. And I suspect that the character Raoul must have been the milkman's rather than the son of a musketeer.
having said that, it's very much worth the read.

For the novel is dark and full of terrors!

this novel is absolutely 100% Not a pleasant reading! Everything goes kaput for the protagonists.

Pros:
brilliant writing and conversations.

cons:
Tragedy.
foolish decisions made by the musketeers (Which doesn't make any sense!!).