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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Okay. If you're reading/have read Louise de la Vallière, you are DEEP down the Musketeers rabbit hole. Nobody picks this one up at random and thinks, "hey, I'll choose this 700+ page book in the middle of a series for some light reading."
At this point, fellow Muskereader, you are committed.
I'd read a few spoiler-free reviews before this, and did some light investigating into the plot beforehand, so I knew that out of all five books, this is the one where our beloved Inseperables are seen the least. They show up here and there, making cameos that have you squealing in delight: "the fellow who just punched those bad guys and took his hat off is d'ARTAGNAN!" or "oh, the sneaky fellow who swept off his cape is ARAMIS!"
The rest of the focus is largely on King Louis XIV, France's legendary Sun King, and his court, at the height of his blazing youth, and at the precipice of his power. The royal romances and secrets become the main ingredients of this story, and the original Musketeers take a back seat to palace intrigues.
So, I was going in with the view that this one would have to be endured with gritted teeth and determination.
I had SO. MUCH. FUN.
Palace intrigues turn out to be far more interesting than palace politics, and I'll take passionate declarations and stormy jealousies over financial discussions any damn day of the week. A friend (hi, Papercuts1!) who is buddy-reading along with me likened the 200+ pages of trysts in the dark to "Shakespeare on weed" and I laughed out loud because it's so true.
The title character, Louise de la Valliere, is actually the least well-developed character. She's very much a girl from her time, and can't be blamed for powerlessness, but she consists mostly of moralistic, heavy-handed speeches to her friends, crying and wringing her hands, and fainting fits. I'm almost tempted to go back and count a) the times she fainted, and b) the times her only dialogue consisted of, "Oh, sire!"
However, she's the title character for a reason: she's the still point at the revolving centre of the court. King Louis falls in love with her, and that has far-reaching repercussions. Raoul (Athos' son) and his best buddy de Guiche (himself in love with Louis' sister-in-law) are the next generation, and unwittingly become drawn into the web of shifting alliances because of her actions. The Comte de Guiche is particularly Musketeerish; he's involved in a pistol duel that had me on the edge of my seat, and he provides the swashbuckling we so badly miss from the other books.
Elsewhere, Aramis, master of secrets and swirling cloaks, is slowly setting the stage to supplant the king with the Man in the Iron Mask, a mysterious prisoner of the Bastille. He's super sneaky, collecting power in all kinds of unsavoury ways, betraying quite a lot of people and lying smoothly through his teeth in order to serve his own needs.
Overall, this book sets the stage for the final chapter, and as much as I thought it would drag, I found life at court, with its rich atmosphere and intrigues, was fascinating. If you want romance, you'll certainly get it: King Louis is deeply in love and he makes you believe it with some fantastic, swoon-worthy dialogue. When the original Musketeers do show up, they provide the novel's most interesting moments: Aramis' scheming is scene-stealing and intense, and d'Artagnan is the hero that everyone is going to need by the time all this is over. Athos is missing for most of the book, but his bromantic moments with d'Art at the beginning are heartwarming as always, and Porthos, the lovable giant, injects some much-needed humour.
I actually think this one captures the Musketeer spirit more than the previous installment: forbidden duels, secrets aplenty, trap doors and moonlit intrigues, passionate declarations of all kinds and d'Artagnan heroically making his way through it all.
At this point, fellow Muskereader, you are committed.
I'd read a few spoiler-free reviews before this, and did some light investigating into the plot beforehand, so I knew that out of all five books, this is the one where our beloved Inseperables are seen the least. They show up here and there, making cameos that have you squealing in delight: "the fellow who just punched those bad guys and took his hat off is d'ARTAGNAN!" or "oh, the sneaky fellow who swept off his cape is ARAMIS!"
The rest of the focus is largely on King Louis XIV, France's legendary Sun King, and his court, at the height of his blazing youth, and at the precipice of his power. The royal romances and secrets become the main ingredients of this story, and the original Musketeers take a back seat to palace intrigues.
So, I was going in with the view that this one would have to be endured with gritted teeth and determination.
I had SO. MUCH. FUN.
