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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
Seemingly having been driven insane by the routing of the Wizard and the death of the wicked one, Glinda has re-enslaved the flying monkeys, banned all witchcraft other than her own and installed madmen as regents of the Emerald City and the Vinkus. Eventually her obsession with the one stray practicioner of sorcery, Mombi, will lead her to face down a feminist revolution in the Emerald City, play havock with identity politics and forcibly re-gender an innocent.
And from on high, the Wizard must be laughing.
A grim book.
"'The rest of you are not human and therefore it would not be wicked to demolish you.'...
This program of extermination was so terrible that the prisoners looked upon one another in a panic of fear." - The Marvellous Land of Oz
And from on high, the Wizard must be laughing.
A grim book.
"'The rest of you are not human and therefore it would not be wicked to demolish you.'...
This program of extermination was so terrible that the prisoners looked upon one another in a panic of fear." - The Marvellous Land of Oz
Loveable characters:
No
You know a book is from another era when your main antagonists of the book are an army of girls using knitting needles as weapons and and one point get scared our of the castle they've conquered by the appearance of a mouse. In no way an I condemning the book for this, far from it! Indeed I believe there is some profeminism going on here, it's just that it's being written in an era where feminism was still in its infancy, (Indeed, having done some research. The Suffrage Movement began the same year this book was published, in Germany.) and by a man aged 48. So while there are more progressive images of women's liberation, it can easily be forgiven for good intentions.
Putting this to one side. I is the book any good? The answer is yes. It is not as good as it's predecessor, but then that is the iconic entry in the series, I hadn't actually heard of this one before starting it. I had assumed Ozma of Oz (Book 3) was the follow up to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I believe this was because Ozma was when Baum decided it was going to intentionally be an on going series, and not random books set in the same world. This definitely make sense. The Marvelous Land of Oz feels far more like side note, and like the Character of the Gump, hobbled together from random ideas (though there is an aspect of that in Wizard, it feels it more here.) but the wit and charm Baum brings to his prose glosses over those issues. Not quite as good as it's precursor, but still remarkably good.
Putting this to one side. I is the book any good? The answer is yes. It is not as good as it's predecessor, but then that is the iconic entry in the series, I hadn't actually heard of this one before starting it. I had assumed Ozma of Oz (Book 3) was the follow up to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I believe this was because Ozma was when Baum decided it was going to intentionally be an on going series, and not random books set in the same world. This definitely make sense. The Marvelous Land of Oz feels far more like side note, and like the Character of the Gump, hobbled together from random ideas (though there is an aspect of that in Wizard, it feels it more here.) but the wit and charm Baum brings to his prose glosses over those issues. Not quite as good as it's precursor, but still remarkably good.
I think I actually enjoyed this more than the first book. Tip was an interesting character and it was nice to see how the original characters had changed since Dorthy left. A few things annoyed me but for the most I really enjoyed reading this.
Strange book. Obviously Baum is having a lot of fun, what with the puns and the shenanigans, and the magic. I like that Tip isn't sure that he wants to be Ozma, but once she is Ozma, she seems to be doing well. Also, Scarecrow and Tin Man are bros forever, and I dig that. Jack being paranoid is quite frustrating. Glinda couldn't be bothered about Ozma for however long it's been? Obviously time doesn't really work in Oz, and Baum was pulling this out of his butt, but still. Mombi is quite an effective villain, but irish something more interesting had been done with the Army of Revolt. Well, maybe in the next book. Also, ALL OF THE PUNS.
I thought that the Scarecrow was something of an idiot in this book. No wonder he doesn't enjoy ruling the Emerald City. The book is not quite as much fun as the first book.
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was expecting something unusual but I just didn't enjoy how strange this book was - the random ideas and characters left me kind of confused.
The characters of this book a quite different than what you would expect. I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. I guess I just felt bad for some of the characters like the poor horse and the way he is treated and that darn pumpkin head who just wants to live to see tomorrow. But perhaps there is something deeper that the author was trying to portray.