Louise de La Vallière

By: Alexandre Dumas

Narrated by: Simon Vance

As part of the d'Artagnan Romances following The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After, and devoted in large part to romantic events at the court of France's King Louis XIV, Louise de La Valliere is the second part of Alexandre Dumas's 268 chapter novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years Later, which first appeared in serial form between 1847 and 1850. Filled with behind-the-scenes intrigue, the novel brings the aging Musketeers and d'Artagnan out of retirement to face an impending crisis within the royal court of France.Public Domain (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"One of the very best of the series, mixing amorous and political intrigue with an élan peculiar to Dumas...this quasi-historical series remains remarkably readable" ( The Irish Times, Dublin)

better love triangles than Shakespeare

guess its not surprising that a worldly black Frenchman could write better love triangles than Shakespeare

Amazing that it’s still so interesting.

I’m still so surprised by these books. Written in the19th century. Telling a story of the 17th century it’s still more exciting than a lot of new fiction.

absolutely loved it

This book is a very good continuation of the story. There is little of the musketeers but it sets up the finale very well.

Subpar for Dumas, redeemed by Simon Vance.

As others have said, the velvet and lace romantic intrigues are subpar for Dumas, but the novel as a whole is redeemed by its enlargement and shading of the series' characters, insightful flourishes, and above all by the sublime performance of Simon Vance, who intones new meaning into otherwise hackneyed soap opera.

Sets the background for The Man in the Iron Mask

Where does Louise de La Vallière rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This book was a necessary read for me to have a stronger background of The Man in the Iron Mask. Though I love Dumas' works and I enjoy the character of Raoul, Athos' son, this is my least favorite of the D'artagnan series, and I believe my past read of the actual book is what helped me comprehend the complex (and somewhat dry) story line and odd story twists. If you are a fan of the Musketeers and Dumas, you must "read" this book to stay knowledgeable of the more obscure background details of each Musketeer and Raoul and his friends.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Louise de La Vallière?

My favorite scene is when D'artagnan defends Raoul to Raoul's friends who have been teasing Raoul about not knowing who his mother is and thus implying he is a "castaway" child of lower birth rank. D'artagnan defends his best friend's son (Athos' son) as if Raoul was his own. I get chills when see how devoted all these men are to each other.

Have you listened to any of Simon Vance’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. Simon Vance is an amazing reader. He pays attention to details in the dialogue and puts the story first - not his voice acting skills.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The scene previously mentioned of D'atagnan defending Raoul was my extreme reaction because this book has a lot - and I mean a lot of - background details and story twists (location changes, Musketeer-switch-ups, and loyalty changes) - that it reads sometimes more like a documentary of each Musketeers' plan of action kept secret from the other, while throwing in Raoul's friendships, Guard service, and love triangle in gaps of the big story that make for a dizzying read.

Any additional comments?

You have to read it if you are a true Musketeer fan. I liked it strongly, though I didn't love it as I do the other 4 books.

Good story, superb reader

I was going to take a break from the D'Artagnan series and return to it after listening to something else, but the previous volume really does leave you wanting to continue, and this one does, too. So I'll move on to the Man with the Iron Mask, and then get to my other books on the queue. The story is full of plotting, mostly about the king's shenanigans. It's amazing that they got anything done. The other amazing thing is that by reading a little history of Louis XIV's reign, I found that this is only a bit exaggerated, or maybe not at all. I mean, if you search on Google for "Louis XIV mistress", you get a result on Wikipedia that tells you that there are 11 pages, and an alphabetized list of his mistresses, Louise de la Valliere being his first. Those people who gave mediocre or unenthusiastic reviews of the book and said it is like a soap opera or a cheap romance set in the 17th century are correct in their description, except if you read the history, you'll see that this is an entertaining depiction that seems not so far from reality, and representing only one of Louis XIV's long string of mistresses. I think it is quite entertaining (just wish there was more of D'Artagnan himself - he's the most fun character in these books, of course), and interesting, though I wouldn't say it is a 5-star book. But the reader - Simon Vance - he is 5-star plus! I don't know how he can so smoothly switch voices and accents, and remember which one to do for which character. Clearly this is not an off-the-cuff performance, it took serious thought and preparation, and I delighted in every moment of his reading. He's a gem. It is readers like him that make it worth buying audio books (rather than getting public domain stuff, which is available for classic books like these). Superb. Thank you, Simon Vance.

Louis and Louise

Please give us all of the Dumas that is available in audio format -- commission new recordings, if necessary. Louise de La Velliere is another fine prequel to The Man in the Iron Mask, even if you have already read that classic. Louise, Raoul, Athos, and many other characters are understood more easily when The Vicompte de Bragilonne, Louise de La Valliere, and The Man in the Iron Mask are taken in the proper order. No wonder Aramis wants to replace Louis on the throne with his twin brother!

the narrator truly brings the story to life

the narrator really helped make this book very engaging. His use of giving unique voices to each character really helped with the flow of the story. Many people say that this book can be easily skipped. I disagree. This book is necessary to set the stage for the last installment The Man in the Iron Mask. Though some parts droned on a little bit there were also parts that were very exciting. And it was very interesting to follow the story of the lovers.

low point of the series so far

I really am not interested this much in the love affairs of the French king...

The journey continues...

Alexandre Dumas continues with this interesting story of love, intrigue, betrayal and conspiracy. As Mel Brooks says, "It's good to be the king."