The Sea Fairies
Product Description
Enchanting fantasy by creator of beloved “Oz” stories whisks young readers away on an exciting underwater adventure where they meet a school of beguiling mermaids, an aristocratic codfish and a bashful octopus, attend an elegant banquet, confront an awesome sea monster, and much more. Enhanced by 78 of John R. Neill’s original b/w illus.
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Even if you are a certified Baum fan, like me, don’t bother reading this book. It has no plot, no interesting characters, and in fact no rising action or climax to speak of. Nothing important happens until 3/4 of the way into it, and the rest is sappy bilge. Skip directly to the sequal, Sky Island, which is much, much better.
Rating: 2 / 5
The Sea Fairies
Frank took a break from the world of OZ and wrote this book, It’s the same sort of fomula but set in a coastal town. The kids and I liked it, but just not as much as the regular OZ series. It is however mentioned in the later Oz books as Frank liked to keep everyone happy and what better way than to have all his characters live in Oz?
Rating: 4 / 5
The Sea Fairies
This book is a real let down after reading all the Oz Books. It doesn’t have anywhere near the sparkle and pop of Baum’s other series and seems much more like a list of what-could-be sightings than a worthwhile story. That’s truly a shame because I was hoping to “keep the magic alive” (as it were) for my young children after finishing all the Oz books.
The story line is simple - Trot and Cap’n Bill (both migrated to Oz after a few more books) are temporarily transformed into a mermaid & merman for undersea adventures. They get captured by an evil wizard and eventually freed. The drawback is that the sea offers less of a chance for Oz’s remarkable imagination since he has to work with observable items and make them seem fantastical. He just doesn’t have as much room to work with as he does in Oz, which offers boundless opportunities for his near-endless imagination.
Maybe a Baum completist would enjoy this more, but it wasn’t for me.
Rating: 2 / 5
The Sea Fairies
This is the first of two books (the other is Sky Island) recounting the adventures in “fairy countries” of Marye “Trot” Griffiths and her dear friend, the one-legged sailorman known as Cap’n Bill, who live with Trot’s mother in a cottage on the California seacoast while her father is off sailing the seas. One day Trot expresses the wish to see a mermaid, but Cap’n Bill insists that “nobody ever [did it] and lived to tell the tale,” because “mermaids is fairies, and ain’t meant to be seen by us mortal folk.” The mermaids, who overhear, have other ideas, and invite the pair to visit them under the sea, even giving them half-fish forms and the ability to breathe underwater.
The mermaids’ society is fascinating, as even Cap’n Bill admits, but the ocean holds other creatures less benevolent; while sea serpents are “bashful and shy…[and] kind-hearted,” the “terrible deep-sea devilfish,” which have almost as much power as the mermaids, “are evil spirits who delight in injuring all who meet them” and are in league with the wicked sorcerer Zog.
The story is a bit slow getting started, as the two humans explore the mermaid realm and learn something of life in this very damp fairy country; but just about halfway through they are captured, along with two of their mermaid hostesses, by Zog’s devilfish and taken to his castle. Zog is a vengeful villain who “was created part man, part bird, part fish, part beast and part reptile, and such a monstrosity could not be otherwise than wicked;” he’s lived a long and weary 27,000 years and hates everything and everyone around him–especially the mermaids, who are immortal too but seem to enjoy it. Only one living thing has the power to destroy him–Anko, the sea serpent King of the Pacific. But as his prisoners, how are Trot and her friends to summon Anko to help them?
Baum’s imagination is in high gear here as it is in the better-known Oz books, and though not always exciting, the story is interesting and enjoyable. All 78 of the original illustrations by John R. Neill are included.
Rating: 4 / 5
The Sea Fairies
Sure, SEA FAIRIES is plotless, and SKY ISLAND is much better, but SEA FAIRIES has some strange, thought-provoking characters (besides the first appearance of Trot and Cap’n Bill). Starting with Zog himself, one of the few villians in Baum who is totally, unredeemably evil, and the only one who correctly perceives exactly how evil he is. Satan-like, he mourns his own absurd existance, frowning when happy and smiling sweetly when angry. Equally thought-provoking is his slave Sacho, maybe the most Christ-like character in Baum. I never knew, and still don’t, what to make of Anko. Baum’s other comedic-but-formidable good-guys like the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger are different because they are vulnerable and troubled; even Quox the Dragon is easier to believe in than Anko, who is one of the mightiest natural forces on the planet and represents good in one of Baum’s most epic good-vs-evil battles (the only greater one is in SANTA CLAUS)–and the jokes he unconsciously spouts and riffs on are too lame even for Baum who used some very bad ones! Mistaking Nebuchadnezzar’s name for “Nevercouldnever”–someone explain that to me please. It’s not even good baby-talk. ** UPDATE: On the other hand, upon rereading I find that some of it is just gut-bustingly funny. For instance:
“Oh, I’m very well, thank you,” answered Anko. “I never remember to
have had a pain but three times in my life. The last time was when
Julius Sneezer was on earth.”
“You mean Julius Caesar,” said Trot, correcting him.
“No, I mean Julius Sneezer,” insisted the Sea Serpent. “That was his
real name–Sneezer. They called him Caesar sometimes just because he
took everything he could lay hands on. I ought to know, because I
saw him when he was alive. Did you see him when he was alive, Cap’n
Bill?”
Here’s a question: does this edition include the incredibly beautiful color plates from the early editions? If yes, do they have the metallic border-pictures? These plates are some of Jno. R. Neill’s very best work, fully as beautiful as the original color plates in THE EMERALD CITY OF OZ with the green metallic ink, and the wonderful water-colors in DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD.
Rating: 4 / 5
The Sea Fairies