Product Description

The Vicomte de Bragelonne opens an epic adventure which continues with Louise de La Valliere and reaches its climax in The Man in the Iron Mask. This new edition of the classic translation presents a key episode in the Musketeers saga, fully annotated and with an introduction by a leading Dumas scholar.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #252671 in Books
• Published on: 1998-07
• Original language: French
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 768 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780192834638
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review

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Review
`alternately melodramatic, sentimental, humorous, wordly, and almost always absorbing' The Irish Times

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Customer Reviews

The D'Artagnan series low down
First of all, the most common way to get the whole series is with 5 separate and distinct books. They are (in order): The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, The Vicomte De Bragelonne, Louise De LA Valliere, and The Man in the Iron Mask.

I don't think I need to tell people about the story, but I will. The action and dialogue in the Dumas' stories rivals anything written since. Especially the dialogue. If Dumas were alive today he'd be writing for TV and movies, his dialogue is as fast and witty as anything around.

There are many different printed versions of these stories around. If you pick and choose at random from different publishers, you may miss parts of the stories, have overlaps, or run into major editing. Just look at the versions of the 'Man in the Iron Mask' and see the different page count. At my local library I found two books that said 'Complete and Unabridged,' only one had 10 less chapters than the other.

So, sticking to one publisher increases your chances of getting the whole story. These Oxford World Classic editions are excellent. They do have all five books. They don't cut anything out. They use one of the standard translations (I'm not sure if there has been a new translation in the last 100 years). And they are newly printed. Some publishers versions look like photocopies of old printings and are pathetic.

A work of art, of course!
This book, like all of Dumas' other works, is excellent and should be read by all. It's not as action packed, I admit, as the other Musketeer books, however, I find it equally captivating. I think the interaction of the four friends(d'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis),and how they deal and act with one another at this point in their lives is very interesting. If you get this book, you better make sure you have close on hand the next two(Louise de Valliere and The Man in the Iron Mask)because it ends abbrutly, leading you in to the next book. But it's definately a must have.

Focus of the Story Changes
If you are reading this review, you have probably already read the Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After. You are wondering if it is worth it to continue with the series. If you decide to go on, you have three more 600+ page novels ahead of you. That is a lot of time and energy.

If you are foremost into the swashbuckling aspect of the Musketeer stories, I would not go forward. The Musketeers are now in their late 50's. They are still vital characters but they are no longer young men looking for any excuse to duel with the Cardinal's Guard. From this point on, there is a lot less sword play and campaigning. The focus of the story moves to the intrigues of Louis XIV court.

I am continuing with the series because I like the characters. I want to find out what happens to the four friends. In this novel, D'Artagnan and Athos are the principal characters. Aramis and Porthos do not show up for the first few hundred pages. Dumas has kept me entertained for the first two thousand pages of this saga and I am counting on him to keep me entertained for the next 1500 pages.