A layered, intricate account of the court of Louis XIV, the Sun King. The amusing Musketeers with you as guides. ( )

A good continuation of the story but maybe could have used a little more editing along the way

Librivox ( )

Well, I am confirmed in my dislike of Louise! But the scene is well set for the final part of the story - "The Man in the Iron Mask" and the action started picking up towards the end. ( )

Having now read the first two volumes of this long novel, I think it would be fair to say that there are problems with it. Is it a musketeers novel which bogs down in court intrigue, or a novel of court intrigue with the muskeers grafted on? Is there a plot?

To be fair, what there is of Dogtagnan et al is interesting but most of the stuff about the court is vapid and devoid of intelligence. For all I know, Dumas may pull both strands together in the final volume but frankly it could all be dealt with much more briefly. I think he’s written at such length because he’s being paid by the word. Then there are those long summary-like paragraphs that begin some chapters. Is this Maquet’s original text that Dumas hasn’t had time to expand?

There are also problems with theme. Twenty Years After may have lost the plot, but at least it was thematically whole. Here, however, we have a continuing interest in social status and money but it’s not presented with the same artistry. ( )

A slight improvement over the silly melodrama that was Ten Years After but still filled with a fair bit of unnecessary fluff. I can now see why these books may have appealed to 19th century readers: Dumas goes to great pains to perpetuate what we now know as "the soap opera". The D'Artagnan Romances are a soap opera. It has all of the right elements: characters in love/conflict/alliance; a plot that is drawn out in small doses over a huge swath of time; some repetition of information to refresh the reader's memories; and the whole heart-ache angst bit. I am not a big fan of soap operas so that is probably why I am struggling a bit with this one. Characters who pose and posture and don't really seem to get down to the business at hand without monologuing try my patience. The good news is that Louise de la Valliere did have some good bits that now have me looking forward to reading the last book in the series, The Man in the Iron Mask. I just wish the journey to this point had not involved some 3,600 pages of text. Dumas was as prolific a serial writer as Dickens, if that can be imagined! He must have been paid by the word, just like Dickens' was. ;-)

Now, onwards to The Man in the Iron Mask. ( )