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The Man in the Iron Mask (Penguin Classics) | 
 enlarge | Author: Alexandre Dumas Pere
Creators: Francine Du Plessix-gray, Joachim Neugroschel
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy Used: $0.80
You Save: $15.20 (95%)
New (25) Used (22) from $0.80
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 96739
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 496
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0140439242
Dewey Decimal Number: 843.7
EAN: 9780140439243
ASIN: 0140439242
Publication Date: March 25, 2003
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Product Description
In the Musketeers' final adventure, D'Artagnan remains in the service of the corrupt King Louis XIV after the Three Musketeers have retired and gone their separate ways. Meanwhile, a mysterious prisoner in an iron mask wastes away deep inside the Bastille. When the destinies of king and prisoner converge, the Three Musketeers and D'Artagnan find themselves caught between conflicting loyalties.
Introduction by Francine du Plessix Gray
Translated by Joachim Neugroschel
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 The Grand Finale of the Three Musketeers November 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is the third and final book of the Musketeers Trilogy. Unfortunately I did not read the second book in the series so that may have tempered my comprehension of all of the events as they unfolded in this epic tale. Here is the first warning - this is NOT the movie... nowhere close, so if you are looking for that story, it's not here. Second, the language in this can get a bit tedious, particularly the names, as everyone is called by different names though out the book (their musketeer name, their title, their real name, other names, etc) this makes it a bit hard to follow if you don't catch on right from the beginning who is who and what all they may be called. Third warning - this is not a happy book, this is the final act of the musketeer saga, and when I say final, I mean it.
The story itself is very involving, especially if you already know and love our Musketeers. Aramis has a plan that involves swapping out the current king on the throne for his twin brother... his plans do not go well for him and the rest of the book involves the aftermath of this failed plot. As Aramis and Porthos run from the now very angry king, d'Artagnan struggles in his relationship with his friends and the king he now serves as the head of the Musketeers. Meanwhile Athos is suffering from his son - Raoul's decision to run from the pain he feels over love lost, and join the army fighting in Africa.
Our four musketeers are getting on in the years, as are their servants. They are no longer the leap into battle, brash youths of the previous novels. They have grown and are now calculating, loyal, and honorable, their friendships are tested and their loyalty to the crown and country is put on the line. There is a tremendous amount of pain in this book, and death is around every corner. I won't say that this was a favorite of mine, even though people love the ending and say that they cried when they read it. I sort of felt let down, that the musketeers should go out on such a huge failure (the man in the iron mask- only sits on the throne for an evening, then we never hear from him again, he is in no way a major character, he is only a catalyst for future events.) Though they fought bravely, I would really have liked for them to have truly won their last endeavor together.
In all I am glad I read this book, but was often frustrated by the episodic nature of the writing which at times made if very hard to follow. I also was a bit disappointed in the amount of time spent on characters that seemed to have little purpose to the forward progression of the story. In the end, I would have to say... I liked the movie better, it was just more fun and really felt like the musketeers that I knew and loved rather than the individuals who were in this book. Only Porthos truly retained his nature from the first several books. Still, I would advise any lover of literature to give this book a chance. Perhaps a different translation would be better advised than this one.
 The Man in the Iron Mask is a Swashbucking Classic Romance by the prolific Alexandre Dumas pere June 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Penguin edition of "The Man in the Iron Mask" is taken from the larger novel "Vicomte de Bragelonne" about the son of the famous musketeer Aramis. Dumas wrote countless potboilers for French periodicals but a few of his works have become immortal. This is especially true of the trilogy of French muskeeters during the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV. The novels are all episodic making the varous plots sometimes hard to follow. While the works are set in a romantic historical time they are fictional. Dumas used history as a repository of stories to pluck out of them his historical romances. These novels were popular at the same time as were the romantic thrillers of Victor Hugo and Sir Walter Scott.
The Man in the Iron Mask is the final book in the Musketeer trilogy. The other books are "The Three Musketeers" and "Twenty Years After." In this novel we meet the aged musketeers who earlier proclaimed, "One for All and All for One!". The musketeers are:
1. D'Artagnen the leader of the musketeers serving under Louis XIV. This great fictional hero will become an antagonist to his three old musketeer pals. They have decided to support Phillip )the fictional twin of Louis XIV) who has been a prisoner in the Bastille for many years. The plot will fail and the musketeers will have to flee for their lives. As this novel ends we experience the death of D"Artagnan in battle. All of the other musketeers also die in this series finale.
2. Athos-Now a wealthy landowner his son Vicomte de Bragelonne is in love with a beautiful girl who has become the mistress of Louis XIV. The son dies in battle and Athos dies of a broken heart.
3. Aramis-He is a powerful Jesuit official who seeks to wrest the throne of France from Louis XIV. He persuades Prince Phillip to join him in the plot. As the novel ends he dies after having fled to Spain and become a well respected diplomat for that nation.
4. Porthos-The fat Falstaff of the musketeer quartet he too dies after being trapped in a cave by soldiers of the king. He is the most foolish and lovable of the musketeers.
Don't read Dumas for historical truth but do read him for the man's love of friendship and honor in a vanished seventeenth century world.
 A book that I thought was a DVD June 26, 2007
0 out of 14 found this review helpful
I oredered this book but I thought I was order a DVD my mistake, but its always a pleasue doing business bie Amazon.
Ron
Tabloid-style historical novel August 17, 2006
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
This one's a real curate's egg. Buy this if you love a good historical yarn, constant plot development, intrigue and speculation on one of the great periods and what-ifs of any period in any country's history. It's a page-turner and lovely if it catches you in the right mood.
Do not buy this if you're more the sort that doesn't care so much what happens as how it's described. Character development is limited and nobody really comes to life in true 3-D, which would have been the making of this novel. On the other hand some of the intrigue we see is quite nicely developed.
I am the sort who likes to have a few books on the go at once and to deliberate over things and savour the status quo at any point, always expecting never to re-read (I'm sure you're thrilled at this insight). I must say that menas I've tended to hurry to another book from this one and it's not holding my attention. It reads like a play and would have been better in that format, but by trying to have a main plot and subplot it all reads too cleanly.
If you really love the genre of historical novels nothing quite beats 'The Leopard' by Lampedusa, but it's more after my likes. I wish this book were really about something, be it "How far it is possible in politics to achieve what you want with a bi of talent and status" but other books do much better and this doesn't have such lofty ambitions.
Ultimately, some good effects but really unmemorable.
Good but expected more March 20, 2006
2 out of 8 found this review helpful
I saw and loved the movie so I just had to get the book to compare, books are usually better. The problem is that it doesn't compare, the stories are totally different. That being the case the book was interesting, exciting at some points and a little difficult to understand because of the era in which it was written. It has little to do with the "man" in the iron mask and it is more an extension of the Three Musketeers.
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