Tweny Years After

Having finished The Three Musketeers on the Kindle, I walked right into the sequel, Twenty Years After. As its name implies, it takes place twenty years after the earlier adventures. An interesting twist is that now the four companions, though still loyal friends, are on opposite sides of France's civil unrest. The "great cardinal" Richelieu is dead and his successor, Cardinal Mazarin, an Italian, rules France through the Queen Mother, Anne of Austria, as Louis XIV is still a child. The action occurs during the Fronde. D'Artagnan, as a member of the King's Musketeers (the others have all gone on to other things) upholds the authority of Mazarin and the Queen, while not respecting them much in his own heart. Porthos joins him in the hope of receiving a barony. Athos and Aramis are Frondeurs, and there is a new young hero, Athos's secret and natural son, as well as a new villain, Milady's son. I am interested to see how it unfolds.