In March 1844 the French magazine "Le Siecle" printed the first installment of a story by Alexandre Dumas. It was based, Dumas claimed, on some manuscripts he had found a year earlier in the Bibliotheque Nationale while researching a history he planned to write on Louis XIV. The serial chronicled the adventures of D'Artagnan -- a young swordsman intent on joining the king's musketeers. Young D'Artagnan becomes embroiled in court intrigues, international politics, and ill-fated affairs between royal lovers. In this second serial, Twenty Years After, the year is now 1648. It has been twenty years since the close of the The Three Musketeers. Louis XIII has died, as has Cardinal Richelieu, and while the crown of France may sit upon the head of Anne of Austria as Regent for the young Louis XIV, the real power resides with the Cardinal Mazarin who is secretly her husband. D'Artagnan is now a lieutenant of musketeers, and his three friends have retired to private life. Athos turned out to be a nobleman, the Comte de la Fere, and has retired to his home with his son, Raoul de Bragelonne. Aramis, whose real name is D'Herblay, has as intended followed his intention to shed the musketeer's cassock for the priest's robe. Porthos has married a wealthy woman, who left him her fortune upon her death. Trouble is stirring in both France and England. Cromwell menaces the institution of royalty itself while marching against Charles I, and at home the Fronde is threatening to tear France apart. D'Artagnan brings his friends out of retirement to save the threatened English monarch, but Mordaunt, the son of Milady, who seeks to avenge his mother's death at the musketeers' hands, thwarts their valiantefforts. Undaunted, our heroes return to France just in time to help save the young Louis XIV, quiet the Fronde, and tweak the nose of Cardinal Mazarin.
I really enjoyed this book. I loved The Three Musketeers a lot - reading about the exploits of D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis was really gripping. They were such great friends. After I finished The Three Musketeers I wondered what happened to the four friends and found out there were more books in the series. It was great reading about what happened twenty years after the first book and the different paths the friends took, and how they still remained friends.
Rating: 4.25/ 5
1 comment:
I'm looking forward to your opinion on who you want Victoria (from the Colleen Gleason books) to end up with: Max or Sebastian. I'm excited that you are going to read them!
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