The Latest Oz Reading

Okay, the pile is getting big again, and I still have some material in it that's been sitting here at least a year. So I may as well just do a lightning round version and give some quick impressions rather than my usual drawn-out thoughtful posts. Ready? Here we go!

• The Oracle of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire. Book two of Another Day, the trilogy of Rain's adventures after Out of Oz. The middle book of a trilogy is often the disappointing one, as we all know what's happening now, but there's still a long way to go, but we don't get a definitive conclusion yet. But I'm happy to say that there were some surprises in this one. A few more characters from Oz turn up, and the identity of the titular oracle took me by surprise. Plus, things are set up well for the conclusion.
• The program book for OzCon International 2023. Hey, I've been to every edition of this con since 1980, I wasn't going to stop now! I talked about the one new piece of fiction in it in last week's short story roundup, and for just about everything else, you really had to be there. (Start making plans for next year's con NOW! It will be July 26-28, 2024.)
• Scarlet Witch #7. This issue of Wanda Maximoff's latest comic book series slipped under my comic-buying radar, so I'm thankful that a friend was able to acquire it and send it to me. Yeah, Wanda goes to Oz—and it's book Oz, with mentions of L. Frank Baum and silver shoes. Some interesting mechanics, as I gather the antagonist here is a new character, and one that may cause issues down the road. But Wanda figures out a clever way to get out of a jam, and all is right…for now…
• Return to Oz by Joan D. Vinge. Yes, it's the novelization of the 1985 Disney movie, which I hadn't read for nearly forty years. (Hey, wait a minute, I interviewed Vinge at a panel at OzCon a few years ago, why didn't I get this autographde???) It's a pretty straightforward novelization, but there are a few scenes in it that got cut from the finished movie, and we also get to see inside many characters' heads in ways we couldn't on screen. A fun, nostalgic revisit.
• Stairway to Oz by Robin Hess. Just how did the Shaggy Man's brother get to the Nome Kingdom in Tik-Tok of Oz? This book explains. But the stairway is still active and viable, so when an American boy and his grandparents find it, they have adventures of their own as they try to stop the latest Nome invasion of Oz.
• Geronimo Stilton Classic Tales: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I knew there was a version of Oz in the long-running Geronimo Stilton series, but for the longest time I could only find the Italian original, and not an English translation. But it finally appeared in English recently, and I was not disappointed. This is a surprisingly faithful retelling of the original book, with charming illustrations and a lot of words enlarged and colored. I presume this is a quirk of this series, but there seemed to be no sense or reason for why those particular words were emphasized. One fun twist is that, since Geronimo Stilton is a mouse, Dorothy and all her friends are depicted as mice. This could have made for a bit of an awkward incident when the Tin Woodman chases off the wildcat. But a little change meant that in this book, doing so rescues the Queen of the Rabbits, not Field Mice!
• Ozma of Oz, or The Magnet of Love by L. Frank Baum. This is one of L. Frank Baum's preliminary scripts for the stage show that would eventually become The Tik-Tok Man of Oz. Let's just say I believe Baum was a better author than he was a playright, even though he probably longed to be the latter more than the former. The biggest change between this script and The Tik-Tok Man of Oz is the songs, as these are all Baum's lyrics. He seems to have found a more sympatico collaborator in Louis F. Gottschalk, because they are head over heels above what's in this book. Still, it's fun seeing into Baum's mind, and the evolution of this show.
• We've had it for a few years now, but I finally got around to reading Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation by Lou Scheimer and Andy Mengels. Not only was I part of that generation of kids who watche a lot of Filmation cartoons when they were new, they were responsible for Journey Back to Oz. But this book is also important for Laura, since they also made the Aquaman cartoons back in the '60s, and she's a big Aquaman fan. Oz and Aquaman actually take up very little of this book, but there were so many other shows I know in it that I had a great time reading this. It's much more Scheimer's life story and a chronological history of Filmation, so if you're looking for detailed production notes and episode guides, this is not the book you are looking for. There's still lots of useful information, however.
• And finally, for now, The Maid of Arran by L. Frank Baum. (Full disclosure time: I was a proofreader on this book, and received an acknowledgement for my contributions, small though they were.) Yes, at long last, one of L. Frank Baum's earliest popular works, the play The Maid of Arran, gets a book publication. And what a book it is! It would have been of great interest if it were just the script, maybe with a few annotations and a scholarly essay or two. But editor Marcus Mébès does so much more here! There are a number of essays (plus an original short stoy by Robert Baum about his great-grandfather, later reprinted in Oziana), two chapters from A Princess of Thule by William Black (the novel the play is based on), cast biographies, a complete rundown of where the show played, and contemporary reviews. I don't see what else could fit in here! The highlight is probably "The Peculiar Pedigree of Sheila O'Mara, Maid of Arran" by Éamon S. Green, a thorough examination of the story and how it came to be dramatized—several times! No, Baum was not the first to put it on stage, and therein lies a sordid tale of copyright piracy and the state of nineteenth century show business.

