A review by phenaproxima
The Blue Lotus by Hergé

adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Easily the best of early Tintin! There are the usual uncanny escapes, but the plot is in service of an actual story that picks up where Cigars of the Pharaoh left off. The portrayal of China is not exactly deep or complicated, but it feels much better thought-out and researched compared to the previous stories. As with all the Tintin stories, there's white-saviorism at work here, but the Chinese characters have agency too. Tintin and Snowy are finally, completely, wonderfully themselves.

The Japanese are, to a one, the villains in this book. Which is at least historically relevant, but they are rendered in a fashion that is...rather racist. So that sucks, but it is part and parcel of Tintin (for this period, anyway).
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