Roo's Reaction Reviews: Polychrome (Part 4)
Last time on Roo's Reaction Reviews, a year passed in two chapters, fairies everywhere tuned in to The Erik Show, there was a fire-picture and a mountain made out of solid clouds, and I re-named the prophecy "the AMPTGOL" (an acronym for "All-Mighty Prophecy That Governs Our Lives") and talked at length about various types of "training of the hero" scenes in fantasy works.
Now, let's dig into chapter's 19-24 of Ryk E. Spoor's novel Polychrome and see what's in store for our asthmatic protagonist!
CHAPTER NINETEEN
At last, the time has come for Erik to go out on his mission! Everyone in the Rainbow Kingdom has gathered to see him off, and when Polychrome appears she gets a huge cheer, causing her to briefly muse on how she doesn't know why she's more popular than her sisters.
Well, Poly, going by this book, I'd say it's because you're the only actual character. Seriously, her sisters don't even appear on-page -- which was fine in Baum's books, because none of them took place in the Rainbow Kingdom and Polychrome was always either stranded on the ground or having just gone off on her own for a while. This book has largely taken place in the Rainbow Kingdom, and we haven't seen one sister.
Which is a bit of a disappointment, really; all we know about Polychrome's sisters from Baum is what she says about them in The Tin Woodman of Oz: "My sisters are so sweet and lovely and proper that they never dance off our Rainbow, and so they never have any adventures." We do know that Polychrome is the wild card among the daughters of the rainbow; more than once she's described as the sweetest and merriest of them, but also the most impish and reckless; the one who gets up to all sorts of wild and crazy things. Hence she gets into much more trouble, but also (it's hinted) has a lot more fun.
It would have been interesting to meet her sisters and see how they relate to her, maybe get to know them a little. I don't suppose that'll come up later in the book?
(Appropos of this: Back in the first chapter-batch, I noted how Polychrome is mentioned as the oldest daughter of the Rainbow in this book, while I was fairly certain that the Oz books named her the youngest. Certainly she seems to be accepted by the fanbase as the youngest.... but, never one to resist checking these things, I briefly went through the four books Polychrome appears in -- The Road to Oz, Sky Island, Tik-Tok of Oz and The Tin Woodman of Oz -- and it seems I was in error here, because Polychrome is never mentioned as oldest or youngest; she's just "the Rainbow's Daughter." So, I suppose she could be the oldest.)
Anyway, back to the chapter.
The Little Pink Bear is there too; I did wonder what happened to him! He's just there to see Erik off and say some prophet things about how he can't tell how the journey ends, but at least he got a cameo.
Polychrome is of course there to take Erik to the ground... Okay, prediction: Something's going to happen so that she has to stay with him and go along on the journey anyway. This is partly wishful thinking from my behalf, mind, because even if I could take or leave the awkwardness between her and Erik, I still hold that Polychrome is the best part of this book and I would very much like for her to be around for as much of it as possible.
Erik carries something called the Jewel of the Bridge, which is supposed to act as a sort of letter of introduction to other fairy rulers (and allow the Rainbow Lord to spy on him, because he can't miss his daily dose of The Erik Show, but Polychrome doesn't mention that). As they travel, they chat a bit about how Baum's Oz books were unrealistic (totally missing the irony!), about music, and about how Polychrome and Cirrus were bethrothed to be married...
...wait, what?! Where the hell did that come from?
Apparently it was an arranged marriage, which disgusts Erik, and... you know, I could say a lot about the concept and the way media often present the concept between marrying for political convenience/alliances VS marrying for romantic love, but if I keep digressing like this I'll never get through this chapter. So let's skip the marriage talk for now and move on.
Erik throws away his glasses -- oh yeah, I forgot to mention this earlier, but while the Rainbow Lord couldn't fix his asthma, he could apparently fix his eyesight. (Did they ever get more medicine or solve the problem with the inhaler, by the way? I can't remember the issue being addressed again.) And wow, does he ever go to town about how much he hated wearing glasses. And Polychrome notes how much better he looks without his glasses, which is great. Now if he'd just stop wearing that tight and restrictive ponytail, and shake his hair loose, maybe wear some shorter skirts and better makeup, everyone would see the great beauty he was all along, and he's be the envy of all at the prom.
Interestingly enough, almost everyone in my family wears glasses. I'm actually one of the few who don't need them, even for reading... as of yet, anyway; it might change later. But, you know, growing up with people who wear glasses, of course a kid might borrow said glasses and pose in front of the mirror to see how they look... and ironically enough, I actually look better with glasses than without....
...I just keep getting distracted this chapter! Moving on!
After the journey through the sky they land in an unspecified mountainy location, and say goodbye to one another... huh. Guess Polychrome isn't coming with then, and staying in the safety of her home. Shame. They promise to meet up in Oz because Polychrome is determined to be with the Rainbow army when it gets through to Oz.
