More romance (modern day definition) between Kings, princesses, dukes, peasants, counts and what-have-you, while more sinister plots are brewing in the background all to set the stage for the next and final volume; The Man In The Iron Mask!

Not as much of an 'in-betweener' as the last one, but I'm glad to be moving on to Man in the Iron Mask.

I love Alexandre Dumas, and this book was fun to read, but I got a little discouraged because it kept jumping around between characters. It was hard to really invest in the different storylines and characters because there were just so many of them! The last few chapters (which finally got back to the original four musketeers) were very good, however, so on account of them I will give this book four stars.

Finally, stuff is happening! The king and La Valliere are still being insufferable and everyone at the royal court is still being highly unpleasant, but Athos and Porthos are back to being actual characters and Aramis's intrigues are delightful. And the king will get his comeuppance in the next book, yay!

Romanian review: Trecuseră patru ani de când nu mai citisem nimic de Alexandre Dumas (n-aș putea spune de ce, având în vedere că este unul din scriitorii mei preferați) și îmi era teamă că s-ar putea să mă dezamăgească- cum a făcut-o Jules Verne în ultimul timp. În cazul lui Jules Verne, problema este că am citit cea mai mare parte dintre cele mai bune romane ale sale, iar acum citesc romanele sale mai mediocre. Din fericire, nu a fost cazul cu Dumas. Încă îi ador proza, personajele mi se par la fel de interesante, iar intriga este încă captivantă.
Acest volum a fost destul de lung; mi-a luat ceva timp să îmi amintesc ce se întâmplase în primele două volume (au fost patru ani lungi), dar povestea nu a înaintat foarte mult în vreo direcție. Acesta este și motivul pentru care i-am scăzut o stea. Însă Alexandre Dumas este în continuare autorul meu preferat de romane istorice. Sunt curios dacă voi avea aceeași părere și după ce citesc cărțile lui Ken Follett.
De fiecare dată când citesc despre D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos și Aramis, devin nostalgic. Toți patru au evoluat foarte mult de-a lungul întregii "saga", și îmi amintesc cum erau la început.
Sunt din ce în ce mai curios ce va face Aramis în ultimul volum; el se implică cel mai mult în intrigi politice. În ciuda faptului că Athos și D'Artagnan sunt personajele mele preferate, Aramis este cel mai interesant în momentul de față.
Finalul a fost epic, dar destul de nerealist. În realitate, nici D'Artagnan, nici Athos, nu ar fi putut să-i vorbească regelui în felul în care i-au vorbit în carte fără să fie, cel mai probabil, condamnați la moarte sau arestați. Cu toate acestea, mi-au plăcut la nebunie acele scene.
Aștept cu nerăbdare să văd cum se încheie povestea celor patru mușchetari.



English review: It had been four years since I last read anything by Alexandre Dumas (I couldn’t really say why, considering he’s one of my favorite authors), and I was worried he might disappoint me—much like Jules Verne has done recently. With Verne, the problem is that I’ve already read most of his best novels, and now I’m left with his more mediocre works. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case with Dumas. I still adore his prose, find his characters captivating, and remain hooked by his plots.
This volume was quite long, and it took me a while to recall what had happened in the first two books (it has been four long years), but the story didn’t progress very much in any particular direction. That’s the main reason I docked it a star. Even so, Alexandre Dumas remains my favorite author of historical novels. I’m curious if I’ll feel the same way after I read Ken Follett’s books.
Every time I read about D’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, I feel a wave of nostalgia. All four have evolved so much over the course of the entire saga, and I can’t help but remember how they were in the beginning.
I’m growing increasingly curious about what Aramis will do in the final volume; he’s the one most deeply involved in political intrigues. While Athos and D’Artagnan are my favorite characters, Aramis is the most interesting at this point.
The ending was epic but quite unrealistic. In reality, neither D’Artagnan nor Athos could have spoken to the king the way they did in the book without being condemned to death or arrested. Still, I absolutely loved those scenes.
I can’t wait to see how the story of the four musketeers concludes.

The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later has been published in several different editions that divide the novel into separate books in different ways. I am reading the Project Gutenberg version, which separates the novel into four parts.

Louise de La Vallière is the third part and covers the chapters 141 to 208 of the full novel and is set in 1661. It is perhaps the most difficult part of the book to read, competing with the previous instalment, mainly because it focuses almost solely on Louise de La Vallière and her relationship with the king. The 'action' mainly consist of them trying to be together when Madame (the king's previous lover and his brother's wife) conspires to stop them at any cost.

You can read the full review here:
http://susimetsa.blogspot.fi/2015/07/...

Highlight: Man in the Iron Mask prequel, Three Musketeers sequel

Lowlight: did I read this because people in my past did or wanted to, or did I put it in my want to read because it reminded me of them?

This book was originally one book with "The Vicomte De Bragelonne" and "The Man in the Iron Mask." Translated into English they were broken into three delightful books that give Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnion a great ending.

[See review of The Vicomte de Bragelonne]

So when I move to 17th-century France, my teenage daughters are so not going to the king's court. I don't care how great an honor it is, they are not going. That is what I learned from reading this book. It dragged in places, but the court intrigue was fun. Also, if the king of England ever offered me Hampton Court palace, I would not demure. I would accept so quickly he wouldn't know what happened.

This book gets a lot of grief as the slow sister of Dumas' Three Musketeers books, because it is short on swashbuckling and long on court intrigue. That is exactly why I like it. It's essentially a (presumably mostly fictional) meditation on how Louis XIV went from being a spoiled brat to The Sun King. (The answer, of course, reduces to "Gosh the musketeers sure did teach him well.")

I feel like this section of the story has spent too much time describing the kinds love affairs and not enough time progressing the plot.