The Man in the Iron Mask

By: Alexandre Dumas

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 22 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Thirty-five years after the events of The Three Musketeers, d’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis find themselves caught between conflicting loyalties in a power struggle that could change the face of the French monarchy.

For eight long years, a young prisoner has languished within the dreaded Bastille, his face hidden in an iron mask. He knows neither his true identity nor the crime for which he has been imprisoned. But Aramis knows this secret—a secret so dangerous, it could topple the King from his throne! Will his cause divide the once indivisible band of musketeers?

A tale of mystery, adventure, and political intrigue, this conclusion to Dumas’ swashbuckling musketeer saga is based on the true story of a masked prisoner who dwelled in the Bastille during the Louis XIV’s reign and whose identity remains in question to this day.

Public Domain (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

This swashbuckling conclusion to Dumas’s musketeer saga pits the brave band of heroes against each other in a power struggle that could change the face of the French monarchy.

“No part of the world has ever seemed to me so charming as these pages, and not even my friends are quite so real, perhaps quite so dear, as d’Artagnan.” (Robert Louis Stevenson)

“The name Alexandre Dumas is more than French—it is universal.” (Victor Hugo)

The d'Artagnan Romances

The d'Artagnan Romances are everything you can hope for in a book series, Alexandre Dumas at his finest.

Emotional

It is a great book! Simon Vince is an incredible reader. I activly Search for the Book he reads.
I love the voices he makes helps concentrate and understand better

Closes the Loop on the Musketeers!

If you, like me, ever wondered what happened to the characters after the Three Musketeers...here's your answer! Just steel yourself, because Dumas throws a couple of curves into the mix.
Simon Vance is an accomplished narrator who does an excellent job with this classic.

A very well read book

If you read "The 3 Musketeers" this is a must. This version is very entertaining and very well read.

great story.

this is a great story. But as a warning... it is nothing at all like the movie... in case you buy it thinking it is.

Not Dumas' best work by far.

I could easily read any of his other works over and over. This one is best left unread.

good story, hard to follow

the narrator's pronunciation and voices were very good, and the story very interesting however it was hard to follow for much of it because each main character has more than one name and because this is an audio book it was hard to know who was who. Also, I'm not sure share on the series this takes place because there us more than one way to divide it and it wasn't in the same place that my kindle book with the same name was.

I enjoyed the finale of the D'Artagnan books

This last volume of the D'Artagnan books continues directly from the volume Louise de la Valliere. The story is engrossing with many plot twists. I enjoyed the whole series. One of the interesting aspects is that the characters are all complex, even our heroic musketeers. They are not saints, by far. Some of our heroes are quite greedy and even though they are such loyal friends, they allow selfishness and ambition to override the best interests of their friends. In particular, I'm thinking of how Aramis exploited Pothos' gullibility, as one example. But I think these types of ethical dilemmas are what make the book so interesting and the adventures so engrossing. I also found the amount of emotion and affection shown by some of the men most interesting - Athos' love for his son is one example. I don't know that men are always depicted this way - maybe French men are more demonstrative of their affection than the English, for example? All of these aspects make the characters well-developed and very human.
Add to that Simon Vance's superb reading - how does he manage to do all those voices and accents? - and the book gives you hours of wonderful listening pleasure.

Great story

Any additional comments?

This story was not as thrilling as The Count of Monte Cristo but still a very good story.

Not entertained

I was looking for an entertaining book or spin on the man in the iron mask. While the writing and narration was stellar, it's character building was painful for me.
I hit chapter 31 and I still hadn't hit the part of the story where the man in the iron mask is introduced so the 30 chapters of character building and back drop was far too much for me.
IMO, if you're looking for a possible historical take on what might have happened....this book would hit the mark. If you're looking for an entertainment piece - this 22 hour and 11 mins of writing was too painful and drawn out for me. There are 89 chapters and I quit after chapter 32. Definitely not worth the credit for what I wanted.