The beginning of a new year inevitably invites us to reflect on those that have passed, near and far. In 2017, I achieved my goal of reading 30 new authors. Some were misses, some were hits. All will be reviewed here in due course. But as the year draws to a close, my mind harkens back to continued reading of a tried and true author, about one of my favorite topics. It's a sign that no matter the genre, or the age, good writing never goes out of style.
Louise de la Vallière is the second volume of Alexandre Dumas' series, The Man in the Iron Mask, which is actually three parts: The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Vallière, and The Man in the Iron Mask. It's an extension of the tale of the Three Musketeers, which is also separated into multiple parts (originally published serially). I read The Vicomte years ago, so it was hard to remember all the pertinent plot points of this tale filled with adventure, danger, and intrigue, set in France's history just as Louis XIV solidifies himself as the Sun King. While Dumas is one of my absolute favorite authors, and this story kept quick pace, it did have a different focus from the rest of his Musketeer history.
The first volume spent very little time with the young king Louis himself, focusing instead on the divergent agendas of the four musketeers as they advance in age and career. It mapped out (as clear as possible when following the intrigue) who they support and who supports them. This second volume focuses almost entirely on Louis and his court.
Courtiers of both sexes play active roles in a variety of intrigues-some political, some romantic, most a mixture of both. Louis' ministers struggle to find his favor by taking skillful, covert digs at each other, and D'Artagnan, as head of the royal guards, becomes the right hand of the king in all his desires-which first land squarely on Madame la Duchess de Orléans (his brother's wife, and sister to Charles, the King of England), then most passionately on her handmaiden Louise de la Vallière. You can probably guess how much Madame liked that.
The plotting of the Queens and Princess of the court (the Queen-Mother, Louis's wife, and his sister-in-law) would have been quite enough to hold my interest, but nothing is ever so simple. Louise de la Vallière is already engaged to Raoul, (the Vicomte de Bragelonne and the son of Athos, the Comte de la Fère), the other handmaiden Montalais is teaming up with men from the Duc de Orléan's household (the king's brother Philip), but seem eager to help the king secure his mistress and foil the Duchess. The story ends in this volume with the Duchess bringing Raoul back from an aimless trip to England, just in time to confirm the rumors that his fiancée is not above the king's temptation. The Minister of Finance Fouquet and his underling Colbert continue their bitter feud. Fouquet (who seems at times to be plotting against the king, as we saw in the previous volume), is moved in all things by Aramis, who is the Bishop of Vannes and, now, the secret General of the Order of Jesuits. Porthos is also influenced by Aramis, but is intercepted by D'Artagnan, who sees all that his friends do and the motivations behind them with such cavalier charm that he frightens the three musketeers (and thrills the reader). I can only hope there will be much more of him in the final installment, The Man in the Iron Mask, as his adventurous spirit is the heart of this well-loved saga. And if I didn't sympathize enough already with the Sun King, a young man trapped in a gilded cage, I do now.
I'd love to recommend this to anyone who loves historical fiction and political intrigues (GOT has nothing on this), but this is quite deep into an established series. You might be able to stay afloat if you picked up just this volume, but you will have missed much. Also, not all film renditions are faithful. The Man in the Iron Mask starring Leo DiCaprio is very far from the book's truth. So if this sounds up your alley, don't be put off by the age of the work. Go out there and get started on The Three Musketeers. I'll see you at the finish line.
Rating: 4.5/5
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