The Four Musketeers set out to release from prison a man that they believe is the king's illegally imprisoned twin brother. They are involved in a plot to dethrone King Louis XIV.

Cleary this is the best part of the four volume edition since it contains the least amount of Louise, Raoul and Louis being lovelorn teenagers (in their 20's)!

It is also the best part because it is the end. Now, this might sound a bit negative, but after reading 2000 pages you have a right to be excited (and really glad) when all the excrutiatingly detailed plots finally pay off!

I can only repeat what I already wrote about the first three volumes: The novel as a whole is simply too long. There, I said it. It's not like the book had that many scenes that did not add anything to the bigger picture, but some details were simply less interesting than others, and all the side plots and side characters - as lovingly plotty and described they may be, as beautiful as the language may be - simply kill the pacing and seriously harm the arc of suspense built up by other, bigger story threads.

Therefore I was happiest whenever the book focused on the actions and fate of the original four heroes of this series. And you simply gotta hand it to Dumas (or his ghost writers, or his author sweat-shop, or whoever truly wrote this thing): This book knows how kill off its heroes in the most cruel fashion, guaranteed to have an emotional reaction out of the reader.

I could swear I took notes for a proper review while reading the thing, but I can't find any. Well, this will have to do for now then...

Η έκδοση είναι εξαιρετική, σκληροδετη, προσεγμένη και με καλή γραμματοσειρά.
Όσο αφορά το βιβλίο ξεκινά καλά στην συνέχεια όμως κάνει μια τεράστια κοιλιά όπου δεν σε προδιαθέτει να το συνεχίσεις. Προσπερνώντας αυτή τη σκόπελο προσδοκούμε να διαβάσουμε τι γίνεται με το Σιδηρούν Προσωπείο το οποίο αναφέρεται μια φορά και αυτό είναι όλο. Αυτός που το φορά μας απασχολεί μόνο σε 50 σελίδες του βιβλιου και πολλές λέω από τις 720! Απορώ γιατί δόθηκε αυτός ο τίτλος. Αντίθετα βλέπουμε την ζωή των σωματοφυλακων και το τέλος τους. Και εδώ είναι το ζουμί και αυτό το κομμάτι μου άρεσε. Όμως ο τίτλος είναι εντελώς άσχετος με αυτό που διάβασα. Ασφαλώς προτιμώ την ταινία!

It pains me to write this because I am, at heart, a print person. My paycheck depends on people wanting and buying printed materials. But this is one instance where the movie far outshines the book and I'm glad there was a screenwriter with a vision to see beyond this dismal book.

I had just read Three Musketeers by Dumas when I read this book. Perhaps it was the pleasure I took in this early book that spoiled Man in the Iron Mask.

Man in the Iron Mask starts out well. There is all the chivalry and twice the intrigue of Dumas' earlier works. The dialog is fantastic with politics twisting every meaning and clearly communicating the rancor of the time. There is a fantastic scene with Porthos, Aramis and the tailor that made me laugh aloud. I truly like Dartangan, for he displays chivalry and honor even when ordered to do things against his honor.

Then the book starts to go downhill. Characters that one would think were essential to the book disappear midway through and are never heard from again. Aramis becomes less and less sympathetic until we finally view him as merely a court toady who cared little for the sacrifice of his friends.

There are moments in this book; moments of passion, of grief, of love. But they are merely moments. Eventually the book becomes so ponderous, one must force oneself to continue. There are few characters to like in this book. They get themselves into situations for stupid reasons and are too self-centered to get out of them. Sacrifices are made for foolish reasons.

Excellent story, but I was a bit disappointed that the Hollywood version is only loosely based on this book. The man in the iron mask turns out to be a side plot, and not the centerpiece of this final Musketeers novel.

Curiously unengaging. The "Man in the Iron Mask" is dispensed with in the first half of the book. I read the other D'Artagnan Romances following Three Musketeers so that I could approach this book fully informed. I expected a juggernaut. Well, Count of Monte Cristo delivered on its promise, but this book did not. The action largely trails off unsatisfactorily. Porthos is presented for comedy except for a moment of tragedy. The action is largely French against French. Louis XIV seems to be a complete jerk. Proud D'Artagnan humbles himself.

As history it is fairly interesting, and Dumas does a good job of displaying the historical events. He is an engaging writer, and this book does continue the feel of being there. It is not a bad book, just not as good as it is made out to be.

Additionally, since D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers are displayed against actual history, a nodding knowledge of history will show that some desired plot points could never come to pass. Fouquet struggles in vain; Raoul's love for Louise de la Valliere is impossible.

The plot points come together too easily at the end. This is a pat end to characters that have had their ups and downs in uneven works by Dumas. At their height they are truly engaging. To end as they did is a cop out. I felt that Dumas realized he had to end this serial and just phoned in the ending.

It's free on gutenberg.org and the reading goes quickly, so read this as a painless romp through French history. Just don't expect the quality of other Dumas works.

It's brilliant, a masterpiece, kudos to the writer for writing such a brilliant plot.
Such a great execution.
It's a 10 ⭐ Read

I would love to read anything by Alexander Dumas now.

Writing anything about it will be a spoiler to my reading buddy, D'Artagnan.

It takes a lot of strength for me, the old Aramis to zip up my lips and not scream in excitement and agony and courage.

I would like to conclude it with just one phrase- " One for all/ All for one "
♥️♥️♥️

یه داستان کوتاه اما لذت بخش
از اونایی که نتونستم چشم از کتاب بردارم

The usual Dumas stuff that made him so famous: history and fiction melted together.
Quite a good one indeed, the only reason of rating so low is the sadness of the story...

Well. That was depressing. I'm not sure what the point of the book was, since nothing aimed for was ever accomplished, and all that happened was a lot of death for nothing and all the innocent people were still imprisoned at the end.

Starts out rousingly enough and features an excellent cast, but ends feeling a bit scattered and pointless.

This is where it gets tricky. Goodreads shows The Vicomte de Bragelonne as read, which it also shows as the same book as this; it is the first part of the overall book which has been broken into three parts. I don't need to get credit for three separate books, but I would like to be able to distinguish each separate part.

The first, The Vicomte de Bragelonne deals mostly with the young son of Athos, the dashing Vicomte, Raoul. The second, which I just finished, Louise de La Vallière focuses on Raoul's lady love, Louise, and how she feels about him, which I will not give away. And now we come to the infamous book, of this title! Drumroll, please! Do you know WHO the Man in the Iron Mask is? I did not, though there were clues in the story up until now. Yours truly is not very good about picking up on clues.

However, a little into the story last night, I found out who this person is, and I could have known, but I did not guess correctly. But then, I never solve Agatha Christie mysteries either.