Tag: adventure

Last book, I said that it was a good stopping point for the series. After reading the seventh book, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, I completely stand by that. The opening book even included a stupid reason as to how our “Historian” was able to reach our friend Dorothy: telegraph waves that somehow got to Oz. I wish I was joking, but Baum is honestly lucky that these books are for children and that I’m already dedicated to reading all of these books.

New characters were introduced that really never went anywhere. They could have been interesting but the focus when back to Dorothy and Ozma. There was a fun adventure that was wrapped up way too quickly. It was your basic fetch quest mission trying to get items where getting one took half the book while everything else was lost. Also, I have the feeling that everyone decided to forget the all-powerful Glinda the Good. Everything could have been solved easily with less effort and travel.

In this book, we have journeyed back to Narnia in order to save the world yet again. We learn that the year spent on Earth for our four siblings equals hundreds, if not thousands of years, in Narnia. Supernatural world follows supernatural timelines. As you have probably seen from my reviews of the Oz series, I’m usually all for this. Except for this time, it was not worth it.

In this book, the characters spent the majority of the time sitting around and talking. Adventure is usually what these books shout out as their main appeal: explore this supernatural world. I was more than halfway through the book before the characters even traveled across the land. They listened to a story for a good amount of time. They argued about what direction they were going in when they finally did actually get moving. There was really nothing of substance happening in the story. It felt like that author was trying to either capture the magic of the previous book or do some really bad foreshadowing or the next book, but I’m leaning toward the former. I hope the next book is something worth reading.

I have read the sixth, and what probably should have been the final, book of the Oz series. Everything was wrapped up cleanly, and there really didn’t need to be anything more. The perfect thing happened: Uncle Henry and Aunt Em finally believe Dorothy and do not think she is telling stories or incapable of understanding reality, respectively. Also, having adults argue with chickens on chick-rearing was never something I ever expected to read.
Again, in the Oz fashion, we are on an exploration around the fairylands that Oz also inhabits and meet the many different creatures. This was more interesting than the previous book since we saw how these creatures interacted within the bigger narrative within the world rather than just showing up. Also, there is a bit of action that I can not tell without spoiling a large portion of the book, but it does help with the overall world-building. Overall, this was a cute book.

My next foray into reading series that I should have gotten around to during my childhood is The Chronicles of Narnia. Now, Before reading this, I struggled in deciding in which order I should have read this series. After much deliberation and crying over making the wrong decision, I decided to read this series in publication order. You might be mad, but I do have my reasons for doing so at this time, which I may explain once I’m done. Because of that, the first book I’m reading is The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

The first time I read this book was because the movie was coming out. I had an ongoing deal with my mother to read a book before watching the associated film. Then, I didn’t really get the book’s allegorical nature. Still, even rereading it, I would not have noticed had I not known beforehand. Sometimes allegory can be heavy-handed, but in this book, it’s really subtle. Aslan is an allegory for Jesus for those not in the know, and I’ll let you go from there.

From what I remember of the movie, it was pretty accurate the writing. There wasn’t an epic battle scene, though. Also, the girls weren’t allowed to fight because, according to Santa, women just ruin battle. Thanks, Santa; the misogyny was very much needed. (All the sarcasm implied.)

I have finally come up with the perfect archetype for who Dorothy Gale is. She is the type of child who will walk to an unmarked white van and ask for candy. I know this is supposed to be fiction, but you have to teach “Stranger Danger” at some point. Uncle Henry and Auntie Em need to lock her in her room.

I would say that this is the worst book of the series. It honestly feels that Baum only wrote this for the child fans. The last section of the book is literally just a list of the people who showed up at a birthday party. I felt myself going to sleep through my reading because nothing interesting happened. They would show up in a new country, get asked for an invitation to the party before continuing on their way. Also, Shaggy Man is such an imaginative name.

Here’s to the next book is something worth reading.