You can either be a fairy or a queen

[vovat]

I know this is unlikely to interest anyone reading this, but nevertheless, I offer up reviews of four more of March Laumer's Oz books.


A Fairy Queen in Oz wasn't one of Laumer's best, but it did contain a few elements that I enjoyed. The discussion of the colors of Oz was interesting, for instance. One of the book's main problems was one that I've noticed with several of Laumer's works, and that's characters becoming aware of things before they should. This story takes place prior to Glinda of Oz, yet it includes Ozma visiting the Flatheads, whom she doesn't yet know about at the beginning of Glinda. It's also obvious that Laumer used a map of Oz without knowing what all of the places actually were. I think I remember hearing that he never read any of the official books beyond John R. Neill's, so that would explain why Kite Island isn't like the place visited in The Hidden Valley of Oz. On the other hand, he presumably HAD read all of Ruth Plumly Thompson's books, but he had apparently forgotten that Kuma Party was a person, not a place. Also, the idea of dead people and animals turning up to live in Oz is kind of weird, although I know Laumer wasn't unique in incorporating it into his work.


The Good Witch of Oz, on the other hand, IS one of the better Laumerian works that I've read. Not only is it free from some of the more annoying aspects of Laumer's other books, but March does a quite clever job at patching up many of the loose ends left by The Giant Horse of Oz. The story explains what happened to Cheeriobed's father, and why the Scarecrow is ruling the Munchkins at the time of the Neill books. Both Akbad and Princess Elma (from The Hungry Tiger of Oz) appear, and are able to redeem themselves. There's even an explanation for the name "Cheeriobed," which I know bethje has said sounds stupid. (According to this book, Cheeriobed himself agrees.) I think this one ranks up there with The Frogman of Oz in terms of quality.


The Vegetable Man of Oz features a bizarre but interesting mix of characters from mythology around the world. Baba Yaga shows up, as do some Japanese tengu. We also learn the fates of Trot's parents, and Buddy Ebsen and Judy Garland make brief appearances. Laumer was apparently fluent in several different languages (I know he spent a lot of his time in Sweden), and was sometimes a bit over-eager to introduce multilingual puns into his books, which he then had to spend a lot of time explaining. I did like the island of Aigues Streems, though. This was a good book overall, if somewhat confusing in parts, what with all the shifts in time and place.


The Umbrellas of Oz also features such changes, but there's a mention at the beginning of each chapter as to when it takes place, and sometimes what other chapter it follows. Hence, the device is much less confusing. It's also used to better effect, in that we see various pieces of the puzzle being revealed in both the present (such as it is) and the past. I think one of the best aspects of the story is how it presents a fairy tale in a traditional style, and then essentially turns it on its ear. One of the major recurring themes in Laumer's books seems to be that fairy tale romances might not always work out as well as the "happily ever after" endings would have you think. We also discover what happened to Button-Bright's Magic Umbrella, and more of the past of the Soldier with Green Whiskers. Speedy plays a part as well, and quite a bit of the tale takes place in Mo, which I had also been planning to feature in one of the many Oz stories I'm hoping to write someday. There's also a series of bird-related puns from the Soldier that actually works, unlike some less successful pun-runs in other apocryphal Oz books (the fish scene in A Viking in Oz comes to mind). On the negative side, the grown-up Button-Bright is still rather uninteresting, and Speedy's philosophical musing about how animals are better than humans comes out of nowhere and isn't in character. Overall, though, this is another good one.

Comments

[jenhime.livejournal.com]

I don't know anything about the Oz books, but I laughed when I saw your post title. I just saw that episode of The Simpsons yesterday. :)

[vovat.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes I think God is teasing me, just like he teased Moses in the desert."
"TESTED, Homer. God TESTED Moses. And try to be nice to my sisters! It's very hard on me to have you fighting all the time."
"Oh, okay, Marge. I'll get along with them. Then, I will hug some snakes. Yes! Then I will HUG and KISS some POISONOUS SNAKES! Now THAT'S sarcasm!"

[erinptah]

I care!

Although I've only read and/or listened to through Baum's second last book. (Audiobooks are love.)

I've been waffling over whether or not to go on past the Baum Oz books, but it sounds like these, at least, are intriguing.

You could come hang out at thelostoz; there's at least one person besides me watching =)

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I'd say to at least try the Thompson books. I've heard that people are less likely to enjoy them if they didn't read them when they were kids. Since you seem to be fairly new to the entire Oz phenomenon, though, you might appreciate them more than someone who had read Baum as a kid and then started with the other authors years later. I don't actually know how old you are, but I'm guessing you're considerably older than 11, which was how old I was when I read my first Thompson book. It was Cowardly Lion (widely acknowledged to be one of her worst, incidentally), and it was actually the fourth Oz book I read.

