In mini-summary, Nancy kidnaps a young Indian boy from the circus and becomes embroiled in geopolitical intrigue when she realizes that the boy in question is the true ruler of India.
Sounds pretty exciting, doesn't it?!
Meh.
Unfortunately, that's all I can say. Meh. Most of the 215-page story feels like it's just stalling the conclusion. This is a problem I've had with several of the original editions. Too many times Nancy is forced, for pages on end to play what Carson Drew refers to as "the waiting game."
To which I, of course, say: "The waiting game sucks--let's play Hungry Hungry Hippos!"
The story starts with Nancy witnessing the brutal abuse of a young Indian boy named Coya. Strangely, the boy is being whipped mercilessly because he is not properly whipping the Circus' elephant, Tom. (A brief side note: I just can't take elephant abuse. I mean, I can't deal with animal torture of any kind, but for some reason elephant abuse just tears me up inside ever since I watched this history special on Coney Island and saw that video of Topsy being electrocuted). Anyhoo, Nancy is, like me, not a fan of child or elephant abuse, so she intervenes. The man, named Rai, explains that Coya is his son. Nancy procures the titular Ivory Charm for reasons too stupid to summarize, and ends up sort-of kidnapping Coya--all in a day's work for a girl detective.
Alright, she doesn't seriously kidnap him, but she might as well have. The young boy runs away (for the obvious reason that he doesn't enjoy daily whippings), and Nancy pays his fee for the train and brings him home with her. All the while, Coya is referred to as being a "little brown boy" and essentially acts as the Drew's servant. Oh, "quaint" racisms. I expected you to be in full force, and I was not proven wrong. The book basically boils Hinduism and Indian culture down to a bunch of ludicrous superstitions. Not cool.
Then, the secondary villain is introduced, an American woman named Anita Allison who seems obsessed with mysticism and is the seeming ringleader of a plot to abduct and kill Coya, who has no idea of his royal birth, to ensure another leader's spot on the throne.
Again, this may sound interesting. But I assure you it is NOT. The villains are caricatured and snooze-worthy and the book has more false endings than Return of the King without having any of the raw awesomeness or Samwise Gamgees I would require.
There are a few good scenes, but most end up ridiculous with the more interesting plot points gravely underutilized. For example, Nancy goes to an Emerson dance with Ned and meets up with one of his fraternity brothers, Basha, only to discover that Basha (also Indian) somehow knows Rai. Yeah. Because all people from India know each other when one is a college sophomore and the other is a TRAVELING CIRCUS PERFORMER. That makes sense. In another example, Nancy is sent to Washington D.C., summoned to the White House by the first lady herself, but they only spend one short paragraph describing her LUNCH AT THE FRAKKING PRESIDENT'S HOUSE. That's right. One paragraph. When they spend page after page describing what Nancy does while she's waiting for her next clue to appear.
Then there is a ridiculous ending that is, once again, too stupid to summarize. Nancy finds Coya after Rai kidnaps him again from the Drew house and restores him to his rightful place on the throne. Todd Chavez: "HoooorrraaaayyyYYY?"
Not so much. This is probably the most racist one in the whole bunch and not only is the story underwhelming but the overwhelming stereotyping just gave me Chrissy Teigen cringe face like the WHOLE time.
.5/5 Yep. That won't happen often.
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