Quickly transported by Glinda the Good to the barren dominions of the Nome King, the company eventually meets up with some other travelers, in the form of shipwrecked Oklahoma girl Betsy Bobbin and Hank the mule, Ozga the dispossessed Rose Princess, the Shaggy Man, and Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter. Queen Ann Soforth of Oogaboo, a remote corner of the Land of Oz, sets out with her army of eighteen to conquer the world in this eighth Oz novel from L. Which, I guess, explains some of the continuity errors, the Shaggy Man breaking out into song in the middle of the book, and why the book at times seems like it was written by somebody else. Update: I did some research and found that Tik-Tok of Oz is based on a play called The Tik-Tok Man of Oz. I still like it, it just seemed a bit 'one of these things is not like the other'-ish. What I mostly noticed is that the tone of this book seems very different than other Oz books. He even remembers Polychrome, although he doesn't remember that he's never met her. And the Nome King remembers everything about his encounters with Oz but can't remember his real name. There are some glaring inconsistencies-for instance, Polychrome and the Shaggy Man not only met in Road to Oz but spent most of the book in each other's company, yet neither seems to know the other in this book, the Love Magnet works differently than in Road to Oz, and for a land that's been cut off, it's remarkably easy for the inhabitants of Oz to get out to where ever the the bulk of the story takes place. I don't know, but as I read this, I wondered whether this book was originally a non Oz book that was reworked to be fit into the Oz series. (For one example, Dorothy and Billina shipwrecked back in book #3, just like Betsy and Hank were in this one.) I liked the puns (Queen Ann Soforth) and the alliteration in every chapter title ('Tik-Tok Tackles a Tough Task'), but, I'm afraid, little else.įor more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves. More so than the others, this book seemed to be a rehash and thrown-together bit of a bunch of stories.

Glinda was in the *south*, not the north.Ī little consistency! Is that too much to ask?!

And your mental map of Oz is completely screwed up. If Ozma has the Nome King's Magic Belt, she doesn't need the Wizard to transport people anywhere - she can do it herself. Really? Don't you remember that Shaggy and Polychrome met each other and traveled together three books ago? Or that the Love Magnet doesn't need to be seen to work? And why on earth did you change the Nome King's name from Roquat to Ruggedo? Even my 9-year-old remembered that Ozma had told him his name after he drank from the Waters of Oblivion before she sent him back home through the tunnel.

Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum