I'm totally lost, as you can see
Aug. 30th, 2004 03:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatJust today, I finished reading Harry E. Mongold's Button-Bright of Oz. It was a pretty good book.
In the story, Trickolas Om, an evil magician who had previously appeared in painted form in John R. Neill's Lucky Bucky in Oz, tricks Button-Bright into searching for a magical platinum mirror. As is typical for him, Button-Bright ends up getting lost. He teams up with the newborn Needlepin Prince Plop; and Packer, an ivory collector and self-appointed "first-rate worrier." Packer's pessimism makes a nice contrast to Button-Bright's cheerful, optimistic attitude. The contrast becomes less pronounced as the story goes on, and, towards the end, Packer's complaints start to seem kind of forced. Still, Mongold does a good job at keeping everybody in character, as he also does with the already established celebrities of Oz. Mongold's take on Trickolas Om is a good expansion on the character we meet briefly in Lucky Bucky, with his laughing trickster attitude retained, and the added trait of using candy in his magic.
There are several interesting magical items in the book, which is always a nice touch in an Oz story. The magic mirror has some interesting properties, and we also see a foghorn that produces fog, and some new tricks from the Wizard of Oz. The characters also visit some clever new locations, like a rotating forest and a garden inhabited by both plant and mathematical roots (the latter seeming somewhat like something out of The Phantom Tollbooth).
I have to wonder when this story takes place. The Royal Timeline of Oz places it in 1979, the same year it was originally published. A lot of the characters don't seem to be familiar with Trickolas yet, though, and Lucky Bucky says he used to be the second biggest menace in Oz after Mombi, or something like that. If that's the case, surely the celebrities of Oz would recognize him, and not let him run a candy shop within the Emerald City itself. Trickolas himself says that the Wizard "doesn't know good old Trickolas," while the Wizard is quite familiar with the villain's tricks in Neill's book. On the other hand, there are a few hints that people DO know who Trickolas is, so I don't know. If it does take place before Lucky Bucky, it must not take place that long before, since Number Nine is working for the Wizard, and he doesn't start doing that until after the events of The Wonder City of Oz.
When I received the book, I was told to pass it on to anyone else who might want to read it, so, if you're interested in it, let me know. I probably won't send it out for a week or so, though, since I still want to make some notes on it.
In the story, Trickolas Om, an evil magician who had previously appeared in painted form in John R. Neill's Lucky Bucky in Oz, tricks Button-Bright into searching for a magical platinum mirror. As is typical for him, Button-Bright ends up getting lost. He teams up with the newborn Needlepin Prince Plop; and Packer, an ivory collector and self-appointed "first-rate worrier." Packer's pessimism makes a nice contrast to Button-Bright's cheerful, optimistic attitude. The contrast becomes less pronounced as the story goes on, and, towards the end, Packer's complaints start to seem kind of forced. Still, Mongold does a good job at keeping everybody in character, as he also does with the already established celebrities of Oz. Mongold's take on Trickolas Om is a good expansion on the character we meet briefly in Lucky Bucky, with his laughing trickster attitude retained, and the added trait of using candy in his magic.
There are several interesting magical items in the book, which is always a nice touch in an Oz story. The magic mirror has some interesting properties, and we also see a foghorn that produces fog, and some new tricks from the Wizard of Oz. The characters also visit some clever new locations, like a rotating forest and a garden inhabited by both plant and mathematical roots (the latter seeming somewhat like something out of The Phantom Tollbooth).
I have to wonder when this story takes place. The Royal Timeline of Oz places it in 1979, the same year it was originally published. A lot of the characters don't seem to be familiar with Trickolas yet, though, and Lucky Bucky says he used to be the second biggest menace in Oz after Mombi, or something like that. If that's the case, surely the celebrities of Oz would recognize him, and not let him run a candy shop within the Emerald City itself. Trickolas himself says that the Wizard "doesn't know good old Trickolas," while the Wizard is quite familiar with the villain's tricks in Neill's book. On the other hand, there are a few hints that people DO know who Trickolas is, so I don't know. If it does take place before Lucky Bucky, it must not take place that long before, since Number Nine is working for the Wizard, and he doesn't start doing that until after the events of The Wonder City of Oz.
When I received the book, I was told to pass it on to anyone else who might want to read it, so, if you're interested in it, let me know. I probably won't send it out for a week or so, though, since I still want to make some notes on it.
