44 of 46 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Once More with Feeling, Nov 2 2011
By The Ginger Man - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Out Of Oz: The Final Volume in the Wicked Years (Hardcover)
Out of Oz is a significant upgrade on the prior book in this series and the best work Maguire has done since Wicked. Even before the story begins, the reader is rewarded with summaries of the 3 prior Oz books, a timeline comparing events in this series with those from Baum's first book, three pages of family trees and maps of Oz, Emerald City and Shiz. Rather than focusing on less interesting secondary characters as he did in A Lion Among Men, Maguire's Prologue teases the reader with a reintroduction of Dorothy Gale. The 16 year old is visiting San Francisco with Auntie Em and Uncle Henry as part of an attempt by the latter to dissolve her illusions of Oz and prepare their niece for the responsibilities of adulthood. Her aunt advises, "You must put the corrupting influence of Oz behind you," while her uncle counsels, "the world is wonderful enough without you having to invent an alternative."
Dorothy compares the Palace Hotel unfavorably to the Empire Palace in Emerald City and carries Toto in a wicker basket for old times sake. While she has picked the wrong time to visit San Francisco, the author has chosen a great way to begin his final trip to Oz.
I don't want to give any of the plot away for the remainder of the book except to say that it moves more quickly than books 2 and 3, includes most of the lands of Oz and characters from the Series and, most importantly, reintroduces Dorothy Gale to the land she made famous. Character development is a strong suit in this volume as well. Glinda is noble, eccentric, caring and yet totally unengaged with the problems around her. In directing her staff to cook for the occupying troops from the Emerald City, she says, "You must cook it. You need not season it and you must not poison it." She struggles with her own weakness as a leader and learns to take a stand. Similarly, the Lion wrestles with how to deal forcefully wth adversity while Liir lurches slowly from withdrawal to commitment.
Maguire wisely returns to the major theme of Wicked in the trial of Dorothy Gale for the murder of the Witches of East and West. What truly happened and how it is remembered becomes dependent upon who tells the story and who benefits from the narrative.
In talking about the major character of this book, Nod says: "She's young even for her age. She still lives in the magical universe. She'll outgrow it, to the tune of pain and suffering. We all do." With this series and this final entry to it, Maguire has invited his readers to reside briefly in Baum's universe once more. While the world may be wonderful enough on its own, Maguire has succeeded in enhancing our enjoyment of it with Out of Oz.
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Out of Oz and just in time..., Nov 24 2011
By G. Shirer - Published on Amazon.com
I just finished this book and I'm a bit conflicted over it.
On the one hand, I love the vision of Oz that Gregory Maguire painted, his use of langauge, his characters.
But then there's the ending of this book, which, ultimately, left me feeling unfulfilled and flummoxed. It was entirely too ambivalent for my tastes.
With all of that taken into consideration, however, I can't say that I dislike this book. It was okay, which is sad because I thought it could have been so much better.
26 of 29 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic end to the series!, Nov 2 2011
By Amanda Welling - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Out Of Oz: The Final Volume in the Wicked Years (Hardcover)
First Impressions: I can't even begin to describe how much I have loved the entire Wicked Years series! I began with the first book, Wicked, before it ever became a hit on Broadway and beyond and absolutely loved it from the very beginning. I even fell in love with A Lion Among Men, even though I didn't think it was the best in the series. So imagine my excitement when I was able to review this final novel in the series. Needless to say, I was ecstatic! The publisher even sent me a signed ARC which was amazing to me. Can you tell I really adore this author and his work?
First 50 Pages & Style of Writing: I knew from the start that this book would stay true to the, what I call, "Maguire" style right from the get go. Gregory Maguire writes in a very lyrical manner that I personally love, but not everyone will. His prose is beautiful and almost poetic in the way he describes different situations and characters. This book had no slow parts, and right from the beginning, the action kicked up and the plot sped off. It was much faster paced then the last book, and I was extremely happy with how the beginning began. If you haven't read the other books in the series, I would highly suggest you read them before beginning this book or you will be completely lost.
Plot: I'm not going to give much away here because the book was just released and I hate giving away spoilers. I will say that in this book we finally get to know Rain who is Liir's daughter. She is a very odd child and her parentage is a complete mystery to her. Other key characters in the edition are Liir, Glinda, the Cowardly Lion, and...Dorothy! Finally, Dorothy has her own unique role in this particular book besides staging a cameo! I honestly think that her parts in this book were some of my favorite in the whole series. For anyone who is a big fan of the original Wizard of Oz movie or the original Oz books, Dorothy will be a big surprise!
For the most part, the plot centers around the war between Oz and Munchkinland. Like I had said before, the plot is very fast paced and it is full of excitement. There is never a dull moment in this book! So many events happen in this book that at times it was difficult to keep up with all of it. I hate to say that because it makes it seem like it was too much, but it really wasn't. All of Gregory's books are like that. If it had been a shorter book, all of the action probably would have bothered me, but since this book is almost 600 pages in length, the author gives us plenty of time to digest everything that is happening.
Final Thoughts: This was an outstanding finale in an outstanding series! I wasn't disappointed at all with the final book. I think that the author did a really good job wrapping everything up nicely. Just like with any other great series, I am a little sad to see it end, but I'm extremely glad it did end with a high note. I would definitely recommend picking this one up!