OUT OF OZ by Gregory Maguire, 2011.

   This latest by Maguire concerns mainly the coming of age of Elphaba's granddaughter, a little green girl named Rain, and her coming into her own during a dreadful time of chaos in Oz. The Free State of Munchkinland is in revolt, Rain's great-uncle Shell Thropp has declared himself the divine Emperor of the Emerald City and Loyal Oz, Glinda has been put under house arrest at Mockbeggar Hall, and the witch Mombey rules in Munchkinland with a young man named Tip in her clutches. War has begun, involving troops (later including Animals), dragon attacks, refugees, political intrigues, and magic. Elphaba's Grimmerie is being hunted by the desperate power seekers, and the witch's broom is still in the picture. But alas, no Elphaba, and how I wished for her to make an appearance in this mostly dire, gloomy and dismal sort of tale that has some spots of brightness.

The novel seemed uneven to me, parts of it read really well and were quite enjoyable, others not so much. The author is possessed of a wonderful imagination and when it shines it is like gold. His clever references to things from Baum's stories and the movie--"what a world, what a world," one character says, are fun for the Oz fan; when multiple pairs of the ruby slippers that Dorothy wore were found and thrown away as useless, that made for a good inside reference. However, for the most part, I was disappointed and unsatisfied by this whole story. Bringing Dorothy Gale back to Oz was a master stroke, and I was thoroughly entertained every time she was on the page--she's 16 by this time, although decades had passed in Oz--but he should have used her more than he did. To bring her back for a huge courtroom drama in which she convicted of murdering Elphaba and Nessarose and then escapes to do--what? Not a whole lot. I personally think he made a miscalculation by not reuniting her at some point with Glinda. How could you not have them meet again? The parts covering Glinda were well done: Glinda under house arrest by order of General Cherrystone and having to make do with fewer servants and doing her own cooking seemed on the mark, as well as her scenes with Rain; her meeting Rain after some years was very fitting. Glinda is still beautiful and rather clueless, but a great character nonetheless. The Cowardly Lion (Brr) was majestic, funny, and at times stole the show as far as interest goes. I found it quite appropriate that he who formerly lacked courage was put in charge of the Emerald City and did a bang up job of it. The whole Tip episode was interesting, but as I was familiar with Tip's story from Baum's books and realized its outcome, it felt rather anti-climactic to the story. And Mombey--enjoyed his portrayal of that character--but what happened to Mombey? The reader doesn't really know.

Maguire's characters took way too many journeys around the country for too many pages for my taste, I became weary reading so much of that. Enjoyed his cameos of characters like General Jinjur (Jinjuria), Jellia Jamb, and others (like Miss Pfanee and Shenshen) from Baum's and his own stories. Liked the spots with Nanny (who knows more than she tells about what happened to Elphaba) and Chistery, the flying monkey. Liir and Candle? Nor? Wish I could have cared more about them. Disappointed in the novel's conclusion--the ending just seemed so rambling and meandering and left me feeling unsettled and unsatisfied. He answered some questions but left other things unresolved, which I didn't like. Even though I'm done with the book and have thought about it for a few days, I still feel conflicted over it. Parts of it I liked and parts I didn't. I wanted so much to like the entire book, but I didn't. I had really hoped for a more fitting entry for the conclusion of the series, and I don't feel it provided that.

This is purported to be the last volume of Maguire's Wicked Years series, and I hope that is true. While I'm not sorry to have read all of the novels, I still think that Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, is still the best of the lot, and that with this story, the series has run its course.

THE REAL WIZARD OF OZ: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF L. FRANK BAUM by Rebecca Loncraine, 2009.

An articulate account of a quite fascinating and lively American writer, the creator of the Wizard of Oz stories. Born and raised in New York State, but resided in such far flung areas as South Dakota, Chicago, and Hollywood, Lyman Frank Baum was one of a large and somewhat unconventional family. This biography, by an English scholar, pulls together the varied facets of Baum's life as an actor, playwright, storekeeper, oilman, salesman, and author--a life of failures and successes, fortunes and bankruptcy--and presents them in an easy to follow narrative. She has taken available research and made use of several special collections of Baum material in writing this account, and manages to show how different pieces of Baum's life truly affected his writing of the Oz stories as well as other works--he wrote other series and novels under at least half a dozen other names in the course of his career. His marriage to Maud Gage, daughter of a prominent feminist, and the raising of the four sons is covered in depth. The author is very good with her descriptions of  major influences on Baum--the bleak Dakota prairies, the Native American troubles of the West (Wounded Knee took place during Baum's residence in Dakota), family issues with various siblings and relatives, the Civil War veterans, and how he incorporated many of these things into his stories. Loncraine also dispels several of the myths concerning Baum--for instance, the name "Oz" was not taken from his filing cabinet as has been told before, but actually sprang from his own imagination during the writing of the original story.
  I would recommend this for anyone who's a fan of the Oz series or movie, or as simply a good popular biography of a fascinating individual who in fact created the first wholly American fairy tale.