Oz Books Thread

Seeing how I've already made a long post for each of the first two Oz books, and intend to do one for each and every one of Baum's later books as I finished them, I figured it'd be best to just make a brand new thread for this series altogether. And anyone else who wishes to talk about this fantastical series can of course do so as well.

So, to start with, I just finished Book #3, Ozma of Oz. I have to say, it's probably my favorite Oz book yet. The returning characters are just as good as ever, but we also get a few newcomers, (Bellina the Hen, Titok the Mechanical Man, and the Hungry Tiger,) and they're each incredibly colorful and likeable, right up to Oz standard. We also get a good look at Tip in his/her new gender-bendered role as Ozma, and while she's more like Dorothy, she's still not too shabby.

But again, the biggest improvement in this is the plot. Like Marvelous, the book is about one thing, and one thing only; only, where in Marvelous it was about taking back the Emerald City from Jinjur's Army of Revolt, as well as facing off agaisnt Mombi, here, it's about rescuing the royal family of Ev from the Nome King. (More on him in a bit.) Unlike Marvelous, Ozma doesn't feature the whole 'Army of Revolt' plot, which means that everything that the Army of Revolt suggested about women at the time, (gossipy scatterbrains who can't really do anything but cook and... well, gossip,) is thrown straight out of the winow. (To be fair though, now that I remember, Glinda and her army are actually portrayed very positivity; they're very capable and well-trained, unlike the Army of Revolt. And then there's Dorothy and Ozma in the other books. Makes me wonder if Baum was pondering whether to advocate or damn women's suffrage, and in the end, just decided to burn both bridges.

But the real star here is the villain of this book; the Nome King. Both and the Wicked Witch of the West and Mombi were pretty forgettable and one-not, and didn't really do that much. (At least the Wicked Witch, that's for sure.The Nome King, on the other hand, is as nefarious as they come. He'll like a saint when you first meet him, but it's not long before he reveals himself to be a fairly decent Magnificent Bastard.He's rude, he's mean, he's cunning, he's crafty, he can act like a affable host one minute and a tyrannical overlord the next; in other words, he's actually a good, decent villain, and it's little surprise that he showed up again multiple times in later books.

All in all, like with the previous two Oz books, I rather enjoyed this one, and I look forward to more enchanting Oz goodness.

edited 23rd Oct '13 9:48:28 PM by kkhohoho

I finished re-reading the first book the other day. I've seen some of the adaptations and while I enjoy those, the book holds up fairly well for me. Baum's idea of creating an exclusively American fairy tale was an interesting one, as well as one intended to entertain kids, not preach at them (similar to Lewis Carrol's Alice books). I think I'll check out the rest of his work.

It's well worth checking out, especially the first five which are meant to be read as a unified series. The rest drift a bit but are still a decent read.