My Latest Oz Readings

I'm still clearing out the backlog of Oz things I have read recently. Today, it's new Oz fiction.

• 20,000 Leagues Under Oz by Marin Elizabeth Xiques and Chris Dulabone tells the tale of the town of Ciudad del Niño, New Mexico, which was transplanted to Oz in an earlier book. The citizens of the town are getting used to their new home and all that living in Oz entails. More importantly, Paxton the pig decides he wants to go out and have adventures on the high seas. Eventually, he is allowed to join Captain Samuel Salt and his crew on a voyage on the Crescent Moon, where they eventually meet up with King Anko, Queen Aquareine, and the Sea Fairies. It's not a terribly deep book, but it is a lot of fun.
• The End of Oz by Danielle Paige. This is the final novel in the "Dorothy Must Die" series, and boy, does it end with a bang! Amy is now in Ev, where Dorothy is hiding out with the Nome King. Eventually, the Nome King persuades Dorothy to marry him so that they can jointly rule over both Oz and Ev. But even this hardened, selfish, bitter version of Dorothy doesn't entirely trust the Nome King, and thanks to some timely intervention from Amy, she finds a way to not only defeat the Nome King, but also redeems herself, giving her younger self the opportunity to become a better person. But she does alter Ozian history, so it will be interesting to see what happens in the prequel novellas. Something else that makes this book interesting is that many chapters are told from Dorothy's point of view. Before, we saw events unfold only through Amy's viewpoint, but that was not possible here, so Dorothy became a secondary viewpoint character. It made for an interesting tonal shift, and experiencing her point of view was a neat twist.