And Erik is all cheesy about it: "In that case, Lady Polychrome... there is nothing I can't do!"
Erik... do us all a favor and don't try to play the romantic hero. You have many good qualities, but dramatic goodbyes is not one of them.
CHAPTER TWENTY
In the petrified Emerald City, Ugu realizes that after a year of nothing the plot has started to move again, and so he has a chat with Fake-Cirrus about how his spies tells that Erik now has left the Rainbow Kingdom and is in Faerie. Which means war's coming soon, and now's the time to prepare the defenses. Why they haven't spent the last year doing exactly that isn't really answered, but good that Ugu wants to give Erik a sporting chance, I guess.
Seems like Ugu also wants to take the opportunity to get rid of Mrs. Yoop. Who hasn't been called that for most of this book, but frankly for some reason I can never remember the name "Amanita Verdant" without double-checking it, so she'll remain Mrs. Yoop in these reaction-reviews even if there is really nothing left of the original character by now other than her ability to transform others. Apparently she has transformed her former husband into a mindless monster called "the Yoop" who is also a spy for her... oh, and she is fucking fake-Cirrus on the side, because, you know, she is a female villain and female villains do that sort of thing. Probably she hasn't been doing Ugu, and while he laughs that off now, I'm just waiting for him to start writing passive-aggressive "open letters" to post online and rant about how women don't want him even though he's such a nice guy.
Okay, that might be a little unfair to Ugu. He's actually shaping up to be a decent villain here, one who actually learns from previous mistakes, but also he's determined not to be that bad guy who slaughters his minions for failing impossible tasks. "Failure is a possible consequence of trying," he says, and so he's turning the usual Bad Guy Policy on its head: Failure won't be severely punished, as long as the effort was honestly made, but treachery will. Loyalty is in the end more important.
If Megatron had just followed this simple idea, he would have saved himself a lot of Starscream-related trouble.
I'm cautiously interested in Ugu; like I said, he's shaping up to be a decent villain. He's not sympathetic in the least, nor does he really have the villainous charm of Ruggedo the Nome King. He's not the kind of villain I enjoy reading about and look forward to the appearances of, but there is a certain something there that has potential. Ugu is an opportunist and takes the chances he can, and he's blatantly using people, but unlike many villains he also seems to realize that unless the people he's using think they're getting something out of the deal they're likely to betray him (just like he's planning to do to Mrs. Yoop). So he's trying to fight a little smarter than your average villain. He's also clearly a raging misogynist, but manages to pretend that he isn't at least well enough to fool Mrs. Yoop.
Speaking of whom... her, I'm not as sure about. Right now she seems to pretty much have a role equivalent to "Theodora" in Oz The Great And Powerful, as the emotionally unstable one who mainly just stands beside the main villain and screams a lot. Or, perhaps, to take an example from a good story, a role equivalent to Katla the dragon in The Brothers Lionheart; the most powerful and feared tool of the main villain but still ultimately his tool and not the real power to be dealt with.
Clearly she is the more powerful of the two, and when the Rainbow Fairies talk about the villains Mrs Yoop is always the one they focus on... but so far, whenever we cut to a villain scene Ugu is the one who gets all the attention. It's all presented from his point of view, it's all about how he thinks and feels, and about how he wants to bang her and plans to overthrow her. Consequently, he comes across as the developed one here, and as the main antagonist. Mrs. Yoop so far seems rather shallow and two-dimensional, revelling in "female villain" chiches. We'll see how this develops.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The Polychrome-less Erik has started his journey and thankfully does not use the word "friendzone" when thinking about her.
Now he finds himself on the border on the kingdom of Rinkitink -- which he informs us, is really named "Gilgad," like its capital city; it was just that Baum gave it a more whimsical name in his book. Yeah, this constant "Baum changed things and realty isn't as whimsical" commenting is kind of getting tiresome by now... so screw it, far as this review is concerned, the kingdom's name is Rinkitink.
There's a nice bit where Erik gets overwhelmed by the scent of earth and plants, and only now realizes that there never were such scents in the Rainbow Kingdom, which in turn hits home just how different a place that really was. I still think we could have had some more actual development of the Rainbow Kingdom, but I do appreciate how Erik didn't realize all the things that it lacked until he's back on the ground.
It's not long before he comes across two Temblors -- oh, I thought they were just going to be in Oz, but I guess not -- bothering a local family. So now we get our first look at some Temblors; they're really monstrous and brutish, their names are Morg and Gron, and while Erik at first balks at meeting them, he soon enough pulls himself together and finds that they are no match for a True Mortal!!! (Dun-dun-DUUUN!) So he dispatches of them easily, while learning that they're the stooges of Mombi, who again is working for Ugu and Mrs. Yoop.
Cool, Mombi's in this book? I always kinda dug her. She was the Wicked Witch of the North, and the one who transformed Ozma into a boy named Tip so nobody would find her. Not as powerful or intimidating as the more famous Wicked Witch of the West, but I think I liked her better as a character.
