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Review: Ozland by Wendy Spinale

Ozland by Wendy SpinaleOzland
Wendy Spinale
Scholastic Press
Published on April 24, 2018

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About Ozland
With Everland and Umberland both destroyed, the survivors have taken refuge in a small village tucked within the shadows of the Bloodred Queen’s castle. Doc has found an actual cure for the Horologia virus, while Gwen, Pete, and Alyssa begin plotting the assassination of the queen with the help of Gail, an excellent huntress. But killing the queen won’t be enough. The world has been destroyed and its needs a ruler to set things right again. A ruler who is good, kind, and fair. Someone like the former king of Germany. But he’s dead … or is he?

There’s a rumor that the king has been hidden away in a secret land, where only the worthiest can find him. Desperate to end the war, a plan is hatched that could put everything right again, only before it’s set in motion, the village is burned to the ground, all survivors taken prisoner to the castle. Except Gail.

But is one girl enough to find a long-dead king, kill the wicked queen, and save the world?

My Review
Out of all three books in the series, I felt like this book is the furthest from any kind of retelling or story inspired by another tale (The Wizard of Oz in this case). I still enjoyed finding out what happened to characters from earlier books like the Lost Boys, Gwen, Lily, Alyssa and Maddox, as well as meeting some new characters, like Gail, the huntress and Ginger, the warrior.

There were moments where I would think, ah, that’s an element from The Wizard of Oz. Ginger seemed a little bit like a Glinda the Good type of character, for instance. But for the most part, Ozland picks up where Umberland leaves off and sets up a huge battle against the Red Queen, hoping to find a way to free the world from her tyranny.

I think of all the books in the series, Everland is still my favorite. I liked the younger characters with their pithy lines and comedic relief. Ozland is a bit darker and much more serious. The romantic entanglements are already well-established, so there’s no new tension in that arena. I still enjoyed reading it – but mainly because I wanted to see how the author would use The Wizard of Oz in this dystopian story world and because I wanted to know what happened to Pete and Gwen and the others.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white (English or German). Lily is Indian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Flying hybrid monkey-slash-machines attack Gail and her allies. Soldiers whip Doc and Lily. One scene describes a character being burned with acid, others being shot and stabbed in detail.

Drug Content
None.

Review: Umberland by Wendy Spinale

Umberland
Wendy Spinale
Scholastic Press
Published on May 9, 2017

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About Umberland
They’re dreadfully fond of beheading people here…

Gwen, Pete, and the others have escaped from Everland. Except the safe haven they hoped to find at Alnwick Castle doesn’t exist. With the Queen of England on her deathbed, Duchess Alyssa has stepped in, but things have gotten worse as the cure Doc created for the Horologia virus has mutated into something even more deadly. The only possible solution he can think of is to go back to the virus’s origin: an extinct poisonous apple.

Legend has it, though, that a tree bearing the apple might be found at the center of an impossible labyrinth hidden deep within Germany. A place no one in their right mind enters. With no other options, Alyssa sets out with only her sword, her wits, and the help of Maddox Hadder, a wild boy who oversees the castle gardens. To get to the center of the maze, she’ll be forced to battle monsters more terrifying than her darkest nightmares.

But can anyone truly survive the madness of the maze? And what if there’s no apple to be found there?

My Review
I’m loving this series so far. I think I was pretty primed to like Maddox Hadder – something about that whole dark and misunderstood boy with a terribly tragic past tends to be irresistible to me – and I really did like him a lot. I think I expected there to be more of a sort of madness about him though? I think that was the only thing I felt was missing about Umberland. The Labrynth was a scary place for sure, but apart from a specific scene, there really wasn’t much of a madness element to it. I think I wanted more of that Wonderland flavor.

Even without that, though, I liked the new characters introduced in the story. And I liked that it carries forward the stories of Jack and Hook as well as Gwen and the Lost Boys. Cat, the heir to the English throne and sort of Cheshire Cat type of character, added a lot of depth to the story with her own plot to save Umberland through a very dangerous alliance.

