Tyve aar efter - roman første del (1845)

"d'Artagnan, numera en bortglömd löjtnant vid konungens musketörer, får plötsligt ett nytt tillfälle att vinna ära, guld och den efterlängtade kaptensfullmakten. Mazarin, Frankrikes nya ledare, tar honom i sin tjänst. d'Artagnan uppsöker då sina gamla vänner - Athos, Porthos och Aramis - och snart är alla fyra mitt uppe i det stora äventyret igen. Så småningom förenas de i kampen för en gemensam sak - att oskadliggöra den förhatliga Myladys son."

Sure, some of the plot happenstances are awfully convenient and the big villain is one-note, but this remains a well-read classic for a reason. Twenty Years After is a highly-enjoyable read that goes along at a fast clip, even with my copy near 700 pages in length. As I am age 40, I appreciated seeing how d'Artagnan had matured to that age (which was also the age at which Dumas wrote the book, soon after doing the first). The action is great and I loved seeing how the musketeers remained true to each other, even as they were snared in some complicated politics. ( )

This is the banally-named sequel to Dumas's much more famous The Three Musketeers, once again bringing together D'Artagnan and his former comrades from the various paths in life that the events of the earlier novel left them in. There are the usual swashbuckling scenes, daring escapes and dramatic confrontations, but the villain here, Mordaunt, the son of the villainess in the earlier novel, is nowhere near as striking and memorable. Part of the novel takes place in England at the time of the trial and execution of King Charles I (and which gives rise to a memorable comment from Aramis showing his contempt for England and the English - "We shall be murdered there....I hate the English - they are coarse, like every nation that swills beer"). The politics of the Fronde are rather confusing (and I remember them as such from my History A level 33 years ago!) and overall this novel is not as strong as its predecessor. ( )

I just finished 3 musketeers. Should have stopped. Had enough swashbuckling. If that's your thing then this is another dose of the same/
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No valid German National Library records retrieved.