derekdavis31's review against another edition
5.0
This is a close match to my favorite Oz book, as written by Ruth Thompson. I really loved The Royal Book of Oz, and I loved Cowardly Lion of Oz nearly as much.
The characters I enjoyed the most in this story is the orphan Bob. For the first time, Thompson is tackling a serious issue for children, and it is the fact that some children are orphans. Notta the Clown serves as a wonderful father figure for Bob by sticking by him throughout their journey in this fantasy land I have grown to love way more than the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
I also found the antagonist Mustafa to be a rather fun character. His magical ability was interesting and made him to be a quirky enemy to Notta and Bob. The Cowardly Lion, of course, really stole the story, and for good reason. This book revolves around him and his quest to regain his courage, despite this plot line not showing up until about page 70 of the book.
What really hit me and took me out of the story were a couple of aspects, namely Ozma's orders to lose the heads of any of the Mudgers that attempted to leave the land of Mudge. At first, the imagery that comes across as bloody, but considering that nobody can die in this fantastical world, the Mudger would probably still be alive regardless of where their head is!
The other aspect of this story concerns the Cowardly Lion's quest to regain his courage. Basically, the Patchwork Girl tells the Cowardly Lion, "I should find a very brave person and eat him up. That ought to give you a big dose of courage." This implies the same fantastical element that if nobody can truly die in this world, some brave man would be living in the belly of the Lion. It certainly is an odd image to process, that's for sure.
Overall, I did very much enjoy this installment in the Oz series and will keep continuing on with this series!!
The characters I enjoyed the most in this story is the orphan Bob. For the first time, Thompson is tackling a serious issue for children, and it is the fact that some children are orphans. Notta the Clown serves as a wonderful father figure for Bob by sticking by him throughout their journey in this fantasy land I have grown to love way more than the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
I also found the antagonist Mustafa to be a rather fun character. His magical ability was interesting and made him to be a quirky enemy to Notta and Bob. The Cowardly Lion, of course, really stole the story, and for good reason. This book revolves around him and his quest to regain his courage, despite this plot line not showing up until about page 70 of the book.
What really hit me and took me out of the story were a couple of aspects, namely Ozma's orders to lose the heads of any of the Mudgers that attempted to leave the land of Mudge. At first, the imagery that comes across as bloody, but considering that nobody can die in this fantastical world, the Mudger would probably still be alive regardless of where their head is!
The other aspect of this story concerns the Cowardly Lion's quest to regain his courage. Basically, the Patchwork Girl tells the Cowardly Lion, "I should find a very brave person and eat him up. That ought to give you a big dose of courage." This implies the same fantastical element that if nobody can truly die in this world, some brave man would be living in the belly of the Lion. It certainly is an odd image to process, that's for sure.
Overall, I did very much enjoy this installment in the Oz series and will keep continuing on with this series!!
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