All right, that's it for now. But I hope to have some more quick hits up soon, mostly on comic books and graphic novels.

The Latest Oz Reading

Yes, another roundup of Oz, Ozzy, Oz-related, and Oz-adjacent books I've read this year:

• The first of two books I've read before, but now have new editions, is Mary Louise and Josie O'Gorman by "Edith Van Dyne". In this case, Ms. Van Dyne is not L. Frank Baum, as the book was published in 1922, three years after he died. This is from after Emma Speed Sampson writing the series. This is also the final book by "Edith Van Dyne" for my collection, as I now have all titles published under that name. Back to the book, though, this is badly misnamed, as Mary Louise is barely in it. This is definitely Josie's book, and she is certainly the more interesting character. When Mary Louise offers to turn the mansion she inherited (it's much too large for a young couple, just married) over to the Dorfield Children's Home Society, it sets a whole series of events into motion when a mysterious woman comes to town and presents two children to the society. Their story raises suspicions, and the girls believe they may not be orphans. This puts Josie O'Gorman, Girl Detective, on the trail, and she ends up traveling to Atlanta and Indiana, taking on new identities and occupations to uncover the mystery. Naturally, in the end, the family is reunited and the bad people get their just rewards. But it's no wonder that this was the last book to feature Mary Louise in the title, as Josie is certainly the star.
• The second book I already have an earlier edition of, but it seemed appropriate to get the new, hardcover edition of The Gardener's Boy of Oz by Phyllis ann Karr after having read The Scorecrow of Oz earlier. Pon is now King of Jinxland, but as it's Queen Gloria who actually rus things, he has little to do, and decides to try fishing his father, King Phearce, out of the pond he was buried in. Enlisting the aid of Grewl, the former King Krewl and now the gardener's boy, they succeed, only for the three of them to slip further into the pond and into all kinds of adventures underground, even making their way to the other side of the world and having an audience with Tititi-Hoochoo. Candy Longtaw, meanwhile, is a Native American girl who ends up having adventures of her own, and even coming up with a novel way to cross the Deadly Desert. In the end, everyone meets up and secrets are uncovered, families are reunited, and lots of other stuff happens. It's a big, sprawling book that touches on a lot of other bits of Oz, but Karr also creates a lot of new lore as well. It had been a very long time since I'd last read it, so this was a nice revisit.
• Under the Influence of Oz by Marin Elizabeth Xiques and Chris Dulabone isn't really an Oz book, as it continues the authors' previous adventures in Goblin Grotto, a land underneath Oz inhabited by (naturally) goblins. The inhabitants of Heartbreak Hostel, a home for the homeless, seem to be losing their memories and identities, and hostile forces are moving in to take advantage and turn the hostel into a money-making resort. Of course it all works out in the end, and the Cowardly Lion and Tik-Tok come in towards the end to bring in an Oz element.
• Stairway to Oz by Robin Hess. Ryan is visiting his grandparents in Colorado. Curiosity gets the best of him, and he opens the locked door into the basement, where he finds himself in the Nome Kingdom! Yes, his grandparents' house is the one previously owned by the Shaggy Man's brother. Like Shaggy's brother, Ryan ran into trouble with the Nomes, but he manages to deal with them. But there's been a coup in the Nome Kingdom, and the new King intends to invade Oz! Ryan recruits his grandparents, some Nomes who prefer King Kaliko, and other allies to save the day and rid Oz of the Nomes. I liked the premise of the starway, and that Ryan actually brought adults to Oz with him.
• And finally (for now), The Brides of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire, the first of the "Another Day" trilogy that follows Rain, Elphaba's granddaughter, after the events of Out of Oz. Rain and Iskinaary, the Goose, wash up on the shore of an island inhabited by seven women who have important spiritual duties to perform. Suffering amnesia, Rain's presence upsets the balance of life on the island. Lucikles, the examiner from the mainland, comes for his annual visit, and doesn't know what to do, but decides to let Rain stay there until he can get instructions. He arrives on the mainland in the aftermath of an invasion, and it is some time before he can make his report and receive those instructions. Then things start to get very interesting. Other than Rain—and it even takes a while for her to enter the story—there isn't a lot of Oz in this book, but events at the end indicate that may change as the series progresses. Maguire paints a fascinating portrait of this new part of his world, which is something like ancient Greece but with the efficiency of the Roman or Chinese civil service. He is definitely setting something up, and I'm actually looking forward to seeing what happens next.

