Twenty Years After

By: Alexandre Dumas

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Length: 27 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Originally published in 1845 as a sequel to The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After is a supreme creation of suspense and heroic adventure.

Two decades have passed since the three musketeers triumphed over Cardinal Richelieu and Milady. Time has weakened their resolve and dispersed their loyalties. But treasons and stratagems still cry out for justice: civil war endangers the throne of France, while in England, Cromwell threatens to send Charles I to the scaffold. Dumas brings his immortal quartet out of retirement to cross swords with time, the malevolence of men, and the forces of history. But their greatest test is a titanic struggle with the son of Milady, who wears the face of Evil.

Public Domain (P)1997 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Overall, enjoyable.

The reader was not as expressive as one would have hoped. Overall, it was enjoyable and an interesting story. Last bed the mental images shown by the author.

Even better than the 3 Musketeers!

While I really don't care as much for the narrator's voice, the book is excellent!

bad narrator

this was a great story almost as good as the first but the narrator did a horrible job in the way he read characters voices

A great revisit of great characters

I loved the story. I would have loved the whole thing, if the narrator hadn't chosen a grating, aggressive, pretentious voice for D'Artagnan. It's the kind of voice usually used for the antagonist, the voice of someone you instantly dislike.

Dumas YES, Narrator NO

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I recently discovered Dumas' D'Artangion series, starting with the first one that is narrated by Simon Vance. I then skipped "Twenty Years After" and listened to "The Man in the Iron Mask", also narrated by Simon Vance. I decided to go back and listen to the one's I'd missed, starting with "Twenty Years After", narrated by Frederick Davidson. Well, in a work "Yuck". Mr. Davidson is a sad excuse for a narrator/reader/story teller. I gave it a chance, listening for two hours. Alas, I could not take Mr. Davidson any more and decided to check the book out of the library, as Simon Vance does not narrate a version of this book. I have placed Mr. Frederick Davidson on my do not listen to list forever.

What didn’t you like about Frederick Davidson’s performance?

Terrible, will never listen to a book narrated by Mr. Davidson again, NEVER.

A grating narration of Dumas

The sample is representative of the performance, throughout. I'm not sure what compelled Mr. Davidson to represent D'Artagnan as an emotionless robot that struggles with inflection. This is indeed the full, unabridged edition and we'll translated.

Well Done

Great story and great performance! The second in the series, this story is quite an adventure and is well-delivered by the narrator.

Narration not to my liking

Davidson’s narration seems heavily British although pronunciation of French words is very good. I got used to it. But he’s not at the level of John Lee or Simon Vance. This rendition was the only one available so I managed.
The story starts out slowly but once it gets its steam is very satisfying. I can’t wait to listen to the next in the series.

Dumas is Awesome. Narrator not so much.

It was a struggle to listen to this book. Indeed I could only handle a few chapters at a time because the narrator had three voices for EVERYONE. His rendition of D'Artagnan was horrible to endure. Porthos and Aramis were the only voices that seemed to match their character, and I also admit Mazarin seemed to fit as well. But there are SO many characters in this book that three variations is extremely monotonous. I regret this is the only audio version of this book, which is a great story in and of itself. Which is I why I endured, even though it took a month to listen to all 30 hours, when I usually consume a 30 hour book in 3 or 4 days.

Great Story, slow boring narrarator Zzz

What made the experience of listening to Twenty Years After the most enjoyable?

That my eyes don't get worn out reading.

Who was your favorite character and why?

D'artagnon of course !

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I had to play the book at 1.5 speed so the narrarator sounded normal instead of like Eeyore the Donkey

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not yet

Any additional comments?

Get a new narrarator ! Simon Vance or Bill Homewood !