The Haunted Castle of Oz – A Review

            I recently read another novel out of The Royal Publisher of Oz, The Haunted Castle of Oz by Marcus Mebes, and illustrated by Kamui Ayami. One of the first things you’ll probably notice about the book are the illustrations, in fact, which are comparable to the classic Oz books. I really enjoyed them, and they keep the character designs of John R. Neill. The Haunted Castle of Oz is, as the title suggests, rather dark for an Oz book that keeps to the canon of the original books, but that just so happens to be right up my ally anyway. There were a couple parts that shocked me. It’s for the more mature fans of the books. Unlike something like Dorothy Must Die or Wicked it doesn’t feel the need to change Oz in any way just to tell a darker story, which I certainly appreciate. This is still very much the same Oz from the classic books. I will try not to spoil too much in this review, and I’ll leave out the major twists in the story, but be warned for some slight spoilers.

            The book has two parts. In Part I, there have been sightings of a ghost in the Emerald Palace, which is especially strange because no one has died in Oz since Ozma took the throne (in fact no one can die). This leaves the leadership of Oz puzzled. Ozma wishes to help the ghost, so she enlists the help of Dorothy, Betsy, Trot and Button-Bright, four children who immigrated to Oz from the outside world in the early 20^th century (this story takes place in more recent times). While pulling an all-nighter, the immortal children finally encounter the “ghost”, who reveals that he is a magical projection from a kingdom called Flora, which appears to be in a different dimension from Oz. He is Terrence, the prince of Flora. He wishes to usurp his uncle Gorsbenor, an evil king who killed Terrence’s parents to steal the throne, and then turned the citizens of Flora into his undead army. Terrence plans to do this by marrying a princess, which would qualify him to be a king and therefore seize the throne. Helping him is a wizard named Necronimus, a reformed former necromancer, who wanted to send Terrence to a kingdom that had spare princesses. It just so happens Dorothy was made a princess long ago, so he asks Dorothy for her hand in marriage (it helps to remember that Dorothy is over a century old, despite looking about ten years old, so she’s actually far older than Terrence). If this sounds a bit too naïve of a plan to actually work, it is, because as soon as the King finds out about these visitors, he sends soldiers to break into Terrence’s room and imprison them. Luckily Button-Bright escapes due to his impeccable ability to get lost, and manages to rescue the others. They make it back to Oz, although Terrence, Necronimus and a boy who works in the castle named Christian, can only exist in Oz in a ghostly form. They are nonetheless invited to stay in Oz. This brings us to the end of Part I.

            In Part II, two years later, Ozma realizes how unhappy the visitors from Flora are and how they haven’t managed to adjust to living in Oz. She decides it best to send a small army of characters from both L. Frank Baum’s and Ruth Plumly Thompson’s Oz books (as well as a surprising appearance from Zim, a character from The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz by Dorothy Grandy, a recent and very much still under copyright series of Oz books, who I’m told appears by permission) into Flora to help free it of its tyrant king, so that Terrence, Necronimus and Christian can return. I won’t spoil it from here as there are many surprising turns the story takes from this point on, but I will say that soon enough this group of misfits has to contend with the king’s undead army, and the mission proves far more difficult than they'd anticipated. Part II has far more mature themes than the first part, but it is very exciting.

            It was overall a fun read, and it was nice to see all my favorite Oz characters together again for a fresh and more modern adventure. It almost had the feel of a crossover due to how Oz contrasts with Flora, except the Kingdom of Flora isn't from an existing franchise. The book reads like a modern fantasy novel, and much as I’ve felt while reading other modern Oz works such as Sherwood Smith’s Oz books and to an extent the Dorothy Must Die series by Danielle Page, it’s satisfying to see these classic characters star in a modern adventure. It in fact keeps continuity not only with the original books but with many of the modern canon-friendly Oz books put out by The Royal Publisher of Oz as well; for example, I was surprised to see the reappearance of Tommy Kwikstep and General Jinjur’s son Perry, who, in a short story by Jay Davis included in The Lost Tales of Oz, become a couple. I noticed allusions to other more modern tales from Oz as well. This makes all of these stories including The Haunted Castle of Oz part of an ongoing Oz continuity that dates back to the original 40 books. It’s exciting to see the story continue and I’d like to think perhaps L. Frank Baum would be pleased that the universe he created is still going strong over a century after his death.  As a result of this continuity though, I will say it is probably best enjoyed by those familiar with the original series. Not that you couldn’t pick this book up and enjoy it without knowing about the Ruth Plumly Thompson Oz books and such, but it’s definitely a bonus if you are already familiar with them. Overall, I strongly recommend reading The Haunted Castle of Oz, it’s now one of my favorite modern Oz books.