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Now, the closest I'd ever read/seen of Ozma of Oz before now was the movie Return to Oz which is a terrifying Oz movie that I'm actually very fond of. This was a lot more fanciful, with much different Wheelers and the many-headed Princess Langwidre being more 'oh, you' and less total nightmare fuel. I did like Langwidre's sheer variety of beauty, actually. She even had some non-white versions!

However, as much fun as this book was, there was one moment of total horror. Specifically, the cameo of General Jinjur who in the book before took over the Emerald City. Here she encounters Ozma again:

"I've married a man who owns nine cows," said Jinjur to Ozma, "and now I am happy and contented and willing to lead a quiet life and mind my own business."

"Where is your husband?" asked Ozma.

"He is in the house, nursing a black eye," replied Jinjur, calmly. "The foolish man would insist upon milking the red cow when I wanted him to milk the white one; but he will know better next time, I am sure."

There is no response given from the heroes.

EITHER WAY. Jinjur, you are a bad seed.

In other news, I started Where The Mountain Meets The Moon by Grace Lin and here is how it opens:

Far away from here, following the Jade River, there was once a black mountain that cut into the sky like a jagged piece of rough metal. The villagers called it Fruitless Mountain because nothing grew on it and birds and animals did not rest there.

The main character is a little girl named Minli, who is excellent. She works hard and doesn't resent it, she wants to help her family, and she's wonderfully inquisitive. She loves stories from her father, called Ba, and the reader gets to hear these stories too. They're really quite lovely. Her mother, Ma, is prone to sighing and pessimism, but I hope she lightens up by the end of the book.

I'm gonna put up a post soon of various gutenberg books I like very much. Where The Mountain Meets The Moon won't be on it, as it is a brand new book. If the end of it is as good as the start, which I will tell you, I definitely rec it for purchase. Grace Lin has a way with words I rather like.