tomjsturner 's review for:

The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum

4.0

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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.