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cophoff's review against another edition
2.0
This book, in most forms, is credited to L. Frank Baum, but The Royal Book of Oz was written by Thompson after Baum's death. But even without having been told this, nothing could have been more obvious than Baum's absence upon reading the book. If the writing style alone hadn't been a dead giveaway, then the characters having gone through complete personality changes probably would have done the trick. Ozma as cross? Dorothy as annoyed? The Wogglebug as rude and haughty? Though there were hints of their former selves, these were not the characters that we'd come to know and love, a change that was the biggest disappointment. And this was not the smooth and enchanting writing style to which we had become accustomed, either. Though Thompson does include some witty remarks and word play that will be enjoyable to older readers, some of her sentence formation—especially around the speaking of characters—is on the complex side for younger readers to follow. This is a far cry from Baum who, though writing at the turn of the century and with a style that reflected it, was still accessible for the younger set. And you might be tempted to wonder if the book would have been better were I treating it as its own thing, but first, she didn't write it as its own thing—she even published it under Baum's name—and second, her style is choppy even when held up entirely on its own. This book was a huge disappointment.
quoththegirl's review against another edition
2.0
Widely thought to be at least partially written by Baum until the 1980s, Thompson's take on Oz just can't hold a candle to the original 14 stories. The pace is frenetic and the story implausible to a degree that even Baum would find dizzying. The characters were punsters almost completely unlike the versions of themselves in earlier books. Disappointing, overall.
woody425's review against another edition
4.0
I think overall I’m just glad that this series is done now. Having read all of the Wizard of Oz series, it was a series that started off amazingly and should have finished by book 6. Overall 3.5/5
michelle_neuwirth_gray9311's review against another edition
3.0
Written in 1921, there are definitely parts that are a sign of the times (Silver Islanders being a racist version of the Chinese, for example). I like the original stories by Baum, but would probably hand this out with some cautions to the readers as it is not quite the same under a new writer.
blackmetalblackheart's review against another edition
2.0
As a huge fan of the original Oz series, I have always wanted to read these follow ups. Unfortunately, the first of Thompson's books fails to live up to the standards of Baum. The story starts out slow, and if not outright racist, it definitely feels like it walks the line. There are great moments in it however, and I like that it attempts to expand the wonderful world of Oz. I am hoping that Thompson improves over the course of the series. This was just a rougher start then I would have liked.
tardycreative's review against another edition
5.0
Lovely read, again I am an avid collector of anything Oz based.
izzatiidrus's review against another edition
2.0
I only read this because it came as a set with the rest of Baum's books in the series. I never meant to continue reading any books in the series even if I were to like Thompson's writing, which I highly doubted before I even started reading it, to be honest.
At first the story began nicely and I thought maybe Thompson could do the series justice after all. Until it introduced some characters with Chinese background. See, Baum never really brought any specific race to the story. He created characters that are pretty much free from the ethnicity we recognize in our world. And I felt as if Thompson was somehow belittling Chinese in her writing (that unlike the friendly people of Oz, the Middlings abide strictly by hierarchy; and the future successors only wish for inheritance and to ascend to the throne and would use cunning ways to be crowned king). And the fact that she made these people wear pigtails and kimono just showed Asian generalization at its best, of course, when people can't be bothered to differentiate between Chinese and Japanese. All of these scream racism to me, it made me feel uncomfortable reading.
Unlike Baum, Thompson's story lacked the sass and poking fun at human's silliness. It also didn't have any sort of message which Baum so smartly weaved into his stories every time. Thompson's merely nonsensical style reminds me more of Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland than the Baum's Oz series.
I also felt like there were one too many poems within the book. While I love poetry, especially rhymed ones, I couldn't help but feel like too many of them were something like a cop out way to fill the pages with rhymes and spaces instead of a more fleshed out story.
At first the story began nicely and I thought maybe Thompson could do the series justice after all. Until it introduced some characters with Chinese background. See, Baum never really brought any specific race to the story. He created characters that are pretty much free from the ethnicity we recognize in our world. And I felt as if Thompson was somehow belittling Chinese in her writing (that unlike the friendly people of Oz, the Middlings abide strictly by hierarchy; and the future successors only wish for inheritance and to ascend to the throne and would use cunning ways to be crowned king). And the fact that she made these people wear pigtails and kimono just showed Asian generalization at its best, of course, when people can't be bothered to differentiate between Chinese and Japanese. All of these scream racism to me, it made me feel uncomfortable reading.
Unlike Baum, Thompson's story lacked the sass and poking fun at human's silliness. It also didn't have any sort of message which Baum so smartly weaved into his stories every time. Thompson's merely nonsensical style reminds me more of Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland than the Baum's Oz series.
I also felt like there were one too many poems within the book. While I love poetry, especially rhymed ones, I couldn't help but feel like too many of them were something like a cop out way to fill the pages with rhymes and spaces instead of a more fleshed out story.
birdmanseven's review against another edition
2.0
I had read this book forever ago, but recently listened to a Librivox audiobook version. This one does not hold up well. It loses some of the magic Baum brought to the world, and what's worse, the dated stereotypes just feel downright offensive now.
We discussed the series in more detail over on the All the Books Show. https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-252-fantasy-isthmus
We discussed the series in more detail over on the All the Books Show. https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-252-fantasy-isthmus
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