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Book Review By Daniel Staebler
Captain Antifer by Jules Verne

In 1831, Kamylk Pasha, a wealthy Egyptian, decides to bury his whole fortune, in precious stones, on a small island whose location is only known by him and the captain of the ship. A few years later, jailed in an Egyptian prison and knowing that he would soon die, Kamylk Pasha writes a letter to Thomas Antifer, A French sailor who saved his life during the Napoleonic Egyptian campaign, to reveal to the sailor the longitude of the island. The sailor is also told that someone will one day come to him to give him the latitude of the island.

Thirty years later, after Kamylk Pasha and Thomas Antifer's death, Ben-Omar, an Egyptian notary, pays a visit to Pierre Antifer, the son of Thomas, and gives him the precious latitude of the island where more than 100 millions in precious stones are buried. Accompanied by his friend Tregomain, his nephew Juhel and also Ben-Omar who'll receive his percentage fee once the treasure is found, captain Antifer travels, by boat and camel, until the remote Arabic coasts. They find the island, but, instead of the treasury, a message of Kamylk Pasha, with another longitude, asking them to find the banker Sambuco in Tunis who'll give them the missing latitude. In Tunis, Sambuco agrees to give them the latitude : the new small island is to be found in the Guinea bay, hundreds of miles away down the Atlantic African coast. Needless to say that our heroes will find there another message which will force them to sail for months before arriving at last to the Spitzberg island, in Norway. Will they finally find there the treasure of Kamylk Pasha or did the cagey Egyptian plan to send them to another remote destination ?


Plot & Themes
Time/era of story:
Exploring into the wild Yes
Plotlets: - searching for treasure/artifacts
descript. of violence and chases - 0 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30 %
Terrain - Water

Main Character
Gender - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure
How sensitive is this character?
Intelligence - Average intelligence

Setting
Africa Yes
Part of Africa: - Black Africa - Arabic Africa
Misc setting - resort/hotel

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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