I was severly disappointed with this book. Maybe if the author had named the book "An Overview of the Early Years of Court During the Reign of Louis XIV" I would not have been so let down. The author spends relatively little time focusing on Athenais and too much time on the other court players. I came away not having learned anything new about this intriguing woman. Further, the impression I got is that the author did little new, in-depth research and just spewed out well-known facts, dates, and names. While it is not a terrible book, if you have any prior knowledge of the reign of Louis XIV, then I would not recommend this book as it is only a reiterration of commonly known facts.