[erinptah]

I can see nostalgia helping.

My Oz history runs as follows: As a kid, I got into an old (as in, 1900s) family copy of Dorothy and the Wizard, then hunted down a whole bunch of Oz books at the library. I didn't know there were any by other authors, but I read all the Baum books they had (which went through Tik-Tok).

A few months ago I went looking for more Oz information online, and found audiobook versions of Baum's later books, so I started downloading. The first two after Tik-Tok (Scarecrow and Rinkitink) didn't thrill, but Lost Princess was amazing enough to make up for it, and prove that at least some of the books are good without the help of a nostalgic gloss.

I've been waffling on whether to try the RPT books because (a) I don't think they'll be as good, especially without the nostalgia, and (b) I don't want my sense of Baum's Oz being overwritten or undermined by RPT's version.

Now that I've bored you with my life story (I'm 18, for the record), does your advice change?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

It's weird, because I get the idea that the Thompson books were immediately accepted as "official" by most readers around when they first came out, but this status seems to have become more controversial since then. I get the impression that what I call the Cult of the Original Author has become more important in (somewhat) recent years. Add to this the fact that the Thompson books were out of print for some time, so a lot of readers probably didn't even know they existed. Perhaps these two factors worked in tandem, with publishers saying, "Who would want to read these? They're not the ORIGINAL Oz books!"

Even before I started reading the Oz series, I was aware that more than one author was involved, and I had no problem with this. I don't really think Thompson's books overwrite Baum's, at least in my mind. When I think of Oz, it includes characters, places, and events from both Baum and Thompson, as well as other authors. Thompson doesn't really change that much about Oz; she just adds a lot of her own touches to it. I've actually seen people complain that she didn't make ENOUGH changes to Oz, instead making an effort to maintain the status quo. I think she was just following Baum in this respect, though. After Emerald City, Baum introduced new characters and settings, but didn't make any significant changes to Oz itself or its established characters.

Anyway, I guess my advice is still the same, but I would understand it if you didn't enjoy the Thompson books. I'd say they're worth reading if only to see her solutions to mysteries that Baum left behind. Among other things, she details Ojo's past, and locates Ozma's father. Whether you'd LIKE her solutions is a different matter, but I think it's a good idea to at least find out what they are.

[erinptah]

I'm one of those picky folks who would be in the Cult of the Original Author ^_^;

If the books are good, and they solve Baum's mysteries, and I like them, I might accept the whole Famous Forty; but I'd go into them with the mindset that they're basically published fanfiction. I don't think I can shake that, although your recommendation helps.

And I'm going to read them now, rather than dismiss them outright =)

[vovat.livejournal.com]

but I'd go into them with the mindset that they're basically published fanfiction.

Well, more or less. I guess the main difference is that the term "fanfiction" usually implies non-professional writing. Also, it was the publishers who approached Thompson to try to get her to continue Baum's series, rather than the other way 'round. I think the first official Oz author to get the Royal Historian job under his own efforts was Jack Snow.

With Oz, I tend to be someone who wants to accept just about anything reasonable as valid. I think the fact that more than one author is accepted by a lot of fans makes it easier to accept more recent and less official fanfic. Part of it is also that I like to see Oz as a place with a continuing history, which is somewhat difficult if you believe no real news has been received from there since 1919. I'm not that way with some other series, though. Oz has always kind of been a special case for me, I guess.

[shadarko.livejournal.com]

of course I care, but that's a given. to not ruin things to much for me, what was the explaination of what happened to Button Bright's umbrella?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

In an attempt to avoid spoilers, I'll say just that it was stolen when Button-Bright visited Mo. The boy then ran into the Soldier with Green Whiskers, who was also carrying a magical umbrella (the one that originally belonged to the Wicked Witch of the West, in fact), who later unknowingly met up with the thief and accidentally switched the umbrellas. There's a lot more to it than that (some of it involving the Soldier's first wife), but that's the basic gist.

[l8erngr8er.livejournal.com]

Ah, Cheeriobed.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know nothing about Oz, I mean nothing that the average children librarian doesn't know, but I still skimmed OVER your reviews, and actually found the third one to be a very entertaining review even not knowing what you're talking about, so it all works out.

[yosef.livejournal.com]

I'm interested! Some day I'll get back to reading more Oz again, and I'll be relying on you to guide me to the best books.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I'd be glad to help out. I've read a lot of them, after all.