And that's all the books I have right now. But there will be more of these reports, as I also have a surprisingly large pile of comic books and graphic novels here.

Oz in Jeopardy!

Only one clue today in a game where Alex was still the defending champion. In the Double Jeopardy! round, the category was Prologues, and the clue for $1200 was:

Monica, the challenger in the middle, rang in first and correctly responded, of course, with, "What is Wicked?" Despite this, she came in third and did not win—but neither did Alex, as he came in second to the new champion, Todd.

The Latest Oz Reading

I've just started my latest wave of Oz reading. Rather than save it all up and try to catch up all in one go, I'm going to see if I can blog about what I read as soon as possible this time around. (Hey, it's still summer break for a couple more weeks, I may actually be able to pull it off.) First up was Adolf Hitler in Oz. Yes, you read that title correctly. It seems Der Führer faked his own death in 1945, and used an experimental time machine to escape Germany. However, it didn't take him to the future, it took him to Oogaboo! There, he decides to start over again, and tries to take over Oz. Of course, Ozma isn't going to stand for that, but she decides to let him try for reasons of her own. It all comes crashing down around Hitler's head, of course — and that's when things really get interesting. The last third of the book may be the best examination yet I've ever seen of what it's like to be a regular, ordinary citizen of Oz and what it's like to live there, especially in the Emerald City. The problems and thoughts of Adolf contrasted with the kindness shown to him by Ozma and her court makes for a very powerful message of what it really means to be a good person. In reading this book, I couldn't help thinking about Gregory Maguire's Wicked and how his first thought for a subject for a book about how people become evil wasn't the Wicked Witch of the West, but Adolf Hitler. I don't think this is the book he would have written, but it does show how someone who is that wicked can, perhaps, still be rehabilitated and learn to be a better person.

