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blakemp's review against another edition
4.0
Not bad. This was Ruth Plumly Thompson's second Oz book after the death of creator L. Frank Baum, and the first under her own name. A birthday party disaster in the kingdom of Pumperdink sends the prince on a quest to find -- and Marry -- Princess Ozma. At the same time, Ruggedo the Nome King is planning his latest assault of the people of Oz. Like most of the books, this story introduces several new characters to the Oz lore, and some of them are fairly charming (although Peg Amy kind of loses what makes her so at the end of the book). I am happy to see that the book actually has a pretty strong storyline. Several seemingly unrelated plot threads actually converge and connect at the end, which is actually rare for the Oz books. It's well thought-out. Not a masterpiece, but pretty good.
blackmetalblackheart's review against another edition
3.0
Light years better than the Royal Book of Oz, Thompson has started to get the feel for Baum's incredible world. The new characters are diverse and interesting, and the overall story was good. It still does not have the elegant pace of the original Oz books, but it gives me a lot of hope for the rest of her works.
derekdavis31's review against another edition
4.0
This was such a delightful entry in the Oz series!! As usual, new characters are introduced in the book: of course, we have the Elegant Elephant, Kabumpo. We are also introduced to Peg Amy, and Wag the Rabbit, among others. Dorothy, Ozma, Glinda, as well as other past characters from previous books are all back.
This is the second book written by Ms. Thompson that I have read, and so far, her story telling is not disappointing at all. She really has captured the essence of what Baum originally had created, and it shows straight from the first page to the last page. I am looking forward to reading the next entry in the series!
This is the second book written by Ms. Thompson that I have read, and so far, her story telling is not disappointing at all. She really has captured the essence of what Baum originally had created, and it shows straight from the first page to the last page. I am looking forward to reading the next entry in the series!
smcscot's review against another edition
2.0
Miss Thompson did an amazing thing in the Royal Book of Oz. She took a known and beloved world and character list and transposed it into something new and strange and interesting. In this book she looses that momentum, by sliding back into old tropes. In Fact she only has one new and exciting portion in this book, that that is in the land of Illume, with the candle people. Thompson's strength is in the surreal, and unfortunately in this book she relied far too heavily on the old OZ feel. That could have come from publisher pressure, reader pressure, or just the fact that the Royal Book of OZ was a one off and this is how she plans on proceeding. I really hope it's one of the two previous reasons.
This book introduces a bevy of new characters and a new land, not previously in any of the OZ books. We are also introduced to a new anthropomorphized character in the Elegant Elephant, Kabumpo. Kabumpo himself is a fun character and the quest that he and Pompa go on is interesting, but Thompson uses the same basic outline to the quest as so many of the previous OZ books had. It's a fun quest, where the characters have a lot of confidence, then it becomes overwhelming, then Glinda and Ozma get involved and resolve it for the main characters. Thompson tries to infuse this standard plot with newness by word play (for example the land of candles is Illume Nation), but she uses SO much of it, that it just becomes obnoxious. I'm going to keep on with the series, because I always believe there will be one offs (maybe multiple of them), but I really hope that she goes back to what she did in The Royal Book.
This book introduces a bevy of new characters and a new land, not previously in any of the OZ books. We are also introduced to a new anthropomorphized character in the Elegant Elephant, Kabumpo. Kabumpo himself is a fun character and the quest that he and Pompa go on is interesting, but Thompson uses the same basic outline to the quest as so many of the previous OZ books had. It's a fun quest, where the characters have a lot of confidence, then it becomes overwhelming, then Glinda and Ozma get involved and resolve it for the main characters. Thompson tries to infuse this standard plot with newness by word play (for example the land of candles is Illume Nation), but she uses SO much of it, that it just becomes obnoxious. I'm going to keep on with the series, because I always believe there will be one offs (maybe multiple of them), but I really hope that she goes back to what she did in The Royal Book.
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