The family is very grateful to Erik for saving them, but not hopeful that more Temblors won't come by to pick up where Morg and Gron left off. The father -- whose name is Amrin, and who is the only one who gets any kind of description or spoken lines, so you know he'll be the only important one -- agrees to not only show Erik the way to the city of Gilgad, but escort him there. Well, that's nice of him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
What do you know. I just mentioned that I liked Mombi, and here she is.
Hmm. Let me try something: I really like the Hungry Tiger, Scraps the Patchwork Girl, Trot and Cap'n Bill, Button-Bright and Jellia Jamb. Oh, and I really liked the whimsy and pun-filled dialogue from Baum's Oz books.
There, let's see if they show up in the book as well.
Ugu is berating Mombi for sending Morg and Gron off to the Kingdom of Rinkitink to steal stuff; this is not how he works, dammit. We're fair and reasonable villains, when we want something from the neighboring kindgoms, we buy it like the honest respectable country we are. You know, if his modus de operandi had not been to turn the Emerald City into stone and kill off so many of the minor kingdoms in Oz, he'd start coming across almost as a reasonable authority figure than a villain. I wonder if this means that all his scenes have been red herrings and he'll have turned out to have been secretly good all along and working with Ozma in order to dispose of the real threat, Mrs. Yoop?
...naaaah, probably not. If any villains is to turn out to be a good guy, it's more likely to be Fake-Cirrus.
Still, since Morg actually got the information where the True Mortal!!! (Dun-dun-DUUUN!) is, Ugu lets it all slide with a "don't do it again" and then has another chat with Fake-Cirrus.
We learn that the Nomes haven't gotten involved here, because King Kaliko (formerly assistant to King Ruggedo, now King himself) is yet another one of those "don't bother us and we won't bother you" rulers. But though the True Mortal!!! (Dun-dun-DUUUN!) is on the borders of the Nome Kingdom, he probably won't get much aid from the Nomes, so no worries there. They wonder what the plan is, because while the True Mortal!!! (Dun-dun-DUUUN!) can pass through the barrier around Oz, nobody else could. Of course, they don't know that Erik is carrying that rainbow-calling trinket, so they discuss whether any of their minions or allies might be traitors, but dismiss this idea.
So for now they'll just send out some more spies and see what happens. You know, I kinda wish we'd actually gotten to see these spies in action. Ugu has mentioned them before as his source of information, but they haven't been shown on-page. Hope we will!
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Erik has reached the city of Gilgad, and it seems like Amrin and his entire family, who suddenly remember that they all had names, decided to come along, because there's less risk of a Temblor attack in Gilgad. Since they don't know that Ugu has ordered a cease and desist on the attacks, I can't really fault them.
There's some talk about "the Pentient," a mysterious cloaked figure who comes from the mountains to fights raiders and give food and valuable jewels to the needy. Erik thinks he knows just who this Pentient is, and in that case he's one step ahead of me, because I have no clue. I'm assuming it's one of the established Oz characters. Since it's a mountain and jewels involved, maybe it's Kaliko? We'll see, Erik's confident that they'll meet up, and I'm sure he's right.
Erik goes off to seek an audience with the King to hear about getting passage over the sea so he can reach the Deadly Desert, and I'm getting kind of excited because King Rinkitink (whose real name is Rin Ki-Tin, because Baum and wordplay, yadda yadda) was a really cool character and from Amrin's description seems to be pretty much like Baum described him: Fat, jolly and smarter than he lets on. But then, disappointment, because Rinkitink isn't there. He's off on some trip on his own -- which admittedly is perfectly in character for him (and leads to a very funny bit where it's explained that the Chancellor will have to eventually go and fetch the King back, whereupon the King will first sentence him to death for the indignity and then afterwards reward and celebrate him for three weeks straight for his services to the kingdom) but it does mean he doesn't appear here, leaving Erik to deal with a guy named Chancellor Inkarbleu instead.
Who is more serious and formal than Rinkitink but at least on first impression is nowhere near as cool or fun to read about. Dammit, I wanted to see Rinkitink! He would have been fun! Why are you getting my hopes up like this?
But then -- a new hope. (Star Wars reference unintentional, I swear!) Because Inkarbleu is actually a decent sort, and while he isn't Rinkitink he seems to have more of a personality than I feared: faced with a difficult choice (he wants to help Erik and Oz but since he's not the king he can't actually make that decicion and risk the wrath of Ugu and Mrs. Yoop), he decides that he'll have to go and fetch the King himself, and Erik might come along on the journey.
Which coincidentally will bring him closer to his goal, and maybe, just maybe we'll get to see King Rinkitink after all. That's pretty clever.