Palace intrigues turn out to be far more interesting than palace politics, and I'll take passionate declarations and stormy jealousies over financial discussions any damn day of the week. A friend (hi, Papercuts1!) who is buddy-reading along with me likened the 200+ pages of trysts in the dark to "Shakespeare on weed" and I laughed out loud because it's so true.
The title character, Louise de la Valliere, is actually the least well-developed character. She's very much a girl from her time, and can't be blamed for powerlessness, but she consists mostly of moralistic, heavy-handed speeches to her friends, crying and wringing her hands, and fainting fits. I'm almost tempted to go back and count a) the times she fainted, and b) the times her only dialogue consisted of, "Oh, sire!"
However, she's the title character for a reason: she's the still point at the revolving centre of the court. King Louis falls in love with her, and that has far-reaching repercussions. Raoul (Athos' son) and his best buddy de Guiche (himself in love with Louis' sister-in-law) are the next generation, and unwittingly become drawn into the web of shifting alliances because of her actions. The Comte de Guiche is particularly Musketeerish; he's involved in a pistol duel that had me on the edge of my seat, and he provides the swashbuckling we so badly miss from the other books.
Elsewhere, Aramis, master of secrets and swirling cloaks, is slowly setting the stage to supplant the king with the Man in the Iron Mask, a mysterious prisoner of the Bastille. He's super sneaky, collecting power in all kinds of unsavoury ways, betraying quite a lot of people and lying smoothly through his teeth in order to serve his own needs.
Overall, this book sets the stage for the final chapter, and as much as I thought it would drag, I found life at court, with its rich atmosphere and intrigues, was fascinating. If you want romance, you'll certainly get it: King Louis is deeply in love and he makes you believe it with some fantastic, swoon-worthy dialogue. When the original Musketeers do show up, they provide the novel's most interesting moments: Aramis' scheming is scene-stealing and intense, and d'Artagnan is the hero that everyone is going to need by the time all this is over. Athos is missing for most of the book, but his bromantic moments with d'Art at the beginning are heartwarming as always, and Porthos, the lovable giant, injects some much-needed humour.
I actually think this one captures the Musketeer spirit more than the previous installment: forbidden duels, secrets aplenty, trap doors and moonlit intrigues, passionate declarations of all kinds and d'Artagnan heroically making his way through it all.
I LOVE this particular portion of the D'Artagnan Romances. I love Athos. I love Dumas pere for creating and writing such a perfect example of honorable and noble character (Athos). I have loved each and every one of the pieces of this series, but I find myself completely and utterly overjoyed with the last few chapters of Louise de La Valliere. It is honestly my wish that every young man (and young woman, too, for that matter) should read this book to discover what constitutes a true hero (Athos; and also Raoul) and a true friend (D'Artagnan). What a beautiful lesson to be presented in the midst of such chaos, deceit and overly-ambitious pride.
The political drama/courtly intrigue started to bore me by the time that I hit the climax. However, the last 20 chapters I couldn't read fast enough as all of the setup that had annoyed me as "not advancing the plot" clicked into place and stampeded to the end. As an added bonus I got to see the celebrated 4 speak and act like themselves all together for the first time since 3 Musketeers and I loved that .
Apart from a few chapters this book is excruciatingly dull. I'm a big fan of The Three Musketeers, and although the musketeers themselves are present here the author has shifted his focus from them to the nobility of 17th century France. Don't get me wrong, the affairs of the king and the queen were crucial to the plot of The Three Musketeers, but they were just the supporting cast. In Louise de la Valliere we have to endure chapter after chapter of "clever" conversation between varyingly boring characters instead of Dumas' typical story-line twists. If it wasn't just a part of a longer novel I would have given up a few chapters in, but unfortunately, it isn't all bad, so an ardent reader wishing to make sense of The Man in the Iron Mask probably should give it a go.
The only saving graces I can think of are Aramis' few chapters, which are important to the main plot of the later book, apart from being very mysterious and exciting, and a midnight duel which is probably the coolest I have ever seen, heard or read about. Great stuff, but it's far from managing to interest the casual reader.
