The only thing that would make this book better would be if d'Artagnan played a larger role. He's only in about half the book. However, it was great! I can't wait to read the next one.

C’était… long.
Même si l’écriture de Dumas est toujours aussi belle, même si d’Artagnan et Porthos sont toujours aussi attachants, on ne retrouve pas le souffle épique et l’énergie des 3 mousquetaires.
Je suis contente d’avoir lu la fin, mais c’était long…

I’m reading the 4 part edition of this last book of the musketeers and it’s evident that this last book has “two” stories: The old generation political stuff and the new generation love affairs. Dumas focused a little bit more on the young characters on the 2nd and 3rd parts which I founded a little bit ... disconcerting at first because I was too attached with the magnificent four from the previous two books.
But after some chapters I couldn’t help to get into these huge love intrigues that started to tangled between the young guys, because Dumas has such a magnificent way to tell stories! The small subtle humor, the dramatic expressions so commonly found on classic books but somehow with a unique tone ...

I enjoyed the personalities of the “new” characters: Raoul (the best one ofc), Madame Henrietta, Louis XIV, DeGuiche, Buckingham (jr ;P) Saint Aignan, Manicamp, Malicorne, Montalais ... ofc not as much as our Musketeers cause I LOVE those, but yeah ...

idk I’m loving the book and can’t wait to know how everything ends

Okay. If you're reading/have read Louise de la Vallière, you are DEEP down the Musketeers rabbit hole. Nobody picks this one up at random and thinks, "hey, I'll choose this 700+ page book in the middle of a series for some light reading."

At this point, fellow Muskereader, you are committed.

I'd read a few spoiler-free reviews before this, and did some light investigating into the plot beforehand, so I knew that out of all five books, this is the one where our beloved Inseperables are seen the least. They show up here and there, making cameos that have you squealing in delight: "the fellow who just punched those bad guys and took his hat off is d'ARTAGNAN!" or "oh, the sneaky fellow who swept off his cape is ARAMIS!"

The rest of the focus is largely on King Louis XIV, France's legendary Sun King, and his court, at the height of his blazing youth, and at the precipice of his power. The royal romances and secrets become the main ingredients of this story, and the original Musketeers take a back seat to palace intrigues.

So, I was going in with the view that this one would have to be endured with gritted teeth and determination.

I had SO. MUCH. FUN.

Palace intrigues turn out to be far more interesting than palace politics, and I'll take passionate declarations and stormy jealousies over financial discussions any damn day of the week. A friend (hi, Papercuts1!) who is buddy-reading along with me likened the 200+ pages of trysts in the dark to "Shakespeare on weed" and I laughed out loud because it's so true.

The title character, Louise de la Valliere, is actually the least well-developed character. She's very much a girl from her time, and can't be blamed for powerlessness, but she consists mostly of moralistic, heavy-handed speeches to her friends, crying and wringing her hands, and fainting fits. I'm almost tempted to go back and count a) the times she fainted, and b) the times her only dialogue consisted of, "Oh, sire!"

However, she's the title character for a reason: she's the still point at the revolving centre of the court. King Louis falls in love with her, and that has far-reaching repercussions. Raoul (Athos' son) and his best buddy de Guiche (himself in love with Louis' sister-in-law) are the next generation, and unwittingly become drawn into the web of shifting alliances because of her actions. The Comte de Guiche is particularly Musketeerish; he's involved in a pistol duel that had me on the edge of my seat, and he provides the swashbuckling we so badly miss from the other books.

Elsewhere, Aramis, master of secrets and swirling cloaks, is slowly setting the stage to supplant the king with the Man in the Iron Mask, a mysterious prisoner of the Bastille. He's super sneaky, collecting power in all kinds of unsavoury ways, betraying quite a lot of people and lying smoothly through his teeth in order to serve his own needs.

Overall, this book sets the stage for the final chapter, and as much as I thought it would drag, I found life at court, with its rich atmosphere and intrigues, was fascinating. If you want romance, you'll certainly get it: King Louis is deeply in love and he makes you believe it with some fantastic, swoon-worthy dialogue. When the original Musketeers do show up, they provide the novel's most interesting moments: Aramis' scheming is scene-stealing and intense, and d'Artagnan is the hero that everyone is going to need by the time all this is over. Athos is missing for most of the book, but his bromantic moments with d'Art at the beginning are heartwarming as always, and Porthos, the lovable giant, injects some much-needed humour.

I actually think this one captures the Musketeer spirit more than the previous installment: forbidden duels, secrets aplenty, trap doors and moonlit intrigues, passionate declarations of all kinds and d'Artagnan heroically making his way through it all.

I LOVE this particular portion of the D'Artagnan Romances. I love Athos. I love Dumas pere for creating and writing such a perfect example of honorable and noble character (Athos). I have loved each and every one of the pieces of this series, but I find myself completely and utterly overjoyed with the last few chapters of Louise de La Valliere. It is honestly my wish that every young man (and young woman, too, for that matter) should read this book to discover what constitutes a true hero (Athos; and also Raoul) and a true friend (D'Artagnan). What a beautiful lesson to be presented in the midst of such chaos, deceit and overly-ambitious pride.

The political drama/courtly intrigue started to bore me by the time that I hit the climax. However, the last 20 chapters I couldn't read fast enough as all of the setup that had annoyed me as "not advancing the plot" clicked into place and stampeded to the end. As an added bonus I got to see the celebrated 4 speak and act like themselves all together for the first time since 3 Musketeers and I loved that .

Apart from a few chapters this book is excruciatingly dull. I'm a big fan of The Three Musketeers, and although the musketeers themselves are present here the author has shifted his focus from them to the nobility of 17th century France. Don't get me wrong, the affairs of the king and the queen were crucial to the plot of The Three Musketeers, but they were just the supporting cast. In Louise de la Valliere we have to endure chapter after chapter of "clever" conversation between varyingly boring characters instead of Dumas' typical story-line twists. If it wasn't just a part of a longer novel I would have given up a few chapters in, but unfortunately, it isn't all bad, so an ardent reader wishing to make sense of The Man in the Iron Mask probably should give it a go.

The only saving graces I can think of are Aramis' few chapters, which are important to the main plot of the later book, apart from being very mysterious and exciting, and a midnight duel which is probably the coolest I have ever seen, heard or read about. Great stuff, but it's far from managing to interest the casual reader.

A good continuation of the story but maybe could have used a little more editing along the way

Librivox