And there's a really funny bit where Inkarbleu tells the guards to have his favorite cell cleaned out because the King will want to excecute him for coming to get him, while everyone knows the execution will never take place. That's funny. I think Rinkitink actually did that in his canon appearance, to the Lord who eventually came to fetch him from...
......waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait a minute.
Inkarbleu. Checking Project Gutenberg's edition of Rinkitink in Oz.... The Lord who came to fetch Rinkitink was named "Pinkerbloo." Inkarbleu.
Ryk E. Spoor, ya sly dog! You snuck a name change past me!! I had no idea this guy was actually a canon character! Of course, he barely appears in the book there, but... hmm. Actually, he's characterized pretty much exactly as he is in this chapter: Serious and competent and a contrast to the laughing, cheeky Rinkitink.
I'm impressed! I'm serously impressed! And even more hopeful that we'll get Rinkitink eventually!
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Last chapter for now! Back in the Rainbow Kingdom, Polychrome and her father and Nimbus are all using the jewel to watch this exciting episode of The Erik Show. I'm going to imagine that they have snacks and are on a comfy cloud couch, and you can't stop me.
Actually, I'm reminded of Ozma's magic picture and Glinda's Book of Records here, actually; even if they were more flexible.
The Rainbow Lord kinda wants to help, but, well, the Rainbow fairies are just sliiiightly more liable to be noticed wherever they go and get all the elemental minions after them than Erik is, True Mortal!!! (Dun-dun-DUUUN!) or not. Then he tells Polychrome that he heard what she and Erik promised one another back in chapter nineteen, and at first she thinks this means he's going to forbid her to go to Oz, but it turns out that he actually wants her to lead the Rainbow Army.
Okay, that was unexpected, but not in a bad way.
The Rainbow Lord explains that he himself can't go because he has to defend the Rainbow Kingdom, but still someone of his blood has to be present at the battle to make it clear that he's in this all the way -- and of course, of all his daughters only Polychrome appears in this book, so it kinda has to be her.
So now it's time for Polychrome to do a "hero's training" segment, but first she is given a suit of armor that once belonged to her mother. And the Rainbow Lord is kinda bummed because he's sending his daughter off to war.
As I hoped, now that we have the "training of the hero" part out of the way, this book's pace has picked up again, as has my interest in the story. These six chapters just breezed by, things never got boring, and it's nice to see both heroes and villains using their heads. Yeah, this is getting to be pretty good again!
Now... there was one thing I was a little concerned about. And it was the same concern I had with Dave Hardenbrook's Jellia Jamb book; namely that this book, in its quest to tell a more mature Oz story, is removing or downplaying too many of the things that made Oz a distinct and interesting setting to begin with.
I mean... Ryk E. Spoor wants to tell a "grown-up" Oz story, and sets out to change some things, justifying it with "the books weren't entirely accurate because L. Frank Baum was writing for children." Which I still hold isn't a bad idea, one that can open for a lot of interesting new stories. But I think that this story goes too far in removing the elements that it clearly deems to be "too cutesy."
Hence, the punny names are gone -- indeed, nobody in this book makes any kind of pun at all, to my great disappointment -- and so are all the non-humanoid characters, the talking animals and the magical constructs. Everyone who isn't humanoid has conveniently been turned to stone or killed off (apart from the Little Pink Bear, but he was just a glorified cameo and a vessel for the AMPTGOL, and had already been toned heavily down from his original appearance). Or, in the case of Mrs. Yoop, conveniently transformed from a giantess to a hot, sexy, human Evil Queen. The only non-humanoids are the evil minions, who are clearly monsters.
The Rainbow fairies are... to be honest, they're not very interesting. Most of them are total non-entities, and even the Rainbow Lord and Nimbus are stock fantasy characters. The exception is Polychrome, who is still Polychrome, and hence a cool character by default, but who was starting to lose part of her quirky charm and morphing more into a generically fantasyish Warrior Princess Love Interest.
In short, I was getting worried that this was just going to be Generic Fantasy World #43, just with a few familiar names thrown in but no real memorable characters.
But then, we got Lord Pinkerbloo. And I'll admit, at first I didn't know he was an established Oz character, but he was nicely characterized... and then, when I realized who "Inkarbleu" was, I went to check his canon appearance, and found that for such a minor character, this book had got him spot-on. What's more, from the descriptions of the absent Rinkitink, despite the name change the book seemed to have him spot-on.
Can we hope, perhaps, that now that we're getting to more familiar places we'll see more familiar faces? And that they'll be as well-characterized? That, I thonk would really make the story... because, while the plot is okay and I like how Ugu seems to know the Evil Overlord list, there has been one thing this story has been very short on as of yet, namely fun.
So far, this has been a decent enough story, with some impresssive planning from heroes and villains alike, but not a fun one. In fact, what this story needs is a traditional Oz character: Flawed, comical and not there to be traditionally awesome or attractive. Someone who can puncture the pomposity, make the jokes and do the crazy things.
