In this final book of the series, Aramis makes use of a secret he learned while having an affair with Madame de Chevreuse to raise himself up to a position of great power, almost greater than the King’s. He concocts a plan to overthrow Louis XIV without anybody knowing it. How? By replacing him with his twin brother, Philippe. We learn that, fearing a civil war when it would be time to decide which of the two should be king, Louis XIII decided to abandon one of his babies and keep secret the fact that they were twins. Unhappy with how Louis XIV is ruling, and wishing to have even more power, Aramis puts his plan in motion and succeeds in placing Philippe in Louis XIV’s room and putting Louis XIV in Philippe’s prison cell in the Bastile. This doesn’t last very long, though, as Mr. Fouquet frees Louis XIV. Philippe is exiled and is sentenced to wear an iron mask for the rest of his life. Meanwhile, Aramis and Porthos flee to Belle-Isle, but are soon attacked by the King’s army. Porthos sadly dies while executing Aramis’s plan for escape, while Aramis leaves on a boat and manages to be brought to Spain. While all of this is going on, Raoul decides to go to war to die because he couldn’t live with his heartbreak. He succeeds in getting killed and the news of his death kills Athos. In the epilogue, we read about D’Artagnan being sent in a war and also dying after many victories.
I have mixed feelings about this story. The title of the book is The Man in the Iron Mask, but there was barely anything concerning this story line. Yes, the first half of the book was focused on the planning phase of getting Philippe on the throne, but it was mostly in D’Artagnan’s point of view and we only learned what Aramis was planning when there were only a couple of days left before the switch. Then, Philippe managed to play as Louis XIV for barely a morning since Mr. Fouquet immediately released Louis XIV after hearing what Aramis had done. Then, the second half of the book is basically just killing off every character we had learned to love. First Porthos, then Mousqueton, Raoul, Athos and, finally, D’Artagnan. The second half of the book broke me, though. With all of those deaths so close together and so well detailed, I cried a lot.
I was very frustrated at D’Artagnan for continuing to serve Louis XIV after everything he had done. With everything that happened in the previous book concerning Athos and Raoul, I was sure D’Artagnan would resign, but he didn’t. Then, when he was asked to pick between Louis XIV and Philippe, I thought he might voluntarily pick Philippe thinking he’d be a better king, but he didn’t and instead brought him to his place of exile. When Louis XIV ordered him to take back Belle-Isle and arrest Aramis and Porthos to bring them for execution, I was sure he would resign then and there! But he went instead, of course he had a plan in mind to plea for their freedom once he had captured them, but he still went there with the fleet. And when they all turned on him and made him a prisonner because the King had given them secret orders, he FINALLY gave his resignation. I was so happy! But it only lasted a day. He was brought to Louis XIV, they talked, and he went back into his service.
The other thing that made me mad was how much Porthos was being taken advantage of. Aramis was using him for his strenght, never telling him what the real plans were. I entirely blame him for his death. But also, D’Artagnan would use him to get to Aramis. The only reason he would visit Porthos was to learn about what Aramis was doing. Poor guy had the biggest heart and his friends only took advantage of it.
Overall, I’d say I give this book a 3 out of 5. It was interesting enough, but too many things frustrated me.
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