And hey, the new comics order came, too! Here are the Oz-related books I've read so far:

• Fables #131. A new arc starts in this issue that doesn't appear to be Ozzy at all. However, yet another Ozma cameo, as she is still trying to cure the Big Bad Wolf. The rest of the issue is pretty good, and the new arc looks promising, but if you're reading this just because you're an Oz fan, you can probably give this one a pass (unless you're an über-completist).
• Oz by Zenescope. They've teased it for some time now, but at last the company that seems to be mostly about reimaginings of classic children's stories delves into Oz at last. Everyone looks a lot sexier in this version, of course, because that's the sort of thing Zenescope does. We don't know all of what's going on in this six-issue miniseries yet, of course, but something escapes from Oz and makes its way to Kansas. Dorothy, longing to get away from the farm, adopts the wolf who comes to her and names it Toto. Some slinky lady in black comes to the farm to take Toto back, but Uncle Henry drives her off, so the lady in black whips up the tornado. Dorothy's in Oz, Munchkins, and then a slinky lady in green. There are elements of the 1925 silent movie, Tin Man, and the Russian "Magic Land" series here. There are no real surprises or new twists on Oz in here (yet), but I suspect Zenescope doesn't know that. The map of Oz in the back is all messed up, as these folks are clearly basing this solely on the book and/or movie, ignoring the rest of the series.
• The Steam Engines of Oz #1 picks up where the Free Comic Book Day issue left off, as Victoria and her allies are on the run while trying to figure out how to stop the Emerald City from overrunning the rest of the country. They make it out into the countryside, where a pack of lions decides that Victoria would make a nice meal. Then along come some Munchkins to either help the situation or further complicate it (we'll find out next issue). It's an interesting, steampunk version of Oz where technology is now the system of power, not magic. The Tin Woodman is a tyrant, and he's the only familiar character we've seen so far. We're getting major hints, however, that we'll see more before long. Victoria, having lived in the Emerald City all her life, has some great reactions to her first encounters with nature (there is a terrific splash page of her with a bunch of butterflies), and I'm interested in seeing where this goes next. The publishers have already solicited the first issue of the second series (apparently this will be presented in a series of series, each with a small number of issues), so it seems there is a lot more story to tell.

Next up will be some remnants from this year's Winkie Convention.

The Latest Oz Reading

I have been very busy lately. Fortunately for me, that's because I have a new job. (And did the first quarter already just end? My, how time flies when you're busy!) However, that also means I've had less time to either read Oz books or blog about them. But the end of Daylight Saving Time gives me an extra hour today, so I thought I'd do some badly needed catch-up work. Besides, I've just finished my latest spate of Oz reading, and figured I'd better write about these books before I forget all about them.

