Tintin - El Cetro de Ottokar

Rating:
Summary: Tintin and Milu have a royal mystery to solve in Syldavia
Review: "El Cetro De Ottokar" ("King Ottokar's Sceptre") is Las Aventuras de Tintin in which our intrepid hero gets to do a lot of deductive reasoning. Certainly there are more actual clues than Hergé usually includes in his mysteries. Tintin encounters Professor Alembik, who studies seals (no, not the friendly little animals but the things you stamp into wax on official papers). This seems a harmless career choice but Tintin finds that both he and the good professor are embroiled with secret agents and a plot against the King of Syldavia. It seems there is a major loophole in the laws of the monarchy, for if the King were to lose possession of King Ottokar's Sceptre, he would lose the right to rule and have to abdicate. This would work to the advantage of the bad guys across the border in Borduria, so it is up to Tintin and Milu to save the day. They are aided in this endeavor by the Hernandez and Fernandez; to be precise, they endeavor to aid.

"El Cetro De Ottokar" was produced by Hergé in 1939 and the more you know about Europe on the eve of the Second World War, the more you are likely to see lurking behind the characters and actions of this Tintin adventure. However, it is hard to tell if Hergé is trying to make any sort of a point; certainly during the war it was clear Tintin lived in a different world, so I am loathe to see anything beyond a compelling narrative. This is an actual mystery, where clues need to be solved and mysterious developments need to be explained. On top of all that throw in the ongoing perilous situations that our hero and his faithful terrier find themselves in time and time again in these early adventures. Oh, and there is also Tintin's first meeting with Bianca Castafiore, which is not exactly something I am inclined to celebrate, but that is just me. A very solid offering from Hergé.

Rating:
Summary: Tintin and Milu have a royal mystery to solve in Syldavia
Review: "El Cetro De Ottokar" ("King Ottokar's Sceptre") is Las Aventuras de Tintin in which our intrepid hero gets to do a lot of deductive reasoning. Certainly there are more actual clues than Hergé usually includes in his mysteries. Tintin encounters Professor Alembik, who studies seals (no, not the friendly little animals but the things you stamp into wax on official papers). This seems a harmless career choice but Tintin finds that both he and the good professor are embroiled with secret agents and a plot against the King of Syldavia. It seems there is a major loophole in the laws of the monarchy, for if the King were to lose possession of King Ottokar's Sceptre, he would lose the right to rule and have to abdicate. This would work to the advantage of the bad guys across the border in Borduria, so it is up to Tintin and Milu to save the day. They are aided in this endeavor by the Hernandez and Fernandez; to be precise, they endeavor to aid.

"El Cetro De Ottokar" was produced by Hergé in 1939 and the more you know about Europe on the eve of the Second World War, the more you are likely to see lurking behind the characters and actions of this Tintin adventure. However, it is hard to tell if Hergé is trying to make any sort of a point; certainly during the war it was clear Tintin lived in a different world, so I am loathe to see anything beyond a compelling narrative. This is an actual mystery, where clues need to be solved and mysterious developments need to be explained. On top of all that throw in the ongoing perilous situations that our hero and his faithful terrier find themselves in time and time again in these early adventures. Oh, and there is also Tintin's first meeting with Bianca Castafiore, which is not exactly something I am inclined to celebrate, but that is just me. A very solid offering from Hergé.

Rating:
Summary: East European mystery and suspense
Review: Tintin finds a briefcase in the ark. He returns it to its owner Professor Janus. The scholar will soon travel to Soldavia to study artifacts including the Royal Scepter, which must be in the possession of the king at a yearly ceremony, in order for him to remain in power. As Tintin leaves the professor's apartment he notices that he has been photographed. As he tries to find out why, he stumbles on a plot to steal the scepter...

After The Black Island, which was mostly chase scenes and action, it was nice to see some mystery. The story here was fairly straightforward but the way in which it unfolded kept me guessing. For example we don't learn who is after the scepter until it has been stolen and Tintin is trying to find out how and why. This was a good little suspense mystery and up to quality of other books in the Tintin series.

If you are reading this to help learn Spanish, Tintin comics are good for reading at a Spanish 2 level. There are a lot of words that aren't basic vocabulary but it is still easy to follow the story because the writing and pictures tend to reinforce each other.