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Rating: 
Summary: Tintin and the Seven Crystal Balls
Review: As a prequel to 'Prisoners of the Sun', this adventure has it all. Bianca Castiafore, General Alcazar and the long suffering Nestor play second fiddle to Haddock and Tintin as they attempt to rescue Professor Calculus from kidnappers. Meanwhile an expedition team fall foul of the curse of Rascar Capac, an Inca mummy! This book is excellent; car chases, gun fights, suspense and Captain Haddock to ensure that everything goes far from smoothly! Buy 'Prisoners of the Sun' at the same time, you will not want to wait around to discover where Calculus has gone!
Rating:
Summary: Tintin and the Seven Crystal Balls
Review: As a prequel to 'Prisoners of the Sun', this adventure has it all. Bianca Castiafore, General Alcazar and the long suffering Nestor play second fiddle to Haddock and Tintin as they attempt to rescue Professor Calculus from kidnappers. Meanwhile an expedition team fall foul of the curse of Rascar Capac, an Inca mummy! This book is excellent; car chases, gun fights, suspense and Captain Haddock to ensure that everything goes far from smoothly! Buy 'Prisoners of the Sun' at the same time, you will not want to wait around to discover where Calculus has gone!
Rating:
Summary: Tintin and friends begin to deal with an Incan mystery
Review: First, be aware that the exciting Tintin adventure that begins in "The Seven Crystal Balls" is concluded in "Prisoners of the Sun." As our story begins, Tintin is on the train reading how the Sanders-Hardiman Ethnographic Expedition has returned a trip to Peru and Bolivia. The gentleman reading over Tintin's shoulder predicts trouble, drawing a parallel between what happened with the curse of King Tut-Ankh-Amen's tomb and these explorers violating the Inca's burial chambers. "What'd we say if the Egyptians or the Peruvians came over here and started digging up our kings?," asks the gentleman; What'd we say then, eh?" The comment is important, not only because tragedy does strike the seven members of the expedition as they fall prey to the Crystal Balls of the book's title, but because one of the themes that Hergé develops in this particular epic is the respect Europeans should have for other cultures and ways of life. This point has been implict in many of Tintin's adventures, but it is a dominant element this time around. Assissted by his good friend Captain Haddock, Tintin becomes embroiled in the mystery, which takes a more personal turn when Professor Calculus is kidnapped. One interesting twist in this story is that Snowy actually ends up causing more trouble than the Thom(p)sons. There is a seriousness to what happens in "The Seven Crytal Balls" and "Prisoners of the Sun" that reflects a significant turning point in Hergé's work, laying the ground work for his greatest tales, the two-part Moon story and "Tintin in Tibet." The ability of Hergé to grow as a storyteller over the course of his distinguished career is impressive and these stories deserve the accolades they have received and the affection with which they have been embraced by generations of readers.
Rating:
Summary: Tintin and friends begin to deal with an Incan mystery
Review: First, be aware that the exciting Tintin adventure that begins in "The Seven Crystal Balls" is concluded in "Prisoners of the Sun." As our story begins, Tintin is on the train reading how the Sanders-Hardiman Ethnographic Expedition has returned a trip to Peru and Bolivia. The gentleman reading over Tintin's shoulder predicts trouble, drawing a parallel between what happened with the curse of King Tut-Ankh-Amen's tomb and these explorers violating the Inca's burial chambers. "What'd we say if the Egyptians or the Peruvians came over here and started digging up our kings?," asks the gentleman; What'd we say then, eh?" The comment is important, not only because tragedy does strike the seven members of the expedition as they fall prey to the Crystal Balls of the book's title, but because one of the themes that Hergé develops in this particular epic is the respect Europeans should have for other cultures and ways of life. This point has been implict in many of Tintin's adventures, but it is a dominant element this time around. Assissted by his good friend Captain Haddock, Tintin becomes embroiled in the mystery, which takes a more personal turn when Professor Calculus is kidnapped. One interesting twist in this story is that Snowy actually ends up causing more trouble than the Thom(p)sons. There is a seriousness to what happens in "The Seven Crytal Balls" and "Prisoners of the Sun" that reflects a significant turning point in Hergé's work, laying the ground work for his greatest tales, the two-part Moon story and "Tintin in Tibet." The ability of Hergé to grow as a storyteller over the course of his distinguished career is impressive and these stories deserve the accolades they have received and the affection with which they have been embraced by generations of readers.
Rating:
Summary: Mysterious Tintin thriller.
Review: Herges Tintin comics are classics and probably the best of the genre. They really are for all ages,some of my best childhood memories are of reading Tintin or Tinni as he is known in Iceland and I still enjoy reading these books today. What makes the Tintin books so good is they seem to have everything in it that make up a good comicbook,originality, interesting characters,adventure,suspense,great humor and well thought out storys. If I had to chose only one Tintin book to take to a desert island I think the seven crystal balls would be it. The book is masterfully drawn like of course all the Tintin books and the story is not just an adventures thriller but it has a mysterious atmosphere to it which i really like.
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Summary: The eeriest adventure
Review: My Tintin obsession began at a very early age, I am most happy to say. The Seven Crystal Balls is the one Tintin book I didn't read before bedtime, for the simple reason that it was too scary! Herge was masterful at creating any scenario and eliciting any reaction from his readers that he wished. In this book he created a spine-tingling supernatural thriller, concluded in the second part of this adventure, Prisoners of the Sun.Seven Crystal Balls has it's share of laughs as well, provided in particular by Captain Haddock. At the start of the adventure, Haddock desperately trys to relinquish his gruff old sea-dog ways by sporting a monocle and speaking in a very diginified manner. As you can imagine, the results are slightly less than successful. This adventure seems to focus around darkly lit and heavily furnished rooms, places of scholars and thought that can not combat the evil terrorizing Tintin's world. Prisoners of the Sun takes Tintin to the beautiful countryside of Peru. The contrast is remarkable, the result is beautiful. This two-part adventure is fantastic.
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Summary: A mysterious Incan curse (part 1 of 2)
Review: Tintin and Captain Haddock go to a psychic show. There an Indian fakir puts his assistant into a trance. She forsees a mysterious illness striking a photographer on a recent expedition to recover Incan artifacts. One by one the researchers on the expedition fall into mysterious comas. Near each lies a shattered crystal ball...
For some comic relief here Captain Haddock tries hard to be oh so proper (he has recently aquired his ancestral estate and title). He is fixated on wearing a monocle at all times. This is an involved mystery with many clever bits of detective work and technology used by the characters. This particular book is definitely the first of two parts and doesn't stand alone. At the end of this one Tintin and the Captain are off in pursuit of a potential villain. But we still don't know what was in the crystal balls or how it connects to the Incan curse, and a major character has been kidnapped and not reunited with the heros. So you will have to read Prisoners of the Sun to not be left hanging after this one.
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