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Cigars of the Pharaoh: A review thread

calculite
Member
#1 · Posted: 13 Jan 2012 03:34
Cigars of the Pharaoh struck me as weird and very fantasy-like. I'd like to hear your guys's opinions on it. Don't just say "It was good" or "I didn't like it", give your review some explanation. It would help if you gave the book a score out of 10.

My review is it's great. The story is excellent and it contains many cinematic elements. A worthy mystery for the Tintin series.

7/10

What do you guys think?
rose_of_pollux
Member
#2 · Posted: 14 Jan 2012 01:59
Spoilers for the book ahoy!

Cigars of the Pharaoh is definitely one of the best of the pre-Captain adventures. The initial Egyptology theme of the first half of the book is what intrigues me; I love all things Ancient Egypt, particularly the New Kingdom, which seemed to be what Kih-Oskh's tomb based off of (was Hergé influenced/inspired by the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb the previous decade?).

Also, the underlying plot of Tintin being framed and pursued by a surprisingly competent Thomson and Thompson (their crowning moment in the entire series was, hands down, faking Tintin's death) is very intriguing.

Taking the second half of the story to India was surprising to see. Though, being of Indian descent and a practicing Hindu, I did take objection to the scene where some of the locals were going to sacrifice Snowy to Lord Shiva because he bit a cow. Yes, cows are revered, but Hinduism preaches ahimsa to *all* animals; granted, my sect doesn't worship Lord Shiva, but I still highly doubt that such a sacrifice would take place in His name.

But that was my only objection in this otherwise awesome story. And I did indeed appreciate Allan's cameo, what with him being my favorite villain!

My score: 7.5/10
Tintinrulz
Member
#3 · Posted: 14 Jan 2012 02:52
Cigars of the Pharaoh. It's a fun fast-paced mystery/thriller/adventure. The narrative here is tighter than anything found in Soviets, Congo and America but it still has the feel of a serial adventure. Mystery and intrigue are everywhere. We see foreshadowings of Professor Calculus in Sophocles Sarcophagus. There's the introduction of the detectives, Thomson and Thompson and Tintin's most formidable enemy, Roberto Rastapopoulos, some great humour, and a drug smuggling operation set in the mystic land of Egypt. All in all, a brilliant early addition to the series.

7.5/10
GSC
Member
#4 · Posted: 16 Jan 2012 00:05
Cigars Of The Pharaoh is an exiting adventure filled with action and mystery. It is the first book that includes the Thompson and Thomson. A fun story with alote of fun charators. One of the best pre-captan storeys in the Tintin series. I give it five stares.
blisteringbarnacle
Member
#5 · Posted: 23 Jan 2012 05:30
The episode in the TV series was always one of my favourites, but now that I've read the actual book. I enjoyed it. This was probably the first one that I enjoyed. I read "Land of the Soviets" and "America" just to say that I had. This book has dimensions those two don't, it's more than just a series of events it's a real story. 8/10. Tintin clearly improves with age.

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