Polychrome usually inserts a lot of fun in the stories she appears, but in this one... not so much. Especially after that she got too busy being a love interest and Warrior Princess.
What I'm trying to say is: I really want King Rinkitink. Please tell me we're getting King Rinkitink.
Now, let's dig into chapter's 19-24 of Ryk E. Spoor's novel Polychrome and see what's in store for our asthmatic protagonist!
CHAPTER NINETEEN
At last, the time has come for Erik to go out on his mission! Everyone in the Rainbow Kingdom has gathered to see him off, and when Polychrome appears she gets a huge cheer, causing her to briefly muse on how she doesn't know why she's more popular than her sisters.
Well, Poly, going by this book, I'd say it's because you're the only actual character. Seriously, her sisters don't even appear on-page -- which was fine in Baum's books, because none of them took place in the Rainbow Kingdom and Polychrome was always either stranded on the ground or having just gone off on her own for a while. This book has largely taken place in the Rainbow Kingdom, and we haven't seen one sister.
Which is a bit of a disappointment, really; all we know about Polychrome's sisters from Baum is what she says about them in The Tin Woodman of Oz: "My sisters are so sweet and lovely and proper that they never dance off our Rainbow, and so they never have any adventures." We do know that Polychrome is the wild card among the daughters of the rainbow; more than once she's described as the sweetest and merriest of them, but also the most impish and reckless; the one who gets up to all sorts of wild and crazy things. Hence she gets into much more trouble, but also (it's hinted) has a lot more fun.
It would have been interesting to meet her sisters and see how they relate to her, maybe get to know them a little. I don't suppose that'll come up later in the book?
(Appropos of this: Back in the first chapter-batch, I noted how Polychrome is mentioned as the oldest daughter of the Rainbow in this book, while I was fairly certain that the Oz books named her the youngest. Certainly she seems to be accepted by the fanbase as the youngest.... but, never one to resist checking these things, I briefly went through the four books Polychrome appears in -- The Road to Oz, Sky Island, Tik-Tok of Oz and The Tin Woodman of Oz -- and it seems I was in error here, because Polychrome is never mentioned as oldest or youngest; she's just "the Rainbow's Daughter." So, I suppose she could be the oldest.)
Anyway, back to the chapter.
The Little Pink Bear is there too; I did wonder what happened to him! He's just there to see Erik off and say some prophet things about how he can't tell how the journey ends, but at least he got a cameo.
Polychrome is of course there to take Erik to the ground... Okay, prediction: Something's going to happen so that she has to stay with him and go along on the journey anyway. This is partly wishful thinking from my behalf, mind, because even if I could take or leave the awkwardness between her and Erik, I still hold that Polychrome is the best part of this book and I would very much like for her to be around for as much of it as possible.
Erik carries something called the Jewel of the Bridge, which is supposed to act as a sort of letter of introduction to other fairy rulers (and allow the Rainbow Lord to spy on him, because he can't miss his daily dose of The Erik Show, but Polychrome doesn't mention that). As they travel, they chat a bit about how Baum's Oz books were unrealistic (totally missing the irony!), about music, and about how Polychrome and Cirrus were bethrothed to be married...
...wait, what?! Where the hell did that come from?
Apparently it was an arranged marriage, which disgusts Erik, and... you know, I could say a lot about the concept and the way media often present the concept between marrying for political convenience/alliances VS marrying for romantic love, but if I keep digressing like this I'll never get through this chapter. So let's skip the marriage talk for now and move on.
Erik throws away his glasses -- oh yeah, I forgot to mention this earlier, but while the Rainbow Lord couldn't fix his asthma, he could apparently fix his eyesight. (Did they ever get more medicine or solve the problem with the inhaler, by the way? I can't remember the issue being addressed again.) And wow, does he ever go to town about how much he hated wearing glasses. And Polychrome notes how much better he looks without his glasses, which is great. Now if he'd just stop wearing that tight and restrictive ponytail, and shake his hair loose, maybe wear some shorter skirts and better makeup, everyone would see the great beauty he was all along, and he's be the envy of all at the prom.
Interestingly enough, almost everyone in my family wears glasses. I'm actually one of the few who don't need them, even for reading... as of yet, anyway; it might change later. But, you know, growing up with people who wear glasses, of course a kid might borrow said glasses and pose in front of the mirror to see how they look... and ironically enough, I actually look better with glasses than without....
...I just keep getting distracted this chapter! Moving on!
After the journey through the sky they land in an unspecified mountainy location, and say goodbye to one another... huh. Guess Polychrome isn't coming with then, and staying in the safety of her home. Shame. They promise to meet up in Oz because Polychrome is determined to be with the Rainbow army when it gets through to Oz.
And Erik is all cheesy about it: "In that case, Lady Polychrome... there is nothing I can't do!"
Erik... do us all a favor and don't try to play the romantic hero. You have many good qualities, but dramatic goodbyes is not one of them.
