Book 42: Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas

Book 42 brings me back to world literature which, in this case, is book two of the d'Artagnan Romances.  This one takes place, as the title indicates, twenty years after the events in the Three Musketeers.  The first book was simplistic but good so I'm expecting something similar from this one.  I've decided that, if possible, I should read my books in their original language so, after a quick trip to a nearby library, I found this one in French.

This edition is 885 pages which means 127 pages per day.  That's a lot!


REVIEW:

Surprisingly, I enjoyed this book more than The Three Musketeers.  The first novel is far more popular and well-known, but this one had a lot more complexity.  It begins 20 years after the events in The Three Musketeers:  D'Artagnan is still a lieutenant in the musketeers, Porthos has become very wealthy with three large estates, Athos is a count and has his own land and Aramis has become a priest.  The first part of the book involves D'Artagnan seeking out his old friends to aid him on a mission.  It turns out, however, that he is only able to recruit Porthos as the other two hold opposing politics and refuse to help him.  It's this split between the four old friends that adds a lot of the complexity.

While D'Artagnan and Porthos pursue their own goals, Athos and Aramis pursue parallel but opposite goals.  They have decided that they will never directly oppose each other even though they are on opposite sides.  Watching the four friends come together to accomplish the same goal and helping each other while still, technically, enemies was quite enjoyable.  It required a complex crafting of the plot on the part of Dumas.

Overall, I enjoyed the complex plot, the reunion of the four friends and the constant action, both political and military.  I'm actually looking forward to the next installation of the d'Artagnan romances which, I believe is supposed to follow the next generation of characters, Athos' son Raoul.

8 out of 10