The only saving graces I can think of are Aramis' few chapters, which are important to the main plot of the later book, apart from being very mysterious and exciting, and a midnight duel which is probably the coolest I have ever seen, heard or read about. Great stuff, but it's far from managing to interest the casual reader.
A good continuation of the story but maybe could have used a little more editing along the way
Librivox
Librivox
From an action/adventure/humor point of view, this entry to the D'Artagnan romances is the low point. Romance takes the center point, with all the flirting, gasping, sweating, fainting, plotting, counter-plotting and fluttering-about that a court of puffed-up nobles and ladies performs so perfectly. And perfectly annoying, if you’re not into that sort of thing. I recall being somewhat but not greatly impressed by the shenanigans going on at this stage in the books some 10 years ago when I was the same age as the mademoiselles at the French Court but now, at an age more ripe, it was pretty hard to stomach.
Throughout the books, there have been numerous times when I wanted to reach into the story and bash together the heads of fellows like Buckingham, De Guiche, Raoul (him especially) and even that effing idiot, the king himself. My only consolation sprang from researching the historical counterpart of my favorite character, the Compte de Guiche. That is to say Armand de Gramont, who apparently was a first class philanderer and amateur of both sexes and therefore can’t have been the immense sucker his novel representation was.
That said, Louise de La Valliere, who names the second partition of this huge novel in the same way that the Vicomte de Bragelonne names the first (i.e. by being more or less off-screen), I cannot to this day fathom why she became an object of such fascination. Unless I am supposed to be impressed by the transition from little saint to the mistress of a married man and the eye of the biggest scandal in the kingdom, while somehow maintaining the conduct of the most innocent and noble of hearts. Please… Even in the midst of all the exaggerated affairs of the heart happening around her, this character and her credibility leaves much to be desired. Not unlike the woman herself.
Thankfully, the tale in this book is interspersed with bits of clever and suspicious D’Artagnan, clueless, gentle-giant Porthos and the ever-inspiring, plotting, brilliant Aramis. And some serious business regarding finance, politics, affairs of state, etc.
Throughout the books, there have been numerous times when I wanted to reach into the story and bash together the heads of fellows like Buckingham, De Guiche, Raoul (him especially) and even that effing idiot, the king himself. My only consolation sprang from researching the historical counterpart of my favorite character, the Compte de Guiche. That is to say Armand de Gramont, who apparently was a first class philanderer and amateur of both sexes and therefore can’t have been the immense sucker his novel representation was.
That said, Louise de La Valliere, who names the second partition of this huge novel in the same way that the Vicomte de Bragelonne names the first (i.e. by being more or less off-screen), I cannot to this day fathom why she became an object of such fascination. Unless I am supposed to be impressed by the transition from little saint to the mistress of a married man and the eye of the biggest scandal in the kingdom, while somehow maintaining the conduct of the most innocent and noble of hearts. Please… Even in the midst of all the exaggerated affairs of the heart happening around her, this character and her credibility leaves much to be desired. Not unlike the woman herself.
Thankfully, the tale in this book is interspersed with bits of clever and suspicious D’Artagnan, clueless, gentle-giant Porthos and the ever-inspiring, plotting, brilliant Aramis. And some serious business regarding finance, politics, affairs of state, etc.
This book was a complete and utter disappointment. Dumas's stories are usually characterized for their adventure and intrigues, but this book was just about court gossip and terrible romance stories that bore the reader to the grave. While there are some intrigues going on, they are relatively rare and only happen in the second half, not to mention none of them end up answered. I love the other D'Artagnan, but this one is better off skimmed just so one knows what will happen in [b:The Man in the Iron Mask|54499|The Man in the Iron Mask (The D'Artagnan Romances, #3.4)|Alexandre Dumas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1571392348l/54499._SY75_.jpg|2971402].
Oh. My. Dear. Lord. Jesus. Christ. What was that ending???? It was heartbreak. Pure and utter heartbreak.
Oh. My. Dear. Lord. Jesus. Christ. What was that ending???? It was heartbreak. Pure and utter heartbreak.