One of my favorite childhood books <3

The last of the Three musketeers stories. This is my least favorite of the 3 books written by Dumas. The writing, as in the other 2, is dated and in places drags. Overall the story didn't seem as fast paced as the other books. Recommended

After all the adventures of D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, it's impossible not to fall in love with these characters. Their friendship, courage, loyalty, fidelity, and honor are the thread that conducts all the deeds, intrigues and adventures they go through.
In The Man in the Iron Mask we set out on the last journey for the four musketeers.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS How can I possibly write this review without SPOILERS when my HEART IS BROKEN INTO A THOUSAND PIECES. I miss you already, my brave Musketeer friends! I am not someone who cries easily - the only series that's ever made me cry was Stephen King's The Dark Tower. Prior to this brutal book. I feel like I have experienced the death of friends. And I feel such profound grief over these loyal, lifelong friends being separated. Oh Porthos! You mighty giant! Athos, noble friend! And D'Artagnan, the Captain who won my heart from page one. Aramis, how will you live with only one fourth of your soul?? How will I live?? Oh, right. I'll probably just re-read the first book over and over again. Sigh. Sniffle.

Ok. Let me try to properly review the novel that concludes the chronicles of the greatest friendship of all time.

For a novel that claims to be about a tyrant king and his struggle for the throne against his identical brother, that's actually a pretty minor part of this novel. In fact, that whole storyline feels pretty incomplete by the end of the novel, but perhaps that's just because it's actually concluded so early that it seems to suggest further intrigue. However, I'm not complaining. These musketeers have the most epic bromance of all time and I love reading about it, especially in that typical Dumas way where they can be fighting for completely different things and still be loyal, honest and true to their friendship. This is more about how, despite the different paths their lives have taken, their friendship has endured. There are some absolutely gut-wrenching moments and I caught myself reading open-mouthed on several occasions. This has all the action of The Three Musketeers, but it's a much darker setting than the original, with much more villainy. Time has caught up with our friends and the original cast has mostly moved on to make way for others less appealing, making the France we return to appear almost as a washed out painting of former glory.
The action is much easier to follow than that of the intervening novels, so the pace matches that of the first novel. While the language is elegant and lengthy enough to sometimes lose track of the meaning, I never once lost the thread of the story. It's utterly absorbing, the way words can be used to communicate feeling and evoke vision. That being said, this particular version was terribly translated. I miss the cries of "Mon dieu!' and the various phrases that sounded so much better in French, the meanings of which always made perfect sense in their contexts. This translation made me cringe every time I had to read my 17th Century musketeers saying 'c'mon' and other such ugly, modern phrases.

Dumas is my favourite author for a reason. He manipulates words beautifully but uses them to tell stories full of action, intrigue, heroes and adventure. I always feel devastated when I remember he's no longer around to be producing works of such unique calibre.

This is a glorious conclusion to the series, but it's not for the faint of heart. Still, what kind of friends would we be if we abandoned our musketeer companions before their story concluded?

Read my most recent review here.

I had no idea that book is actually part of the larger series. For years I honestly thought it was a stand alone within the same universe, years apart from The Three Musketeers, that's what I get for not reading the book blurb

Stars, you really do need to read this series in order. Which I didn't realize. I just...jumped right in there at the end of the trilogy, which was a bad plan.

The first, oh, 40% of the book was amazing. I couldn't put it down. The plot of the kings, and the Bastille, and the conflicting loyalties and ill treatments and general bad decisions made by everyone involved was absolutely divine. But then it got all mushy and confused. Had I read the others in the series first, I might have been more invested, but as it was, Louis's character felt all over the place, Philip's plot just...stopped, I guess, and while I loved the wit and banter, toward the end I stopped caring. I do think had I read the others in the series first and grown to love these characters fully before immersing in this one I might have bumped up a star, but I'm still utterly disappointed that the Man in the Iron Mask is not actually about The Man In The Iron Mask.

Like, the Mask is in like two scenes? And that's all?

Eh.

Terrific opening, whimpering conclusion, and me waiting desperately for another shoe to drop that never did.

Definitely love d'Artagnan as a whole general character, though. Like, what a perfect character. Flavors of my favorite protagonist Sam Vimes in there, though Louis is no Patrician, I tell ya.

Este es un libro de muchos matices, y dependiendo de cómo veas el concepto en si del libro puede gustarte, puede que no o como me paso a mí que te deje con muchas incógnitas. En lo personal siento que me quedó a deber. El libro me lo habían afamado tanto que traía unas expectativas muy altas. No soy mucho de leer novela histórica, sin embargo quería darle una oportunidad a este y no puedo decir más que tengo sentimientos contradictorios.

