Translated by the brilliant Lawrence Ellsworth, THE RED SPHINX was a direct sequel to THE THREE MUSKETEERS and was set a mere 20 days after the action of Alexandre Dumas' classic novel. We are now treated to the next book in the series, BLOOD ROYAL, which takes place 20 years after the prior tale. Ellsworth’s introduction is worth the price of admission all by itself and gives an outstanding refresher of the saga up to this point. This grand tale first appeared in serial form in Parisian periodicals from 1845 to 1850.

The year is 1648, and a lot has changed in Paris and for the Musketeers. To begin with, their archnemesis Cardinal Richelieu is long gone and has been replaced by Cardinal Mazarin. Mazarin is actually Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino of Italian descent and naturalized into French service in 1639 after being Richelieu's protégé. There is also a rumor that Mazarin might be secretly married to Queen Anne of Austria, who is ruling in the interim after the death of King Louis XIII since Louis XIV is still a minor. Mazarin is not very popular as he has maintained Richelieu's rich taxation of the Parisians to continue funding the long-standing war between France and Spain.

"BLOOD ROYAL makes it clear that this tale is in the middle of the pack of the Three Musketeers adventures, which makes me hopeful that Lawrence Ellsworth is hard at work translating the next novel."

The Four Musketeers have mostly moved on to new priorities. The only one who is still in the same role, in this case as Lieutenant of the King's Musketeers, is D'Artagnan. He does not have an easy job as the mounting unrest by the people against the crown, a period known as the Fronde, looks to end in full-scale civil war. Fronde is French for “sling,” representing the slings of rocks sent towards Mazarin's windows. BLOOD ROYAL continues, in grand Dumas fashion, to outline the schemes and counterschemes of the royals and show how the Musketeers are often utilized as pawns, not always on the side of good.

The situation eventually leads to a threat against England in the form of King Charles I. He is in danger specifically at the hands of the title character, “the son of Milady.” To clarify, the Three Musketeers had hired an executioner to slay Milady de Winter at the end of THE THREE MUSKETEERS, and she is being avenged by her now-adult son, Mordaunt. His disguise as a monk is well-crafted and helps him in his pursuit of England's Baron Winter, his uncle who had conspired with the Musketeers against his mother. Mordaunt and Mazarin are evil allies, and Winter recognizes that King Charles is in mortal danger.

Winter seeks to bring together the Four Musketeers he remembers from 20 years earlier, not realizing that they had gone their separate ways. Yes, D'Artagnan was still in Musketeer service, but Porthos is now a wealthy man of leisure, Aramis has become an Abbott in the Jesuit order, and Athos has retired on his country estate. Porthos is easy to convince, but the other two show no interest in returning to the middle of any conflict between French royalty or their disputes with other countries. It stays this way for a while, and at one point the two pairs of ex-Musketeer comrades are actually pitted against each other.

In the end, they all take different paths to the same goal --- that of offering their services once again, this time to defend and protect King Charles I. They all will learn that they are individually no match for the hateful and vengeful Mordaunt, not even D'Artagnan himself. Dumas leaves little to no room for romance here, choosing to concentrate on the swashbuckling action described above. I did not even notice, as the opportunity to spend more time with these great figures was all I cared about.

There is a listing of characters at the end of the novel, which comes in quite handy. Each time a real historical figure is introduced, their name is followed by an asterisk (*), which makes it easy to flip back and forth as you learn all you need to know about them without resorting to Wikipedia.

BLOOD ROYAL makes it clear that this tale is in the middle of the pack of the Three Musketeers adventures, which makes me hopeful that Lawrence Ellsworth is hard at work translating the next novel.