Battle of the Books: Weird West

Welcome to another edition of my monthly feature, Battle of the Books! Each month, I will read and review two books that take a spin at a similar topic/subgenre in speculative fiction, be it broad or narrow in scope. There will be two posts a month -- one to introduce the topic and books, and another with my reviews and verdict.

This month's books are both considered Weird Westerns. Also sometimes called flintlock fantasy, books in this subgenre combine a wild western setting with fantasy, horror, or sci-fi.

Why this somewhat obscure subgenre with a horrible history in Hollywood, you ask? If you have been reading my blog, you know that I recently finished Stephen King's Dark Tower series, which has elements of westerns, sci-fi, and fantasy. And that I am still recovering from That Ending. I need a couple good gunslingers in my literary life.

Also: 

So do yourself a favor, get this song on (I'll wait), and scroll down to catch a glimpse the books in this month's duel. 

For this to be a fair fight, I am going to take books from two well known fantasy authors who each happened to have written a standalone western recently - Joe Abercrombie's Red Country and Brandon Sanderson's Alloy of Law. Both are books also set in the respective author's already established epic fantasy worlds (Abercrombie's First Law & Sanderson's Mistborn). 

Red Country follows Shy South and her stepfather Lamb as they chase after her siblings' kidnappers in the wild Far Country. Everyone on the frontier seems to have a bloody past worth forgetting. I'll admit, I love the jacket blurb, too: They burned her home. They stole her brother and sister. But vengeance is following. Shy South does not seem like the type to be trifled with. 

Set 300 years after the original Mistborn trilogy (of which I'll admit I've only read the first, eep), The Alloy of Law is set in a city on the "verge of modernity", with railroads, electricity, and beginnings of skyscrapers. The story follows Waxillium Ladrian, a man who can use both allomancy and feruchemy, as he returns from the Roughs to assume the head role of a noble house. But is the city really safer than the wild country?

Have you read Red Country, The Alloy of Law or another Weird Western? Have any suggestions for fans of the sub-genre? 

Battle of the Books: Oz - reviews & conclusion

This week I conclude this month's Battle of the Books, a feature where I read and review two books with a take on a similar topic. You can read my post introducing this month's battle (Wizard of Oz) and the books here. See below for my reviews and conclusions!

The Books

Dorothy Must Die (DMD), by Danielle Paige, is a young adult story set after the events of the story we all know and love in the Wizard of Oz. We see Oz as it is slowly degrading from the rule of a despot in Dorothy, with magic mined and animals enslaved by Dorothy's minions. DMD follows Amy, a girl from Kansas, as she is swept into Oz on a tornado and eventually bound to a group called the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked with a mission to remove Dorothy from power.

I think if a reader looking for an easy read with a relatable 'outsider' teen protagonist, this story might fit the bill. Amy has had a tough life in small town Kansas and yearns for an adventure. She gets an adventure, but it isn't what she expects. Overall, I felt that the story proceeded at a decent pace and kept me entertained well.

And then I thought: Bring it on. There’s no place like anywhere but here. - DMD

I definitely appreciated that Amy had qualms with the savior/chosen one/assassin role that individuals in Oz were attributing to her; it was a nice homage to the similar feelings that Dorothy faced in the original story. I liked that there was some question of whether the Order she was aligned with was really doing the right thing (and I plan to read the sequel next year to find out).

But I ultimately couldn't believe that the Dorothy we knew from Wizard of Oz would somehow turn out so... wrong. I think this was the ultimate weakness of this story for me -- there wasn't a clear or satisfying explanation of why Dorothy has turned into a total sociopath. In the original Wizard of Oz, Dorothy truly wants to go home, even if it is gray and dreary in comparison to Oz. Because that is where her family and home are... and there is no place like home.

Wicked, by Gregory Maguire, takes the world of Oz and creates a complex backstory filled with political conflicts and one character's slow descent from into madness.

The main character Elphaba was named in homage for L Frank Baum (L F B / El pha ba). Wicked is ultimately her story, and I thought she was one of the most unique characters I have encountered in literature for a long time.

One never learns how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her -- is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil? It is at the very least a question of definitions. - Wicked

I found Elphaba's descent into madness believable (from student/research activist to fanatic to disillusioned greaving survivor) until the very end -- where it felt a little rushed to fit into the story we know from the viewpoint of Dorothy and her companions (must have my sister's shoes!!!). But in one sense, I appreciated that her madness/wickedness at the very end really was not entirely relatable nor justified because she had truly finally lost it.

I also felt that the overall pace of Wicked wasn't as uniform as DMD -- I felt some parts (her time with Fiyero's family, for one) slower and tougher to get through than others. It was a tougher book in some ways because of the complexity of the issues it addressed and cast of characters created for the story.

