Race to Tibet
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- $2.99
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
At a time when no Westerner has seen the holy city of Lhasa or met the Dalai Lama, French explorer Gabriel Bonvalot vows to do the impossible: he launches his own expedition to the Roof of the World with funding from the Duke of Chartres. The only caveat is that Bonvalot must bring along the Duke's wayward son, Prince Henri d'Orléans, a drinker, gambler, and womanizer whose reckless behavior threatens to derail the entire expedition. During the journey, the explorers encounter freezing temperatures, volatile winds, mountain sickness, bandits, duplicitous Chinese Ambans, and a beguiling Tibetan Buddhist princess with a deadly secret. Held as prisoners at 16,000 feet and surrounded by an army of Tibetan soldiers, the explorers find themselves in a desperate fight for survival. RACE TO TIBET is a thrilling tale of high-altitude adventure and survival set in the world's most forbidden country. Perfect for fans of THE LOST WORLD, KING SOLOMON'S MINES, and AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fans of Jules Verne's travel adventures will find Schiller (Transfer Day) has done a solid job of transforming an obscure real-life Victorian expedition into a thrilling yarn. A sex scandal blights the name of Prince Henri d'Orl ans in 1888 Paris, and his father, the Duke of Chartres, fears that his continued misconduct will only further weaken the royalist cause. The duke's solution is to make the prince's inheritance contingent on his leaving France for a year to stay out of trouble, a plan that neatly coincides with explorer Gabriel Bonvalot's desire to be the first Westerner to reach Lhasa. Gabriel lacks the funding to finance the complex and dangerous venture and agrees to take Henri along in exchange for the duke's backing. Schiller makes the physical challenges of the trip palpable. There are occasional lapses into purple prose ("I've had enough of your callousness, you fiendish devil"), but for the most part Schiller succeeds in keeping readers engaged in the plot. (BookLife)
