Reviews

The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum

iamericat22's review against another edition

4.0

Wow. What an ending. You could tell he was tired of writing Oz stories at this point. Poor guy.

aamccartan's review against another edition

4.0

This is basically the first one of these that had a plot! Great fun.

roshk99's review against another edition

2.0

Most annoyingly repetitive and lack of new plot from the million other books he wrote

mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition

4.0

I'd slowed down reading Oz. Each book was worse than the previous one. And this one I first checked out from the library, months ago, renewing it 18 times without reading it. So it was with great surprise that when I finally picked it up to read it I found it not bad.

Actually some of the writing was quite clever and witty with even a bit of satire. And a plot. And good guys and bad guys.

Sure it was still a travelogue of silly ideas that others eventually covered - shrinking girls, dancing spoons - but it was a heck of a lot earlier.

Call it 3.5 of 5 - it's still not high art.

tiffanyclarissa's review against another edition

4.0

This book was okay. Not the best one. The adventure wasn't too exciting but the creativity was good. It was another adventure through other parts of Oz not previously mentioned and then leading to another battle at the end where the Nome King wants the magic belt back. I love the idea of the Forbidden Fountain. I kind of wish we had one of those in this world.

"Foolish fears, and worries over nothing, with a mixture of nerves and ifs, will soon make a Flutterbudget of any one." I guess if I could be any character in Oz, so far, it would be the Futterbudgets.

jmbz38's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

autumnamu's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

chandranolynne's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This is my lowest rated Oz book so far. I liked the premise initially because for the first time we were introduced to real conflict in Oz. I spent basically 80% of the book thinking we were gearing up for war, and I was excited! But the ending was underwhelming to say the least. I get that these are children's stories and Baum tries to keep everything light and fluffy, but at least when danger has reared its head before, Baum has come up with a clever way to avoid characters getting eating alive or having their heads chopped off. This time things just kind of... came to an end. I don't know. I feel like he kind of phones it in and it's starting to show that he doesn't want to be writing these books at this point. I guess we'll see it goes.... Six down, only eight more to go. Lol!

tazmeen_kasim's review against another edition

3.0

Good! I read it a long time ago but I still remember the plotline. This is how it went.

Dorothy decided to take her uncle and aunt to the land of Oz. Finally

couldyounot's review against another edition

adventurous

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

It's kinda racist/classist in some parts, but it was a kinda fun read, I guess

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism and Racism