• First up is the last of last month's Oz comics. The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #4 wraps up the retelling of The Wizard of Oz set in the Old West with — what else? — a big gunfight between Gale and the Wicked Witch. But Gale does not finally make it home. Instead, she's gained a new title. This is the final issue of the miniseries, but the story continues in the forthcoming ongoing series, for which there is a preview at the end of this issue. Since some of the new characters include Jack Pumpkinhead, Tippetarius, and the Wheelers, it looks like the creators are tapping the rest of the Baum Oz books.
• I've had a .pdf file of Shadows of the Emerald City to review for some time now, and it's finally bubbled up to the top of my list. As this is a collection of Oz/horror short stories, I'm reading it two at a time, rather than all at once, so I guess I'd better review each story as I read them. First up was "Dr. Will Price and the Curious Case of Dorothy Gale" by Mark Onspaugh, in which a psychiatrist, fascinated by the case of a Kansas girl who went insane after having gone missing for some time, meets Dorothy, now an old woman in an asylum, and tries to find out more about her. He decides to take her out to her aunt and uncle's old farmstead to see what kinds of memories will arise, only to find himself in Oz! Let's just say Oz is not as kind to outsiders as it was when Dorothy came. The second story, "Pumpkinhead" by Rajan Khanna, sees the latest visitor from the Outside World meeting Jack Pumpkinhead, and the troubles that result from some of the awkward questions she asks him about his old heads. This is not my usual kind of reading, but so far, these stories have been fascinating. These writers clearly know their Oz, as both stories talk about aspects of the later books (the first story even names the Good Witch of the North Locasta!). But these are also clearly looking-glass versions of Oz, very much written for more mature readers than anything Baum intended. There are a lot of Oz fans who will not want to read this book, but if you are a more brad-minded reader, you may very well find something in this book to enjoy.
• Tales Told in Oz by Gregory Maguire is exactly what the title says: A collection of tales told in Maguire's version of Oz, as seen in his Wicked books. Think of this as the Ozian equivalent of The Tales of Beedle the Bard in the Harry Potter world. It's slim, a fast read, and a must have for Wicked fans. Others may want to take a pass. However, the book is also inexpensive, and proceeds go to benefit the Friends of the West Hartford Library, so that's a win-win situation.
• When I was a very young Oz fan, and there weren't so many Oz books to collect, I managed to get a number of titles from the Pamami Press, run by another young Oz fan, Michael O. Riley. These were small, limited press editions printed by hand, of short stories and essays by L. Frank Baum. Now that we're both a lot older, I'm happy to report that Riley has started Pamami Press up again, and his first new offering for sale in the twenty-first century is Fairy Tales on the Stage. In this article, first published in the run-up to the debut of The Woggle-Bug (his dramatization of The Marvelous Land of Oz), Baum discusses the evolution of how fairy tales have been presented on the stage (er, pretty obvious from that title, actually). Riley slips in a few pages from an aborted earlier edition of this book that he tried to publish in 1985.
• My Rachel Cosgrove Payes novel this time around is Love's Charade. Yes, back to the romances. In fact, this is the first of a five-volume series about the seven Lassiter sisters, whose classical father named them all after the Pleiades! He's not wealthy, but wants to make sure that they marry well, so his childless sister-in-law offers to introduce them to proper London society. Naturally, they want the oldest daughter, Alcyone (Allie for short — thank goodness most of them have sensible nicknames), to be first, but she's shy and reluctant, and refuses to spend the season in London, so the more outgoing Merrie (short for Merope) gets to go. She's quite smitten with a young Irish lord, Beau Fallon, but as the second son, he doesn't have any money, and is looking for a rich wife so that he can buy his own estate and farm. The usual hijinks and misunderstandings ensue, and it naturally all works out in the end, and not without a few twists. Overall, a satisfying but fluffy little read. What surprised me the most is how tame this one was. Unlike the other romances I've read by Rachel, there were no scenes of bodice-ripping, if you know what I mean. What makes this especially astonishing is that this book was published by Playboy Paperbacks!
• Fables: Animal Farm is the second collection of the Fables comic book series, and deals with the farm in upstate New York where the non-human Fables live — or, as some of them see it, imprisoned. Snow White takes Rose Red up there to work off some of her punishment (after the events of the first book), only to find herself in the middle of a rebellion. It all works out well in the end, but not before a few fences are torn down. Not a lot of Oz in this one, either, but Bufkin makes a few appearances.