CHAPTER TWENTY
In the petrified Emerald City, Ugu realizes that after a year of nothing the plot has started to move again, and so he has a chat with Fake-Cirrus about how his spies tells that Erik now has left the Rainbow Kingdom and is in Faerie. Which means war's coming soon, and now's the time to prepare the defenses. Why they haven't spent the last year doing exactly that isn't really answered, but good that Ugu wants to give Erik a sporting chance, I guess.
Seems like Ugu also wants to take the opportunity to get rid of Mrs. Yoop. Who hasn't been called that for most of this book, but frankly for some reason I can never remember the name "Amanita Verdant" without double-checking it, so she'll remain Mrs. Yoop in these reaction-reviews even if there is really nothing left of the original character by now other than her ability to transform others. Apparently she has transformed her former husband into a mindless monster called "the Yoop" who is also a spy for her... oh, and she is fucking fake-Cirrus on the side, because, you know, she is a female villain and female villains do that sort of thing. Probably she hasn't been doing Ugu, and while he laughs that off now, I'm just waiting for him to start writing passive-aggressive "open letters" to post online and rant about how women don't want him even though he's such a nice guy.
Okay, that might be a little unfair to Ugu. He's actually shaping up to be a decent villain here, one who actually learns from previous mistakes, but also he's determined not to be that bad guy who slaughters his minions for failing impossible tasks. "Failure is a possible consequence of trying," he says, and so he's turning the usual Bad Guy Policy on its head: Failure won't be severely punished, as long as the effort was honestly made, but treachery will. Loyalty is in the end more important.
If Megatron had just followed this simple idea, he would have saved himself a lot of Starscream-related trouble.
I'm cautiously interested in Ugu; like I said, he's shaping up to be a decent villain. He's not sympathetic in the least, nor does he really have the villainous charm of Ruggedo the Nome King. He's not the kind of villain I enjoy reading about and look forward to the appearances of, but there is a certain something there that has potential. Ugu is an opportunist and takes the chances he can, and he's blatantly using people, but unlike many villains he also seems to realize that unless the people he's using think they're getting something out of the deal they're likely to betray him (just like he's planning to do to Mrs. Yoop). So he's trying to fight a little smarter than your average villain. He's also clearly a raging misogynist, but manages to pretend that he isn't at least well enough to fool Mrs. Yoop.
Speaking of whom... her, I'm not as sure about. Right now she seems to pretty much have a role equivalent to "Theodora" in Oz The Great And Powerful, as the emotionally unstable one who mainly just stands beside the main villain and screams a lot. Or, perhaps, to take an example from a good story, a role equivalent to Katla the dragon in The Brothers Lionheart; the most powerful and feared tool of the main villain but still ultimately his tool and not the real power to be dealt with.
Clearly she is the more powerful of the two, and when the Rainbow Fairies talk about the villains Mrs Yoop is always the one they focus on... but so far, whenever we cut to a villain scene Ugu is the one who gets all the attention. It's all presented from his point of view, it's all about how he thinks and feels, and about how he wants to bang her and plans to overthrow her. Consequently, he comes across as the developed one here, and as the main antagonist. Mrs. Yoop so far seems rather shallow and two-dimensional, revelling in "female villain" chiches. We'll see how this develops.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The Polychrome-less Erik has started his journey and thankfully does not use the word "friendzone" when thinking about her.
Now he finds himself on the border on the kingdom of Rinkitink -- which he informs us, is really named "Gilgad," like its capital city; it was just that Baum gave it a more whimsical name in his book. Yeah, this constant "Baum changed things and realty isn't as whimsical" commenting is kind of getting tiresome by now... so screw it, far as this review is concerned, the kingdom's name is Rinkitink.
There's a nice bit where Erik gets overwhelmed by the scent of earth and plants, and only now realizes that there never were such scents in the Rainbow Kingdom, which in turn hits home just how different a place that really was. I still think we could have had some more actual development of the Rainbow Kingdom, but I do appreciate how Erik didn't realize all the things that it lacked until he's back on the ground.
It's not long before he comes across two Temblors -- oh, I thought they were just going to be in Oz, but I guess not -- bothering a local family. So now we get our first look at some Temblors; they're really monstrous and brutish, their names are Morg and Gron, and while Erik at first balks at meeting them, he soon enough pulls himself together and finds that they are no match for a True Mortal!!! (Dun-dun-DUUUN!) So he dispatches of them easily, while learning that they're the stooges of Mombi, who again is working for Ugu and Mrs. Yoop.
Cool, Mombi's in this book? I always kinda dug her. She was the Wicked Witch of the North, and the one who transformed Ozma into a boy named Tip so nobody would find her. Not as powerful or intimidating as the more famous Wicked Witch of the West, but I think I liked her better as a character.
