after reading "The three musketeers" and "After twenty years" is so heartwarming to see their friendship after almost a life together and at the same time it is sad to see how everyone took separate paths in life, their passions. D'Artagnan followed the king, Athos stayed with his son, Aramis seeked justice and Porthos remained loyal to a friend in need as always. And maybe it seems like D'Artagnan and Aramis gone against each other but they never stopped loving each other. The last few chapters made me crying so much. Athos, Porthos and D'Artagnan died each one in his own way and every death fitted perfectly to the character. But of course tragedy is a must so I feel so bad for Aramis cause he lost his friends, his brothers. And the story of Phillipe is an amazing way to get the characters into action. The only bad thing I have to say is that in some parts the story becomes a bit boring but this is is a very small problem. Alexandre Dumas did an amazing job creating this story and he combine fantasy with real events and characters perfectly

Me quedé, pero con el ojo cuadrado, buena historia, diálogos profundos y las luchas un poco desesperantes porque te gustaría entrar y ayudar, pero claramente no puedes.
Un gran clásico.

This is odd really, because until I started it I hadn't realised that it is just the last quarter of a much longer book Le Vicomte de Bragelonne. As such The Man In The Iron Mask contains a lot of plot points that require explanation, characters that have already been established, and other things we are supposed to have already read about. By coincidence I had seen the last part of the TV drama Versailles last year which touched on some of the story of this book and some of the real characters from the court of Louis XIV. Had it not been for this I would have been a bit more confused.

Having said that, I have decided that Alexandre Dumas is one of my favorite classic authors. His books are so entertaining, often very funny, thrilling and full of high drama. Given that this is the last in the Musketeers trilogy of novels he wrote, there is plenty of heartache towards the end, especially concerning some of the characters we got to know in the beginning. On top of this is the almost unbelievable story of the man in the iron mask himself, and the political shenanigans that surround him. A lot of intrigue, revenge and adventurous goings-on indeed! All that remains now is for me to read the rest of the book it comes from, which I look forward to doing.

I never thought I'd ever say it, but I have finally met a book whose movie I like infinitely better. Before I begin my list of complaints, I must say that I respect Dumas as a great classic writer, and I did try to just write off his style as something in the revered past. However, I could find no excuse to explain the lack of interesting plot or story. As I slogged through the 700 + pages, I kept hoping for Dumas's sake that the story would pick up, but the characters just kept talking to each other...very politely of course. One can't say anything without plugging in a "my dear monsieur."
One huge issue was the man in the iron mask himself. He was probably the main reason I read this...after all, the book is named after him. I wasn't really bothered by the fact that he didn't come into the story until maybe chapter ten, but then he exited the story forever before it was even halfway through...and he never came back. (Spoiler warning) The mastermind Aramis hatches a plot to free the man in the iron mask and put him on the throne. It works perfectly, and no one is the wiser until Aramis decides to tell a minister of affairs. Why would the mastermind do such a thing? I have no idea. The result is that Aramis is forced to flee, but he comforts himself regarding the man in the iron mask's fate by saying that the man was doomed to a life of misfortune. Don't lose too much sleep, my dear Aramis. Having seen the movie, I kept waiting for the man in the iron mask to gloriously return and depose the evil king, and he never did. I suppose it was a good thing in this case that I'd seen the movie first, for I would have never wanted to watch it after reading this book. (Spoiler) Since the good king stays in an island prison for the rest of his life, the evil king stays on the throne. One good thing out of this is that King Louis slowly becomes a better king, even if some of his worse qualities remain.
That leads me to a second point. The characters are on the whole thoroughly unlikable, but most of them die anyway. Going into specifics would reveal too many of the plot points, and as there are only a few littered in the pages and pages of dialogue, I won't mention them. Suffice it to say that someone basically kills himself because love has made him an idiot--and not in a good way. Another someone can't run fast enough and he dies. And Aramis is just a heartless mastermind who ruins someone's life and runs away from the mess.
So I really did try to like this book. I wanted to like it, but I ended up getting most of my amusement from criticizing it. If that makes me a nuisance, read this book and then go watch the movie. You'll see what I mean.

More intrigue than The Three Musketeers, which was a lot of fun. But there wasn't as much action/combat as Three Musketeers, which I missed. In the end, I was more interested in how the plot would turn out in the long term, but I had a harder time staying interested scene-to-scene, since some of them dragged on.

As worthy a series as any published.

<3

I came to The Man in the Iron Mask having only read The Count of Monte Cristo - so with no experience of the three musketeers. This left me confused in the early days of this last D'Artagnan romance: I knew the history of "the squirrel" (which constitutes a massive spoiler, but what can ya do when writing a historical novel?), but none of the intrigues the characters kept referring to. May be a good thing: I think I like the central characters more in their old age than I would have in their youth.

The plot is weak, to say the least, having far more to do with D'Artagnan's last hurrah than the titular masked man. And oh my WORD, Dumas rambles! Maaaaaybe his writing is more to be admired in the original French? It's difficult to take seriously any narration or dialogue that includes such lines as -

"Do not act as if you were playing at the game children play at when they have to try to guess where a thing has been hidden, and are informed by a bell being rung, when they are approaching near to it, or going away from it."

Eh?