I think Everland is still my favorite of these two books, but I enjoyed this one a lot, too. The story in Umberland didn’t feel like quite as much of a retelling of Alice in Wonderland as Everland did of Peter Pan. Lots of things were different. And there were also some Snow White-like elements mixed in with the poison apple and wicked queen. All in all, though, I’m glad I read it, and this seems like a fun series for readers looking for dystopian or fairytale mashups.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white. Lily is Indian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Some situations of peril. Lizard -like people attack the castle where Pete and the others have taken shelter. A gunshot kills one boy. Alyssa and Maddox fight a huge machine.

Drug Content
Maddox and Cat host huge, indulgent parties each night in their garden. Guests with advanced-stage disease consume drugs and alcohol and end their lives at the close of the party. Maddox makes some vague references to sampling opium tea in the past.

Review: Everland by Wendy Spinale

Everland
Wendy Spinale
Scholastic Press
Published on May 10, 2016

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About Everland
The only way to grow up is to survive.

London has been destroyed in a blitz of bombs and disease. The only ones who have survived the destruction and the outbreak of a deadly virus are children, among them sixteen-year-old Gwen Darling and her younger siblings, Joanna and Mikey. They spend their nights scavenging and their days avoiding the deadly Marauders—the German army led by the cutthroat Captain Hanz Otto Oswald Kretschmer.

Unsure if the virus has spread past England’s borders but desperate to leave, Captain Hook is on the hunt for a cure, which he thinks can be found in one of the surviving children. He and his Marauders stalk the streets snatching children for experimentation. None ever return.

Until one day when they grab Joanna. Gwen will stop at nothing to get her sister back, but as she sets out, she crosses paths with a daredevil named Pete. Pete offers the assistance of his gang of Lost Boys and the fierce sharpshooter Bella, who have all been living in a city hidden underground. But in a place where help has a steep price and every promise is bound by blood, it might cost Gwen more than she bargained for. And are Gwen, Pete, the Lost Boys, and Bella enough to outsmart the ruthless Captain Hook?

My Review
If I had to summarize my thoughts on this book into one word, it would be: clever. I’ve been curious about Everland for a long time but worried that a post-apocalyptic Peter Pan would be weird or cheesy or something. It wasn’t! I loved the way Spinale used elements from the original story in new ways. Remnants of a German army who call themselves Marauders as the pirates in the story. Children who’ve escaped the warfare to live underground and who call themselves Lost Boys. The lack of girls and adults among the survivors explained by the fact that the disease which killed so much of the population targets females and grown-ups.

The plot moves quickly, and danger lurks around every turn. Once I started reading this book, I couldn’t stop. If I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about the story and wondering what would happen next! Bella was probably my favorite character. She’s smart and bold and frank. A bit capricious, as you’d expect, but since she’s a twelve-year-old girl, it’s hard to dislike her.

I loved the steampunk elements of the story, too. The zeppelins and steam trains and Bella’s metal wings. So many cool details made Everland a sharply memorable book. If you liked the Lunar Chronicles (like Cinder) or Spindle Fire by Alexa Hillyer (though Everland is not as dark), you need Everland on your reading list.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Main characters are white. Hook is German. Gwen and the others are English.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A couple of lines like so-and-so let loose a string of profanity. No actual profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Vague reference to the fact that if Gwen is the last girl, she might be in danger of being assaulted. It’s super vague and no real danger happens on that topic. At one point boys snicker a bit about her joining their group and she comments that she doesn’t even want to know what they’re thinking. One brief kiss between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Hook recalls a childhood memory: he offered his mother an apple, not knowing it was poisoned. She retaliates by destroying his eye. He brands a boy with hot metal. Some brief violence in fights involving knives and gunshots. In one scene, a boy gets attacked by crocodiles. It happens quickly, and the crocs drag him away. At one point, a girl cuts off a boy’s hand and throws it to crocodiles.

Drug Content
Hook drinks from a bottle of rum. Lost Boys drink what appears to be beer.