• I got a double dose of books reread this time around. First was Dorothy of Oz by Roger S. Baum, which I wanted to reread before the movie comes out. (I've had it in my to-read pile for some time, and hoped to red it a lot sooner, but the delay in the movie's release made me not want to read it too soon). I've never been a big fan of Roger Baum's books, because he doesn't seem to realize that there are other books outside of The Wizard of Oz — either that, or he's writing to an audience that he thinks can only handle books related to The Movie. However, Dorothy of Oz has a lot less of this problem, at least. It seems to be set somewhere between Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz and The Emerald City of Oz, since the Wizard is back in Oz and Ozma's on the throne, but Dorothy isn't living in Oz yet. But I think I've pinpointed what bugged me about this book when it first came out, and still does: The lack of conversation. Baum spends too much time writing descriptions about what people are saying when it could just as easily be handled with the characters actually talking to each other. Beyond that, it was a pretty straightforward, if not terribly exciting or original, adventure in Oz. And hey, I've already found one big difference between the book and the movie: In the book, the Jester is not the Wicked Witch of the West's brother!
• The other reread was Masquerade in Oz by Bill Campbell and Irwin Terry. I wanted to reread this for Halloween anyway. When I received an extra copy as my prize for winning the quiz at the Winkie Convention, I figured that was a sign to really dig in. Betsy Bobbin's birthday is coming up, and since her birthday is October 31, she wants to have a masquerade party. So all of her Oz friends decide to dress up as each other! Being the birthday girl, Betsy gets to be Ozma. Ozma, meanwhile, dresses as Jellia Jamb. The Scarecrow dresses as the Tin Woodman, Nick Chopper becomes Jack Pumpkinhead, Dorothy becomes Scraps, Tik-Tok becomes Cap'n Bill, and so forth. It's all a lot of fun, and only Scraps decides not to take part. Good thing, too, because when Scraps starts playing around with some of the Wizard's magic, everyone else believes that they really are who they're disguised as. Yes, Chaos ensues, and Scraps is the only one who can straighten out her mess, since she's still herself. She gets to visit all kinds of nooks and crannies of the royal palace looking for a way to fix things. She does, of course, but not before a lot of mischief is made.
• I wasn't at all sure what Aligned Yellow Bricks: The Road Back to Kansas by Bob Woodward was about when I bought it, and was surprised to find that it was another Oz-themed book about business and how to make it better. Hmm, okay, I thought as I kept reading, not the first of these I've read. The fun part turned out to be later in the book, when Woodward sets up a pretend company to demonstrate how his ideas work. The executives who work for the Professor Marvel Manufacturing Plant have some very familiar or evocative names, like Howard Lee Lyon, Noah Hart, Glenn Duwich, and N. Todd Ohtu (say it out loud to get the connection). The General Manager? Grayton Powell Falloz, of course. Each chapter is also headed with a quote from The Movie, although connecting the quote to the main topic of the chapter is sometimes a really long stretch.
• Dorothy: The Darker Side of Oz by Scott Stanford is a loose retelling of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in a Lovecraftian horror-themed version of Oz. This is not a book that we needed, as there are already all kinds of dark reinterpretations of Oz out there. Still, this one had a couple of interesting twists, like the Wicked Witch's final (or was it?) fate, and the Scarecrow always having to remind himself who people were, because otherwise he'd forget. But like so many self-published books, this is a book in serious need of an editor. Dorothy continuously referred to as a "young girl" even though she's eighteen. The author uses "your" a lot when he means "you're", and the word for falling back is "recede", not "reseed". I also think about a third of the book could be cut without losing much, particularly in the beginning. Descriptions kept going on longer than needed, and he uses a lot of the same ones repeatedly when some variety would have helped. Purists should stay away from this one, as should those with a low tolerance for a lack of editing.
• And finally, the next comic order came while I was still working on the last one, so I have a few Oz issues coming up. But I had to jump in and read The Road to Oz #1. As usual, Eric and Skottie are in fine form, and I have no complaints. This issue covers Dorothy meeting the Shaggy Man (of course) to the arrival in Foxville, but they haven't met the King yet. First, I like how Skottie Young is handling Dorothy over the series. She looks a little older now (which makes sense), and her hair is in a different, simpler style here. The Shaggy Man looks pretty unkempt. Button-Bright doesn't look quite as pretty as he does in the book, which is probably a good thing. I wasn't sure about snow on the approach to Foxville, but it made sense when the foxes came out dressed like Soviet soldiers, complete with fur hats! Genius! I look forward to the rest of the series, especially how Young handles Polychrome next issue.