This is typical of the dialogue. I didn't feel that things picked up at all until about 400, 500 pages in, when Aramis and Porthos are fighting for their lives and people begin to drop like flies. The slight redeeming quality of the novel is also the most memorable part of the series: the friendship, the code of loyalty and honor that binds the three (and D'Artagnan, who orbits them, being awesome. Like he does.). The characters, too, were not unlikable. I didn't like Raoul, who was too lovesick to be of any earthly good, and Athos sat rather too piously on his hands; but D'Artagnan was a good egg, as was Porthos. I was even rather fond of Aramis, despite Robert Louis Stevenson's opinion of him. Still, they didn't effectively raise the book in my opinion. Dumas isn't my favorite, and if I do have some strange urge to read him, I think I'll settle for the Count.

A classic action adventure novel with lots of awesome drama.

This is a superb novel -- and a frequently misunderstood one. The Man in the Iron Mask is only tangentially about the mysterious masked figure. I have read this book so long ago, and in the interval I have seen several filmed version of the story which turned it into a novel of derring-do, as if it were a young man's book, like The Three Musketeers. No, Alexandre Dumas had other fish to fry. He had done adventure. Here, he writes about a most solemn subject: The end of life.

Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan are not young men in any of the sequels to The Three Musketeers. In The Man in the Iron Mask, two of the Musketeers, Aramis and Porthos, commit an act of derring-do: They attempt to replace Louis XIV with his brother, a prisoner in the Bastille. But the whole plot backfires, and Louis undergoes a change of personality, becoming more decisive and powerful, partly thanks to his new Superintendent of Finances, Colbert. With this change, the Musketeers become relics in a time and place that they have ceased to understand.

Attending the double funeral of Athos and his son, the Vicomte de Bragelonne, d'Artagnan begins to muse about his own mortality:

The captain [d'Artagnan] watched the departure of the horses, horsemen, and carriage; then crossing his arms upon his swelling chest, "When will it be my turn to depart?" said he, in an agitated voice, "What is there left for man after youth, after love, after glory, after friendship, after strength, after riches? That rock, under which sleeps Porthos, who possessed all I have named; this moss, under which repose Athos and Raoul [de Bragelonne], who possessed still much more!"

He hesitated a moment with a dull eye; then, drawing himself up, "Forward! still forward!" said he. "When it shall be time, God will tell me, as he has told others."

And yet the book is crammed full of adventures. It is just that entropy has reared its ugly head, and the eternal youth and joy of the Four Musketeers does eventually come to an end.

un libro interesante pero muy pesado, se utiliza el español gallego y resulta muy confuso muchas oraciones, ademas presenta muchos personajes y no sabes muy bien quien es quien y que representan o cual es su funcion, no se si esto se debe a que es la ultima entrega d elos mosqueteros y en anteriores libros mucho personajes son representados y en este libro solo hacen aportaciones, lo cual esta mal, porque si e smuy confuso, tenia muchos animos deleerlo por que ya he visto la pelicula, la cual me gusto mucho y es de esa pocas veces que puedo decir, es mejor la peli que el libro, tiene pasajes interesantes y debes de ponerle muchisima atencion, pues es un clasico, pero despues de el primer tercio de libro, se vuelve todo muy confuso y solo reconoces a muy pocos personajes.

“I am strong against everything, except against the death of those I love. He who dies gains; he who sees others die loses.”

Alexandre Dumas’ The Man in the Iron Mask is the thrilling conclusion to his D'Artagnan Romances series. The novel weaves betrayal, political intrigue, and secret identities into a tale that feels as timeless as its main characters. The infamous musketeers—D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis—are back, and this time, they are confronted with a mysterious prisoner whose face is hidden behind an iron mask. But who is he? And why is he locked away? Well, you’ll have to dive into this 19th-century classic to find out (don’t worry, I won’t spoil the fun).

The plot, while a bit meandering at times, ultimately builds toward a series of dramatic reveals. The main conflict? The question of justice, loyalty, and power, which Dumas explores with gusto. But, of course, no plot would be complete without a colorful cast. The musketeers remain as lovable as ever—each with their own quirks and growth. D'Artagnan’s courage is tested, while Aramis… well, he’s still a schemer, just as charming and devious as ever.

Dumas’ prose is as engaging as a rousing sword fight, but the pacing could use a little sharpening here and there. The narrative sometimes lingers when it could be racing forward. But overall, it’s a story of honor, mystery, and emotional depth. The twists keep you hooked, even if it occasionally feels like the plot is a bit too grand for its own good.

Conclusion: A must-read for fans of historical fiction, loyal musketeers, and anyone who enjoys a good, old-fashioned twist.

So I read The Man in the Iron Mask, only that it was not a story of the "Man in the Iron Mask". I was already halfway into the book when I realized this, so I was left with no choice but to continue. The story of the iron mask is only a trifling subplot because this story is all about the Musketeers that we have come to know. I'm pretty sure that I haven't read this story, yet I remember reading a book by this title. Perhaps it was a children's version that I read. I don't know. All I know is that this book is not what I expected it was. Of course, I knew this is part of a sequel to the D'Artagnan series that began with The Three Musketeers , but I believed that it had a separate story of its own. There I was utterly disappointed.

I also wasn't impressed with the manner Dumas handled his three aging Musketeers. I was never fond of them. But they represented a certain dignity and fierce loyalty. This image was heavily mishandled and that somewhat ruined their characters. Was Dumas in a hurry to end their tale or was he too careless or too tired with them to care? My opinion is that he should have ended their long tale with more care and respect.

But looking at the bright side, I enjoyed the historical setting and characters, and I truly liked D'Artagnan's character. His loyalty to his King, his loyalty and love for his friends, and his fearlessness to act according to his conscience even at the risk of invoking royal wrath is admirable. In truth, it is his character, the light and humorous writing of Dumas, and the Royal Court of Louis XIV that helped me endure the read.