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jmeston's review against another edition
4.0
I have grown so fond of these books. Spoiler: I loved at the end that the Flatheads had their brains reinstalled by Glinda and weren't flat on top any more.
manwithanagenda's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
'The Wizard of Oz' was the first real book I read cover to cover, and as soon as I saw listings for 14 Oz books I wanted to read them all. It didn't happen, which was probably for the best, but about five years ago I acquired digital copies of all of them and meant to knock them all out during my then-long bus commutes.
Other than the first two sequels - 'The Land of Oz' and 'Ozma of Oz', which are vital, works of wonder - these books are disappointing nonsense. Scratch that. Disappointing garbage is what is was. Continuity is routinely flouted for no good reason and Baum aggressively advertised his other book series in hopes of getting kids and their parents (and his creditors) to stop forcing him to write more Oz books. No dice, pal.
And then there was the whole weird fairyland subtext that no one grows old or dies ever since, long long ago, the Fairy Lurline enchanted Oz and went on her merry way. People can be hurt, people can be eaten, or chopped up, but those pieces don't die. This is so much better than explaining death to little kids.
Baum is still capable of wonderful invention throughout this series, but its the laziness of his plots and characterization that make the books difficult to read. The plot here should have been decent. Ozma and Dorothy read in Glinda's magic book that two hitherto unknown peoples in a distant corner of Oz are about to go to war. Ozma and Dorothy wish to stop this so they head over there, and when they get in trouble, a rescue party of most everybody else in Oz goes after them, with mixed results. No one talks about the problems of war except in the most abstract terms, Ozma's argument is purely divine right and when that's rebuffed she just waits for someone to magic the problems away.
The best line was when the Patchwork Girl predicts that someday Button Bright will wander off and no one will find him again.
If you somehow have made it through these books and desire more, there are some 26 other Oz books that were published through the 20s, 30s, & 40s and more dribbling into the modern era.
Oz
Next: 'The Royal Book of Oz' by Ruth Plumly Thompson
Previous: 'The Magic of Oz'
Other than the first two sequels - 'The Land of Oz' and 'Ozma of Oz', which are vital, works of wonder - these books are disappointing nonsense. Scratch that. Disappointing garbage is what is was. Continuity is routinely flouted for no good reason and Baum aggressively advertised his other book series in hopes of getting kids and their parents (and his creditors) to stop forcing him to write more Oz books. No dice, pal.
And then there was the whole weird fairyland subtext that no one grows old or dies ever since, long long ago, the Fairy Lurline enchanted Oz and went on her merry way. People can be hurt, people can be eaten, or chopped up, but those pieces don't die. This is so much better than explaining death to little kids.
Baum is still capable of wonderful invention throughout this series, but its the laziness of his plots and characterization that make the books difficult to read. The plot here should have been decent. Ozma and Dorothy read in Glinda's magic book that two hitherto unknown peoples in a distant corner of Oz are about to go to war. Ozma and Dorothy wish to stop this so they head over there, and when they get in trouble, a rescue party of most everybody else in Oz goes after them, with mixed results. No one talks about the problems of war except in the most abstract terms, Ozma's argument is purely divine right and when that's rebuffed she just waits for someone to magic the problems away.
The best line was when the Patchwork Girl predicts that someday Button Bright will wander off and no one will find him again.
If you somehow have made it through these books and desire more, there are some 26 other Oz books that were published through the 20s, 30s, & 40s and more dribbling into the modern era.
Oz
Next: 'The Royal Book of Oz' by Ruth Plumly Thompson
Previous: 'The Magic of Oz'
katekat's review against another edition
5.0
L. Frank Baum is an author I have read many times since I first discovered him in second grade. I find that his books stand up to the test of time and they are books that I enjoy re-reading. Some of them are stronger than others but as a whole I quite enjoy both the stories and characters.
library_brandy's review against another edition
4.0
Aaaaaannnnd... that's all, folks. Julian is now very sadly bemoaning the end of Oz.
This one made sure to reference all the major players and bring them along on the final adventure, to help save Dorothy and Ozma from a submerged island.
It was a good ending, both to the book and to the series. I'm content with it. The boy, less so, but in time he'll get over it, I hope.
This one made sure to reference all the major players and bring them along on the final adventure, to help save Dorothy and Ozma from a submerged island.
It was a good ending, both to the book and to the series. I'm content with it. The boy, less so, but in time he'll get over it, I hope.