Me gusto en cuanto a personajes ya que tiene unos personajes que son fáciles de querer y tomar aprecio, así como también que llegas a odiar a otros en su momento. Me gusto igualmente las relaciones y emociones a las que el autor le da mayor importancia a lo largo de la novela. Me encanto que le diera énfasis al honor, la amistad, lazos de familia, y sobre todo a ser leales a nosotros mismo. Siempre me ha llamado el tema de los mosqueteros y el conocer como sigue su historia, ver sus acciones y su manera de proceder en este libro fue una de las cosas que más disfrute, su amistad y su cariño entre ellos era palpable en la historia.

Sin embargo si debo decir que aunque entiendo que el libro fuera parte de otro la historia en si de “El Hombre de la Máscara de Hierro” únicamente es de titulo, es decir al principio por lo que me deja un poco con la incógnita de su relación con la historia en si, su relevancia, el porqué de mencionarlo, vamos que si está bien que sea el punto para que se desarrolle el conflicto y lo entiendo; sin embargo me pareció un poco sin gracia su participación y sus momentos dentro de la historia; y que además al final me diera un personaje para luego dejarlo olvidado sin ninguna gracia y de una manera tan plana y absurda.

A solid Dumas novel full of court intrigues, adventures, and loyal friendships during the reign of Louis XIV. I have to admit though that I enjoyed The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo more, as this book felt a little slow at times.

Magnificent, incredible, et cetera. I can't overstate how much I loved this story. I think Dumas is among the most entertaining of the classical writers. A huge cast of character and an epic story full of love, hate, friendship, betrayal, politics and actions. A favorite of mine.

I am not sure where to begin with this one. I have not read any of the other Three Musketeer books, this was my first foray into them, and I was very much not impressed.

For starters; what I have grown up thinking the Musketeers were, are not what was portrayed in this book. Aramis was a deceiving usurper who only had political intrigue and advancement in mind. There was barely any mention that the king did not care about his subjects. And other than being an ungrateful brat the king had done no wrong that the story indicated. There was also no proof that the twin brother was actually his twin brother. The story leaves it pretty much being just a look a like.

Athos was a waste of a character. He died because his son went to war? Seriously? He is a solder himself so that shouldn't have been to great of a surprise. I certainly see being depressed at the thought of my child going to war most likely to never return. But the way Athos is described makes him sound disturbing and slothful. Plus the visions in his dreams thing was ridiculous.

Then D'Artagnan. Supposed to be the captain of the musketeers and loyal to the king but at every turn blatantly countermands the king and tells him so. Then is surprised and hurt when the king makes a fool of him. Only to turn around and re-up as the captain for the king when he bats his eyes.

Porthos, the only Musketeer I even liked, but still didn't. He was a good soul. But he was vein to an extreme and so simple minded Aramis was able to fool him into committing Treason for his own gains.

The story was absurdly long and the characters are not what I grew up thinking they were from movies and what not. I expected them to be noble and uphold the law and have the people in mind when they did anything, and this story told me the opposite was more likely. Too bad, I really wanted to like it and read more but that may never happen now.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about The Man in the Iron Mask, to me, was just how quickly the title subplot was dealt with. Then again, this was not originally called The Man in the Iron Mask. This is the last chunk in a larger book. I can see why it gets cut up like that. This part alone was over 400 pages. And the introduction gave a coherent enough synopsis of what came before that I could follow. Maybe I should have read it all, since I do like reading Dumas the elder.

Back in the 90s, I saw the movie version, the one with Leonardo DiCaprio. Because Leo was soooo dreamy. And wow, did it ever depart from the source material. Sure, I expected that, but maybe not quite to that extent. I'm sure it doesn't surprise anyone that I think the original was far and away better. One of the things that I really liked, and was really surprised by, in The Three Musketeers was the level of nuance in the characters. Opposing a protagonist does not make a character evil, and an opponent can become a friend. It's refreshing, and far more realistic. But the ending is one hell of a downer, I have to say. It doesn't bother me, but it's something to keep in mind before you dive in.

Editia pe care am citit-o eu este una mult mai veche, nu tocmai aceasta, dar in principiu contine aceeasi poveste.
Scurta, clara si la obiect, un spin-off al seriei Cei trei muschetari foarte interesant, plin de intriga si aventura.