So I discovered the Oz sequels almost by accident; I was working at a call center and had not much to do between calls, very little web browsing was actually allowed, but I was allowed to read public domain books on Gutenberg.org. When I added the first Oz book to my reading queue (among Mark Twain and Sherlock Holmes books) I noticed all these other Oz books I'd never really heard of. I'd had a vague idea they existed due to the movie Return to Oz but had never been interested in reading them before. So I figured why not, I had nothing better to do. And this second book got me hooked! I've now read all the public domain Oz books and am working on getting my hands on ones that aren't. This book is such a fun adventure, I have no idea why it isn't more well-known. It is interesting to see issues of feminism and gender identity as they were addressed in the early 1900's, and overall it's just a fun book! The harsh treatment of Jack Pumpkinhead made me a bit sad though, the narration even makes it sound like he dies at the end (but he's back in the sequels so all is well). I did not see the twist with Tip coming until it actually happened either. In all, the book gave me a wonderful escape from being yelled at by customers over the phone, as did the subsequent books.
The Marvelous Start to a Series
So I discovered the Oz sequels almost by accident; I was working at a call center and had not much to do between calls, very little web browsing was actually allowed, but I was allowed to read public domain books on Gutenberg.org. When I added the first Oz book to my reading queue (among Mark Twain and Sherlock Holmes books) I noticed all these other Oz books I'd never really heard of. I'd had a vague idea they existed due to the movie Return to Oz but had never been interested in reading them before. So I figured why not, I had nothing better to do. And this second book got me hooked! I've now read all the public domain Oz books and am working on getting my hands on ones that aren't. This book is such a fun adventure, I have no idea why it isn't more well-known. It is interesting to see issues of feminism and gender identity as they were addressed in the early 1900's, and overall it's just a fun book! The harsh treatment of Jack Pumpkinhead made me a bit sad though, the narration even makes it sound like he dies at the end (but he's back in the sequels so all is well). I did not see the twist with Tip coming until it actually happened either. In all, the book gave me a wonderful escape from being yelled at by customers over the phone, as did the subsequent books.