The family is very grateful to Erik for saving them, but not hopeful that more Temblors won't come by to pick up where Morg and Gron left off. The father -- whose name is Amrin, and who is the only one who gets any kind of description or spoken lines, so you know he'll be the only important one -- agrees to not only show Erik the way to the city of Gilgad, but escort him there. Well, that's nice of him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
What do you know. I just mentioned that I liked Mombi, and here she is.
Hmm. Let me try something: I really like the Hungry Tiger, Scraps the Patchwork Girl, Trot and Cap'n Bill, Button-Bright and Jellia Jamb. Oh, and I really liked the whimsy and pun-filled dialogue from Baum's Oz books.
There, let's see if they show up in the book as well.
Ugu is berating Mombi for sending Morg and Gron off to the Kingdom of Rinkitink to steal stuff; this is not how he works, dammit. We're fair and reasonable villains, when we want something from the neighboring kindgoms, we buy it like the honest respectable country we are. You know, if his modus de operandi had not been to turn the Emerald City into stone and kill off so many of the minor kingdoms in Oz, he'd start coming across almost as a reasonable authority figure than a villain. I wonder if this means that all his scenes have been red herrings and he'll have turned out to have been secretly good all along and working with Ozma in order to dispose of the real threat, Mrs. Yoop?
...naaaah, probably not. If any villains is to turn out to be a good guy, it's more likely to be Fake-Cirrus.
Still, since Morg actually got the information where the True Mortal!!! (Dun-dun-DUUUN!) is, Ugu lets it all slide with a "don't do it again" and then has another chat with Fake-Cirrus.
We learn that the Nomes haven't gotten involved here, because King Kaliko (formerly assistant to King Ruggedo, now King himself) is yet another one of those "don't bother us and we won't bother you" rulers. But though the True Mortal!!! (Dun-dun-DUUUN!) is on the borders of the Nome Kingdom, he probably won't get much aid from the Nomes, so no worries there. They wonder what the plan is, because while the True Mortal!!! (Dun-dun-DUUUN!) can pass through the barrier around Oz, nobody else could. Of course, they don't know that Erik is carrying that rainbow-calling trinket, so they discuss whether any of their minions or allies might be traitors, but dismiss this idea.
So for now they'll just send out some more spies and see what happens. You know, I kinda wish we'd actually gotten to see these spies in action. Ugu has mentioned them before as his source of information, but they haven't been shown on-page. Hope we will!
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Erik has reached the city of Gilgad, and it seems like Amrin and his entire family, who suddenly remember that they all had names, decided to come along, because there's less risk of a Temblor attack in Gilgad. Since they don't know that Ugu has ordered a cease and desist on the attacks, I can't really fault them.
There's some talk about "the Pentient," a mysterious cloaked figure who comes from the mountains to fights raiders and give food and valuable jewels to the needy. Erik thinks he knows just who this Pentient is, and in that case he's one step ahead of me, because I have no clue. I'm assuming it's one of the established Oz characters. Since it's a mountain and jewels involved, maybe it's Kaliko? We'll see, Erik's confident that they'll meet up, and I'm sure he's right.
Erik goes off to seek an audience with the King to hear about getting passage over the sea so he can reach the Deadly Desert, and I'm getting kind of excited because King Rinkitink (whose real name is Rin Ki-Tin, because Baum and wordplay, yadda yadda) was a really cool character and from Amrin's description seems to be pretty much like Baum described him: Fat, jolly and smarter than he lets on. But then, disappointment, because Rinkitink isn't there. He's off on some trip on his own -- which admittedly is perfectly in character for him (and leads to a very funny bit where it's explained that the Chancellor will have to eventually go and fetch the King back, whereupon the King will first sentence him to death for the indignity and then afterwards reward and celebrate him for three weeks straight for his services to the kingdom) but it does mean he doesn't appear here, leaving Erik to deal with a guy named Chancellor Inkarbleu instead.
Who is more serious and formal than Rinkitink but at least on first impression is nowhere near as cool or fun to read about. Dammit, I wanted to see Rinkitink! He would have been fun! Why are you getting my hopes up like this?
But then -- a new hope. (Star Wars reference unintentional, I swear!) Because Inkarbleu is actually a decent sort, and while he isn't Rinkitink he seems to have more of a personality than I feared: faced with a difficult choice (he wants to help Erik and Oz but since he's not the king he can't actually make that decicion and risk the wrath of Ugu and Mrs. Yoop), he decides that he'll have to go and fetch the King himself, and Erik might come along on the journey.
Which coincidentally will bring him closer to his goal, and maybe, just maybe we'll get to see King Rinkitink after all. That's pretty clever.
And there's a really funny bit where Inkarbleu tells the guards to have his favorite cell cleaned out because the King will want to excecute him for coming to get him, while everyone knows the execution will never take place. That's funny. I think Rinkitink actually did that in his canon appearance, to the Lord who eventually came to fetch him from...
......waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait a minute.
