Customer Reviews:
 Book II in the trilogy, less of the Musketeers and more palace intrigue and romance July 6, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
It's 1661 and Louis the XIV is taking over the reign of government from his ministers. D'Artagnan is captain of the Musketeers, Aramis is now a bishop, Porthos is as big, strong and hungry as ever and Raoul, the son of Athos, is still madly in love with Louise De La Valliere. What we do see of Aramis he is plotting and scheming and has a strong interest in a mysterious prisoner in the Bastille.
Louis' effeminate brother Philippe (Monsieur) has just married Henrietta (Madame) of England, but Henrietta only has eyes for Louis, an attraction that Louis returns. In order to allay suspicion of Louis' jealous brother, Louis feigns an attraction to Louise (who is one of Madame's ladies in waiting), but finds himself trapped by his own schemes when he falls in love with her. LOL, some of the antics involved in trying to be alone with Louise that are constantly hampered by Madame's efforts to keep them apart.
This book is different from the preceding novels of the Musketeers -- there is little if any of the swashbuckling, sword fights and derring do that the other books contained. This book focuses on the love story of Louis and Louise, along with the pomp, intrigues and scandals of Louis XIV's court. Although some readers will be disappointed at the virtual absence of the Musketeers in this book, I was fascinated at the glimpses of French history and court life which was beautifully sprinkled with laugh out loud humor reading the antics of the French court, most especially the "revolving" confessions at the Royal Oak tree.
If you've come this far, you've already read The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After and The Vicomte De Bragelonne. The Vicomte De Bragelonne was originally published in French as one large novel, but is broken into three by English publishers, The Vicomte De Bragelonne, Louise De La Valliere and finally culminating in The Man in the Iron Mask. As other reviewers have noted, this book is more palace intrigue and less of the Musketeers and not everyone will enjoy it as thoroughly as I did, I loved the antics of the French court and had many a good laugh. Dumas is just brilliant (as always) and his dialogue (as always) is among the finest I've ever come across. Highly recommended.
 boring! March 21, 2007
Having read many of Dumas' books, including The 3 Musketeers and Twenty years after I was reall looking forward to the Vicomte de Bragleonne trilogy. Having finished all three books I can only conclude that two out of three aint bad!
The first part, also called the Vicomte de Bragleonne, was very good - didn't add too much to the core Musketeer story, but stuck to the high paced excitement of its predecessors. The third part, The Man in the Iron mask was excellent - a fitting conclusion to the saga.
Unfortunately this part, Louise de Valliere, was in my opinion awful. Most of our regular heroes disappear for most of the book, to be replaced with limp courtiers; there is very little link to the main storyline taken up in The Man in the Iron Mask; and it is far too long and slow. Half way through I was so bored I even considered giving up - almost a first.
My advice would be to give this book a miss - I have friends who went straight from Twenty Years After to The Man in the Iron Mask and didn't even realise they had missed this one out.
 Courtship and Coquetry November 21, 2000
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
The middle section of this final musketeer trilogy is situated primarily at Fontainbleu, and the court of Louis XIV. The courtship of Louis and Louise is witty, with a slight touch of farce. However, underneath, the strands of dark plots are being drawn together, and with it the ultimate fate of the fabled four.
Superb tale of action & character! August 30, 2000
It is very hard to get hold of this book (although I recommend 'Ten Years After' in one volume if you get it), but well worth reading - fans will want to read the volume in series. There's action, adventure, character, comedy and suspense in this awesome trilogy that encompass (to enter Pseud's Corner for a minute) in their 2000 or so pages the ultime trilogy of human adventure and misadventure - birth, maturity & death.
Slow but worth the effort June 13, 2000
17 out of 20 found this review helpful
This is part of the final instalment of the musketeers trilogy, and this is no doubt where much confusion arises. After the completion of The Three Musketeers in 1844 and Twenty Years After in 1845 Dumas once again returned to the musketeers for one final outing. Published in serial form between 1847 and 1850 The Vicomte De Bragelonne is a massive work. So massive in fact that it is normally not published as one edition (as is the case with the current Oxford edition) the first part of which is, confusingly, normally called The Vicomte De Bragelonne. The second and third parts are given the titles Louise De La Valliere and The Man in the Iron Mask respectively.Louise De La Valliere should not, therefore, be read out of sequence as it will not make much sense. It is the middle part of a long novel, during which Dumas spends most of his time setting up for the climax that will take place in The Man in The Iron Mask. As such the book can, at times, seem slow and inconsequential with the musketeers barley appearing at all. It is however a good story, although not what we might have expected and it is definitely worth getting through not least because The Man in the Iron Mask is so fantastic and will not make sense without this. Louise is a beautiful and well told story, if a little slower than one might expect from the author.
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