A secret prisoner in the Bastille could replace the King of France, and the musketeers must choose sides
The musketeers' final adventure
Years after their youthful adventures, the four friends have gone separate ways. D'Artagnan serves young King Louis XIV as captain of the musketeers, while Aramis has risen high and holds a dangerous secret: a prisoner hidden in the Bastille whose face is the king's own. His bold plot to swap the two puts the old comrades on opposite sides, with the fate of France at stake.
Who will enjoy it
Readers who loved The Three Musketeers and want a grand historical adventure about loyalty, power and friendship.
What you will get
A thrilling, bittersweet finale to the musketeer saga, full of palace intrigue, daring plans and the deep bond between four old friends tested by changing loyalties.
The Man in the Iron Mask Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Classics · Musketeers · Royal intrigue · France
Length
496 pages · ≈ 15 h
More about this book
This novel forms the final part of Dumas's long saga that began with The Three Musketeers. The friends are older now. Athos lives quietly and worries about his son, Raoul, who is unhappy in love; Porthos enjoys his wealth and strength; D'Artagnan, still restless, serves the proud young king Louis XIV. Aramis has become a powerful and secretive schemer, closely allied with Nicolas Fouquet, the king's extravagant superintendent of finances.
Aramis learns the truth about a young prisoner held in the Bastille, kept in total isolation and never allowed to show his face: he is Philippe, the king's twin brother, hidden since birth to protect the throne. Aramis plans to free him and quietly put him in Louis's place, with the unwitting help of Porthos. The plot unfolds during a magnificent celebration at Fouquet's estate, and D'Artagnan, bound by duty to the real king, is drawn into the crisis. As the scheme unravels, the friends must decide between their oaths and one another, and the story moves toward a dramatic chase to the island fortress of Belle-Isle.
Long and rich in historical detail, best enjoyed after the earlier musketeer books. About 496 pages in Penguin Classics.
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Iliad
The Odyssey
War and Peace
The Master and Margarita
As I Lay Dying
Crime and Punishment
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Light in August
Hamlet