Inkarbleu. Checking Project Gutenberg's edition of Rinkitink in Oz.... The Lord who came to fetch Rinkitink was named "Pinkerbloo." Inkarbleu.
Ryk E. Spoor, ya sly dog! You snuck a name change past me!! I had no idea this guy was actually a canon character! Of course, he barely appears in the book there, but... hmm. Actually, he's characterized pretty much exactly as he is in this chapter: Serious and competent and a contrast to the laughing, cheeky Rinkitink.
I'm impressed! I'm serously impressed! And even more hopeful that we'll get Rinkitink eventually!
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Last chapter for now! Back in the Rainbow Kingdom, Polychrome and her father and Nimbus are all using the jewel to watch this exciting episode of The Erik Show. I'm going to imagine that they have snacks and are on a comfy cloud couch, and you can't stop me.
Actually, I'm reminded of Ozma's magic picture and Glinda's Book of Records here, actually; even if they were more flexible.
The Rainbow Lord kinda wants to help, but, well, the Rainbow fairies are just sliiiightly more liable to be noticed wherever they go and get all the elemental minions after them than Erik is, True Mortal!!! (Dun-dun-DUUUN!) or not. Then he tells Polychrome that he heard what she and Erik promised one another back in chapter nineteen, and at first she thinks this means he's going to forbid her to go to Oz, but it turns out that he actually wants her to lead the Rainbow Army.
Okay, that was unexpected, but not in a bad way.
The Rainbow Lord explains that he himself can't go because he has to defend the Rainbow Kingdom, but still someone of his blood has to be present at the battle to make it clear that he's in this all the way -- and of course, of all his daughters only Polychrome appears in this book, so it kinda has to be her.
So now it's time for Polychrome to do a "hero's training" segment, but first she is given a suit of armor that once belonged to her mother. And the Rainbow Lord is kinda bummed because he's sending his daughter off to war.
As I hoped, now that we have the "training of the hero" part out of the way, this book's pace has picked up again, as has my interest in the story. These six chapters just breezed by, things never got boring, and it's nice to see both heroes and villains using their heads. Yeah, this is getting to be pretty good again!
Now... there was one thing I was a little concerned about. And it was the same concern I had with Dave Hardenbrook's Jellia Jamb book; namely that this book, in its quest to tell a more mature Oz story, is removing or downplaying too many of the things that made Oz a distinct and interesting setting to begin with.
I mean... Ryk E. Spoor wants to tell a "grown-up" Oz story, and sets out to change some things, justifying it with "the books weren't entirely accurate because L. Frank Baum was writing for children." Which I still hold isn't a bad idea, one that can open for a lot of interesting new stories. But I think that this story goes too far in removing the elements that it clearly deems to be "too cutesy."
Hence, the punny names are gone -- indeed, nobody in this book makes any kind of pun at all, to my great disappointment -- and so are all the non-humanoid characters, the talking animals and the magical constructs. Everyone who isn't humanoid has conveniently been turned to stone or killed off (apart from the Little Pink Bear, but he was just a glorified cameo and a vessel for the AMPTGOL, and had already been toned heavily down from his original appearance). Or, in the case of Mrs. Yoop, conveniently transformed from a giantess to a hot, sexy, human Evil Queen. The only non-humanoids are the evil minions, who are clearly monsters.
The Rainbow fairies are... to be honest, they're not very interesting. Most of them are total non-entities, and even the Rainbow Lord and Nimbus are stock fantasy characters. The exception is Polychrome, who is still Polychrome, and hence a cool character by default, but who was starting to lose part of her quirky charm and morphing more into a generically fantasyish Warrior Princess Love Interest.
In short, I was getting worried that this was just going to be Generic Fantasy World #43, just with a few familiar names thrown in but no real memorable characters.
But then, we got Lord Pinkerbloo. And I'll admit, at first I didn't know he was an established Oz character, but he was nicely characterized... and then, when I realized who "Inkarbleu" was, I went to check his canon appearance, and found that for such a minor character, this book had got him spot-on. What's more, from the descriptions of the absent Rinkitink, despite the name change the book seemed to have him spot-on.
Can we hope, perhaps, that now that we're getting to more familiar places we'll see more familiar faces? And that they'll be as well-characterized? That, I thonk would really make the story... because, while the plot is okay and I like how Ugu seems to know the Evil Overlord list, there has been one thing this story has been very short on as of yet, namely fun.
So far, this has been a decent enough story, with some impresssive planning from heroes and villains alike, but not a fun one. In fact, what this story needs is a traditional Oz character: Flawed, comical and not there to be traditionally awesome or attractive. Someone who can puncture the pomposity, make the jokes and do the crazy things.
Polychrome usually inserts a lot of fun in the stories she appears, but in this one... not so much. Especially after that she got too busy being a love interest and Warrior Princess.
What I'm trying to say is: I really want King Rinkitink. Please tell me we're getting King Rinkitink.