My Verdict

Ultimately, who do I think did the retelling of Oz better? Wicked.

Neither story was perfect to me, but I believe the story had a more interesting main character in Elphaba and a more nuanced take on the lands and magic of Oz.

As a fantasy fan, I always enjoy the magic systems created for a world. The magic/science system of Wicked felt ultimately more realistic to me than that in Dorothy Must Die. In Wicked, the magic was an artform to be studied and practiced for an entire lifetime (Elphaba laments not taking a class on it towards the end), but in DMD, it was something our main character was able to tap into within a few weeks based on channeling emotions.

But as a reader, to me a story ultimately succeeds on it's characters. We follow Elphaba from childhood into adulthood, witnessing her devote herself to a worthy cause (the Animals) to the point of fanaticism. Amy is a generally likable teenager, but I wanted more than one girl's story of (mis)adventure and teenage love interest. With Wicked, through the main character's story we get a nuanced tale/tragedy of why someone may turn into the very carciture of evil seen in Wizard of Oz. In DMD, we got the story of a group of witches formerly wicked and good alike, working to overthrow an evil that didn't feel fully explained to the reader.

Ratings: 4/5 Wicked, 3/5 Dorothy Must Die.

What about you? If you read both of the books, do you have a favorite? Any suggestions for other works (books, TV, etc?) inspired by the world created in The Wizard of Oz? Leave them in the comments below! And stay tuned next month for another Battle of the Books!

Battle of the Books: Oz edition

This week, I am debuting a new monthly feature -- Battle of the Books! Each month, I will read and review two books that take a spin at a similar topic, be it broad (space opera! dragons!) or narrow (weird westerns! time traveling to WWII!) in scope. With this feature, there will be two posts a month -- one to introduce the topic and books, and another with my reviews.

A seasoned professor once told young hopeful graduate student me that rarely is a good idea new. This idea depressed me at first. But honestly? Now I have accepted that it can be kind of awesome. If you love a topic or have a great idea, even an esoteric one, it can be great to find out that someone else has done it too.

Therefore, even though I am calling this feature a battle (who among sci-fi/fantasy fans doesn't love battles, am I right?), I don't want a reader to get the wrong idea -- both books could be awesome and totally recommended. Ultimately, I hope my reviews may help future readers identify a book (or two) in an area that would suit them best.

Without further ado, this month's Battle is in the realm of munchkins and magic and yellow brick roads.... the world of Oz, as originally created by L. Frank Baum in 1900 with his novel 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.' 

Baum's novel inspired a musical and later the 1939 film adaptation we all know and love. The author went on to write 13 other novels based on the land and people of Oz. (In the spirit of honesty, I have only ever read the first in this series, but hope to read the whole bit for my daughter when she gets old enough!) From the introduction preceding The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, we read Baum's motivation in the creation of Oz:

...the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written solely to please children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment of joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.

The land of Oz has inspired many adaptations (and pop culture references) over the years, but today I am going to focus on two novel adaptations that spin this original fairy tale world back into a gritty one with plenty of heartaches and nightmares for young adult and adult readers -- Danielle Paige's young adult novel Dorothy Must Die (published in April 2014) and Gregory Maguire's Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (published in October 2009).

 

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige tells the story of a modern day teenage girl from Kansas named Amy. Her father abandoned both Amy and her mom early on, and Amy's mother struggles with addiction. They live in a trailer park in a small town. Amy is at home, alone, when a tornado hits and sends her and her trailer to Oz.

Our protagonist finds that the land of Oz is drastically different from the stories we know and love -- a gloomy washed out land where magic is mined from the land and magically creatures are enslaved to a despot named Dorothy. Dorothy is the one and same girl from Kansas we've previously known, and she has come back to Oz greedy for attention, magic, power, etc. Amy finds herself bound to a group called the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked whose members include wicked witches and wizards intent on killing Dorothy and restoring a balance of good and evil in Oz.

Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire focuses on the life of the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba. It tells us her side of the story, a girl born with strange green skin and a fear of water to a minister/missionary and heiress to the Thropp family. The story travels to familiar places and introduces the reader to other familiar characters, with secrets of their own.

Wicked also creates complex political and religious issues in the land of Oz with a class-based system and debates on topics such as whether Animals who can talk should be treated the same as animals that cannot.

Have you read either of these books or others inspired by L. Frank Baum's work? Have suggestions for other books for fans of Oz? Ideas for other books to battle? Leave a comment below! And don't forget to check back later this month for my reviews and the winner of this month's battle.