The Emerald City of Oz

The Emerald City of Oz
written by L. Frank Baum



This, in my opinion, was the last of the REALLY great, *must read* Oz books. The rest of them were cute, but nothing nearly as revolutionary. This book contains a really great tour of Oz, given to Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, who, awesomely enough, are now officially residents of the Land of Oz. I noted that (and this is found in all of the Oz books) many things are mentioned, places are visited, people are met, and none of them actually contribute to the plot. This is one of the best and the worst things about the books. It certainly provides all the charm and imagination, but also loses some great plot that could exist, and doesn't really. In this one, the plot could have been more focused on the Nome King and his invasion, but that ended up really rushed. The ingenious solution to end the invasion was great to read about, but ultimately, led to the end of "communication" with Dorothy & the gang. This won't be the last we hear of Oz, but it was indeed the last (minus a few VERY minor mentions) we did hear of Dorothy and many of the characters we have really grown to love. It was a clever way to end the series on Baum's part, but still a very bittersweet moment.

Rating: 4.5/5