Wendy Spinale completes her Everland trilogy in this highly anticipated final book: Ozland. All the books in the series have similarities to other fairy tales and as is obvious by the title, Ozland has several references to The Wizard of Oz. The fight for the crown and search for an awful disease continues. Many of the remaining characters from the previous books are a part of this one but we are introduced to a few new ones. Gail and Ginger are characters who play major roles this time and their bravery is second to none. In addition to the human characters, we meet some cyborg-type characters, continuing the imaginative steampunk theme we’ve seen previously in the series. This suspenseful finale can get a bit heavy at times, don’t expect a light and breezy read as it mostly consists of war or preparing for war, but Spinale does a great job of focusing on a hopeful end. Fans of story spin-offs will enjoy this clever series!
This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Scholastic Press (A Scholastic Imprint)
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: None
Violence/Gore: Many (61) brief incidents including characters will potentially be killed; many verbal threats; threatened with gun and sword; references to characters suffering from a life-threatening disease; references to creatures killing people and people killing creatures; many references to people who have died for various reasons including disease and war; references to battles; second-hand report of attempted murder; reference to character nearly drowning or dying of hypothermia; character choking another; characters shoving and punching; characters have sores on their hands from a disease; characters attacked and killed by realistic or humanlike mechanical creatures; characters stung by mechanical insects; reference to hunting; creature kills animal and hunts human; character crashes into the ocean; living character gets encased in a metal tomb; character whipped; soldiers hurting people; bombing homes and fire killing people; explosions killing soldiers; a few non-detailed scenes of characters getting killed. One extended war scene including characters getting killed.
Sex/Nudity: A few (8) brief incidents including holding hands; touching face; kissing; hugging; arm around.
Mature Subject Matter:
Many characters suffer from a life-threatening disease, death, war.
Alcohol / Drug Use:
Alcohol is given to a girl to warm her.