alicejwhite17's review against another edition
5.0
Maybe it is just knowing it is the last book but for some reason I never really enjoy the last book in a series. The Hunger Games is an exception. I knew this was the last book and I had some preconceived ideas about it. It was a really good book though and it makes me sad to think there are no more oz books. I love these books primarily because they are pure imagination. They are not like Alice in Wonderland which is pure nonsense. These stories make sense and they are so full of imagination. The different people and adventures they go on are creative and fun. To have such an imagination is something to be treasured and valued. The story starts off with Dorothy and Ozma looking at Glinda's great record book. In it they discover that the flatheads and skeezers are about to go to war. This of course is against the law and Dorothy and Ozma set out at once to prevent this war. The girls have never heard of skeezers or the flatheads so they must have never heard of Dorothy or Ozma. When the girls arrive at the flatheads home they learn that the flatheads are a bunch of people who have no brains. There heads are as flat as a pancake. They keep all their brains in a can. The King and Queen of the flatheads had stolen brains from other people, so they could become smart enough to perform magic. They wanted to fish out of this lake at the bottom of the mountain that they lived on. Only the ruler of the skeezers the great Co-Eeh-Hoo wouldn't allow them to do that. So when the flathead rulers came to the lake the ruler of the skeezers turned the queen flathead into a bronze pig. Ozma and Dorothy decided they needed to pay a visit to this Co-Eeh-Hoo. Both the skeezers and flatheads were practicing magic illegally as well. When Dorothy and Ozma made it to the lake they discovered the home of the Skeezers was on an island in the middle of the lake. A boat was sent out to retrieve them. They met the great ruler of the Skeezers, who haughtily told them they were prisoners now. She did not care if Ozma ruled all of Oz. They were put in charge of the Lady Aurux who took them to her home and explained how Co-Eeh-Hoo had learned her magic. She had invited Three Adepts of Magic to her palace and after learning some magic from them turned them into fish and threw them into the lake. She then stole all their magical things. The next day the flatheads came down from the mountain to wage war. The first thing Co-Eeh-Hoo did was to submerge the island underwater so the flatheads could not attack the island. She then set out in boats with her soldiers to conquer the flatheads. The flathead king was rather clever though and had made a potion in a pot that would transform Co-Eeh-Hoo. He threw it on her and she turned into a swan. As soon as she was transformed she forgot all her magic and was only concerned with being a swan. That was not good because Co-Eeh-Hoo used magic to raise and lower the island, to send out boats and to extend the bridge. Dorothy and Ozma were trapped until help came and the men in boats were trapped outside of the island. Glinda though read all this in her great book of records and immediately called together a council. Everyone decided the best thing would be to go to there and try and rescue Ozma and Dorothy. Meanwhile the three adepts of magic acquired the help of a Skeezer to take them to a sorceress in the woods. By tricking her, he was able to get her to transform the adepts back into their rightful forms. When the adepts and the skeezer made it back Glinda and everyone were already there. It took some thinking but Scraps finally came up with a plan of draining the lake. Of course that would kill the fish but if they drained it enough to get to the dome, they would be able to cut a hole in it and lower themselves down with rope. This worked out perfect but no one knew any of the magic words. Glinda tried all kinds of things until Dorothy suggested it might be Co-Eeh-Hoo's name. Thy tested it out and sure enough each part of Co-Eeh-Hoo's name did something. They were able to raise the island and extend the bridge. Ozma appointed lady Aurux the new ruler of the Skeezer's. As for the flatheads, Glinda sewed their brains back into their heads so no one could steal each other's brains. The queen was transformed back and the rulers ruled but no longer with magic. Everyone went home safe and happy.
shanijeanius's review against another edition
4.0
Holy crap! It has a plot, and people have to WORK TOGETHER to solve a problem. I liked this one, even with some glaring inconsistencies, because it shows that Glinda/Ozma can't just wave a wand to fix any old problem. I think it's a little ludicrous that we have to load up about 15-20 people to ride to the other end of the country every time someone sneezes, so it was nice to see Dorothy and Ozma going off together for a bit. Lots of character growth for Ozma, and for the first time since Mombi, I think we see a couple of really wicked characters.
The only bad thing to me is that it basically has no strong ending, but bearing that it was published posthumously, I think I can understand why.
The only bad thing to me is that it basically has no strong ending, but bearing that it was published posthumously, I think I can understand why.
smcscot's review against another edition
4.0
Ah we've finally reached the last of the OZ books written by Frank Baum. Ruth Plumley Thompson picked up right where he left off (taking a few notes supposedly, though who knows if it was notes on the next book, or just on OZ in general), and I'm going to keep going with the series because i've had a lot of fun with it.
This was very obviously the last book that Baum wrote. He knew he was sick, and he brought everyone back together (which was a theme for the last few books, though he packed more of his beloved characters into this one, than the previous) for one last romp. This book was thought out much better, so the enjoyment was a bit higher than the previous book.
At this point we know how Baum writes, and we know about the characters, so it was worth it, it was a fun and exciting book, which introduced much more of the OZ land.
This was very obviously the last book that Baum wrote. He knew he was sick, and he brought everyone back together (which was a theme for the last few books, though he packed more of his beloved characters into this one, than the previous) for one last romp. This book was thought out much better, so the enjoyment was a bit higher than the previous book.
At this point we know how Baum writes, and we know about the characters, so it was worth it, it was a fun and exciting book, which introduced much more of the OZ land.
katekat's review against another edition
5.0
L. Frank Baum is an author I have read many times since I first discovered him in second grade. I find that his books stand up to the test of time and they are books that I enjoy re-reading. Some of them are stronger than others but as a whole I quite enjoy both the stories and characters.
rachela1eaf's review against another edition
4.0
This book had a tighter plot than many Oz books, which I found quite interesting. Rather than filling the book with many different unique concepts, Baum took one concept and explored it very well. I enjoyed the mechanical nature of the puzzle, and how the city was described. This book wasn't as funny as some of the others, but enjoyable nonetheless.