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A review by blakemp
The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum
4.0
Continuing my reread of Baum's Oz books with this one. After trying to kill the series in book six by closing off Oz to the outside world, he needed the money too badly and went back to the well.
The odd thing is, although he definitely phones in many of the later Oz books, this is the first time since book #3 that there's actually been a plot that didn't boil down to "Dorothy wanders around and meets a bunch of weirdos." Oh, there IS wandering, and there ARE weirdos, but they're mostly in the service of Ojo the Unlucky and his quest to find the magical ingredients to save his uncle, who has been transformed into a statue. As such, it's actually the best book since the third one, (Ozma of Oz, which is actually my favorite book in the series).
The odd thing is, although he definitely phones in many of the later Oz books, this is the first time since book #3 that there's actually been a plot that didn't boil down to "Dorothy wanders around and meets a bunch of weirdos." Oh, there IS wandering, and there ARE weirdos, but they're mostly in the service of Ojo the Unlucky and his quest to find the magical ingredients to save his uncle, who has been transformed into a statue. As such, it's actually the best book since the third one, (Ozma of Oz, which is actually my favorite book in the series).