Except for a few comics, that's about it for now. I'm not sure when I'll be able to get back to such a long list of Oz reading, but it will verylikely include more Fables, another Lassiter sister looking for a husband, a newly reprinted Denslow classic, and other surprises.

A New Book for a Good Cause

I have a little souvenir of this year's Winkie Convention next to me right now that I want to share with all of you. It was my prize for winning the costume contest (another story, maybe I'll tell you about that later), and it's surprising that this book hasn't gotten out there and isn't more well known among the greater Oz community. It's a slim little volume called Tales Told from Oz, it's by Gregory Maguire, and it appears to be to his Wicked Years books what The Tales of Beedle the Bard is to the Harry Potter books. It's a series of old Ozzish tales, told in all parts of Maguire's version of Oz at many different points in its history. What's especially nice about this book is that it's cheap, and it benefits the Friends of the West Hartford Library. This was a library that was devastated by Hurricane Irene, and was forced to close (although I gather it's back in business now). I'm all for this sort of thing, so I thought I'd do what I could to get the word out about this book. So, if you're intrigued, go take a look at the book's page. If you're interested and can help, you can probably afford a copy or two. If not, then at least spread the word.

The Latest Oz Reading

I just finished my latest round of Oz reading this week with Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire, the fourth and final volume in his "Wicked Years" series. I appear to be something of an outlier in the Oz community, in that I liked Wicked — even though, at the time, I was totally expecting not to. No, it wasn't the same Oz as L. Frank Baum created, but it was a good book with some interesting issues. I was less taken with Son of a Witch and A Lion Among Men, but I admired what he was trying to say. Well, Maguire has wrapped things up on a high note, and I thoroughly enjoyed Out of Oz, possibly even more than Wicked. The main character (although we don't realize this at first) is Rain, Elphaba's granddaughter born at the end of Son of a Witch, and her relationship with the Grimmerie, the most potent book of magic in Oz. Munchkinland has declared its independence from the rest of Oz, and much of this book deals with the war that Oz is conducting to bring the Munchkins back into the country. We first meet Rain at Glinda's new digs, where Rain is a servant, and one of the few to be retained when the Oz army takes over, turning the hall into a staging area for the war. Rain eventually leaves when she uses the Grimmerie and helps Glinda stop the Oz army, but she is forced to flee. Rain then takes up with the Clock of the Time Dragon and the party escorting it around Oz, which includes Brrr, the Cowardly Lion. Dorothy comes back to Oz, and encounters the dark side of the Munchkin justice system, but Brrr helps her escape and she tags along. The Clock and its crew are on the run, trying to hide Rain, Dorothy, and the Grimmerie from both sides of the war. Eventually, Rain is dropped off at St. Prowd's school in the Gillikin Country, where she finally gets the education she's always wanted, and meets a boy named Tip. She's discovered at St. Prowd's, and eventually makes her way to her grandmother's old place at Kiamo Ko in the Winkie Country. Finally, she and Tip find their way to the Emerald City, where Mombey, Tip's old caretaker and the new ruler of Munchkinland, tries to talk peace with Shell, Elphaba's brother and the current ruler of Oz. I don't want to tell you more, because this is where it starts to get really interesting, but if you know your Oz history, you will likely be able to figure out at least some of what happens next.

As I said, I really enjoyed this book. For one thing, it felt a lot more unified as a story than the other books in the series. Wicked only showed us parts of Elphaba's life, and the other two books were more explorations of characters than proper stories. But Out of Oz felt like it was going somewhere, even if it sometimes took a while to get there. The final chapters nicely wrap up both the war and the series. The only enigma is probably Rain's final fate, but it's pretty clear that the title applies very much to her. I also liked all of the little references to the rest of the Oz books. Maguire has done this before, of course, but this time it felt like there were even more. There's even a character mentioned (in passing) named Handy Mandy, although it's clearly not the title character of the 1937 Oz book written by Ruth Plumly Thompson.

Having said all that, I'm not sure I can recommend this book, at least not on its own. To be sure, if you've already enjoyed Wicked or any of the other books in the series, by all means you'll want to see how it ends. But if you're not a fan of Maguire's take on Oz, this is not going to change your mind. And I don't recommend it as the first of Maguire's books you read, either, because it helps to know what's come before. However, I do think it's accessible enough that if this is your first exposure to Maguire's Oz, you won't be lost, either.

That's it for the major Oz reading for now. However, a new shipment of comic books is coming soon, and there should be a few Oz and Oz-related titles in there, so this blog won't be totally bereft of Oz reading posts.