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A review by lejoy
The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum
3.0
This book was clearly written to be the final in the Oz series. It very much isn't, so I guess Baum went through a similar thing to Doyle.
Anyway, at first I was shocked and excited to discover A PLOT. It was like Baum was answering all my wishes (complaints) from the previous instalment (or two). First of all we revisit an old antagonist, the Nome King from Ozma of Oz, who wants revenge on Ozma and Dorothy. Then we learn that Uncle Henry can't afford the mortgage on the farm in Kansas due to the costly events from the first and third books. Already this is tonnes more depth and story than any of the previous Oz books. I was overjoyed.
Dorothy asks Ozma if she and Uncle Henry and Aunt Em (and Toto) can live in Oz instead, while the Nomes start gathering evil allies to help them defeat the people of Oz.
And then the plot peters out and you're back in familiar dull territory. Dorothy spends the rest of the novel travelling around Oz with her guardians and some random established Oz characters that I'm pretty sure Baum chose out of a hat. Many of the villages they visit are just an excuse for some puns or satire about the type of people Baum finds annoying. That's it. Total surface level stuff. EVENTUALLY Dorothy and co learn about their impending doom, but that gets sorted out so easily, using something that is just made up right at the end, that it is an infuriating way to write a story. A simple solution is fine if it is set up, but if you just make stuff up in the final chapter that's... cheating. It's certainly lazy.
And that's that, Ozma wants to cut the land of Oz off from the rest of the world so that Baum doesn't have to write about it any more. Oh, and the Wizard can do ACTUAL magic now which is much less interesting than him being a humbug. Also, Toto is a murderer but whatever. Glinda remains terrifyingly all-powerful.
Although the plots often contradict this, Oz is a utopia of pacificism, communism and vegetarianism and everyone is immortal. May they all live happily ever after. Until Book 7 that definitely exists anyway.
Anyway, at first I was shocked and excited to discover A PLOT. It was like Baum was answering all my wishes (complaints) from the previous instalment (or two). First of all we revisit an old antagonist, the Nome King from Ozma of Oz, who wants revenge on Ozma and Dorothy. Then we learn that Uncle Henry can't afford the mortgage on the farm in Kansas due to the costly events from the first and third books. Already this is tonnes more depth and story than any of the previous Oz books. I was overjoyed.
Dorothy asks Ozma if she and Uncle Henry and Aunt Em (and Toto) can live in Oz instead, while the Nomes start gathering evil allies to help them defeat the people of Oz.
And then the plot peters out and you're back in familiar dull territory. Dorothy spends the rest of the novel travelling around Oz with her guardians and some random established Oz characters that I'm pretty sure Baum chose out of a hat. Many of the villages they visit are just an excuse for some puns or satire about the type of people Baum finds annoying. That's it. Total surface level stuff. EVENTUALLY Dorothy and co learn about their impending doom, but that gets sorted out so easily, using something that is just made up right at the end, that it is an infuriating way to write a story. A simple solution is fine if it is set up, but if you just make stuff up in the final chapter that's... cheating. It's certainly lazy.
And that's that, Ozma wants to cut the land of Oz off from the rest of the world so that Baum doesn't have to write about it any more. Oh, and the Wizard can do ACTUAL magic now which is much less interesting than him being a humbug. Also, Toto is a murderer but whatever. Glinda remains terrifyingly all-powerful.
Although the plots often contradict this, Oz is a utopia of pacificism, communism and vegetarianism and everyone is immortal. May they all live happily ever after. Until Book 7 that definitely exists anyway.