This is the eleventh book in L. Frank Baum's 'Oz' series but it's the first in quite some time to seem like it was actually meant to be one of them. 'Tik-Tok of Oz' was an adaptation of a stage play that was in turn an adaptation of an earlier book in the series, 'Ozma of Oz', so it was far from original. 'The Scarecrow of Oz' was also an adaptation, this time of a movie; that was, in turn, an adaptation of an earlier book in the series, the very first one, 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'. Then 'Rinkitink in Oz' wasn't even an Oz novel, just one that Baum decided to end in Oz in order to shoehorn it into a rapidly problematic series.

This, on the other hand, is an 'Oz' story, an original 'Oz' story, the first honest new 'Oz' story since 'The Patchwork Girl of Oz' four years earlier. That's a really good thing. Unfortunately, as if Baum felt like he needed to make up for lost time, he hurls what seems like every character we've ever met in Oz into the fray and that gets quickly overwhelming. For instance, chapter one, which only runs for seven and a half pages in the Del Rey paperback edition, features Dorothy, Betsy Bobbin, Trot, Jellia Jamb, Scraps, Woozy, Button Bright, Aunt Em, the Scarecrow, Tik-Tok, the Shaggy Man, Cap'n Bill and the Wizard. Whew!

Just in case we get lost in that deluge of regulars, Baum makes it very clear at the very beginning of the chapter that Ozma has vanished. Page one, paragraph one, line one. She's gone. And, just in case you're screaming at the book for Dorothy to go to her magic picture so it can show her where Ozma is now, that's gone too. And so is Glinda's magic book that records everything that happens anywhere in Oz. And all her magic supplies. And even the Wizard's magic supplies. Someone is not messing around here. Everything magic is gone, along with the princess.

Of course, Dorothy launches a search, putting an entourage together and setting out into Winkie country, which prompts a whole bunch of early reunions with even more regular characters. Baum clearly thought he was getting paid per character at this point or, more likely, simply didn't aim to disappoint the fans he talks about in every introduction. After all, if he didn't include someone, he would surely hear about it in his sacks of fan mail because whoever that was would be guaranteed to be someone's very favourite character of all. And so the next book would be Whoever That Was of Oz, with credit given in the introduction to Annoyed Child of Wherever.

Anyway, Dorothy's search doesn't begin until halfway through chapter five and the discoveries of who and what's missing are done in chapter two. Well, what we're aware of by book eleven. Baum introduces us to new characters in the other two chapters in between that we haven't met before, as if there weren't enough here already, and their magical items that have also gone missing. The book unfolds as two threads of story, with the two parties wandering through Oz on their quests, eventually meeting on a hill a few miles from the villain's lair and teaming up for the finalé.

Mostly, there are two new characters, Cayke the Cookie Cook and the Frogman. I bet you'll never guess what makes them special! Just in case you're feeling even denser today than I am, Cayke the Cookie Cook is a cook who cooks cookies and they're always the best cookies because she cooks her cookies in her magical diamond studded gold dishpan. Which has suddenly vanished. The Frogman is a sentient frog who walks on two legs and lies about how important he is to all the Yips who live on their particular plateau in the southwestern corner of Winkie country.

As you might imagine, Cayke the Cookie Cook isn't far off being a one-note character but she isn't a complete waste of space. The Frogman, however, is insufferable, until he unwisely takes a swim in the Truth Pond and so is forced to only tell the truth, which makes him a lot more bearable, not just to us but to the characters he meets. Lavender Bear, the sorcerer who rules Bear Center the Frogman that he likes him entirely because of his honesty. See, we're back to decent moral lessons for kids after the death, genocide and slavery that populated the previous book.

Of course, this setup allows Baum to explore new areas of Oz in episodic fashion, as is his wont, but to do it twice in alternating threads. This book is like the gift that keeps on giving for him and it's quite frankly all the better for it. I've never been a particular fan of his episodic approach but I do like his wild imagination and the more places that he visits, the more characters who reside there and the more wacky reasons for them to be different from everyone we've met thus far, the more he gets to exercise that imagination. This book is absolutely jam-packed full of imagination.

Now, not all of it is successful but the majority is and that's what matters most. I was confused by the Merry-Go-Round Mountains, which move as their name suggests. Dorothy's entourage makes it through by leaping into a passing pass one at a time, a rather obvious term Baum doesn't think up, being bounced around like they're on a human sized pinball table and, eventually, get thrown out the other side. How big are these mountains? If they're small enough to act like bumpers, why didn't they just walk around them? If they're too big for that, how did any of this work?

I much prefer the numerous cities that our two search parties visit on their quests. There sure are a lot of cities in Oz and Dorothy even agrees with Scraps that she doesn't know everybody there, a fair confession that didn't even take a swim in the Truth Pond. A few books earlier, she claimed to have met everybody in the land. Maybe she's settling down a little. As we quickly find, she doesn't even know all the cities or their peoples, because every one of them seems to be utterly different from the next. For all the wandering that our regulars do, most people in Oz seem blissfully happy to stay in their own city and never leave.

My favourite is Thi, which is where Thists live and eat thistles. They're gold-lined, if that helps for it to make any more sense, but that's not why I like it so much. It also has jewelled dragons to pull its chariots. It has automata. And it has a Wall of Illusion around the whole thing; you can see the wall but it isn't actually there, which presumably means that they didn't even have to boast about having another country pay for it. The city of Thi also seems to move, but it doesn't actually do so, because it's the land around it that does, meaning that walking towards it is a serious challenge.

I've already mentioned Bear Center, which leads to other puns that Baum doesn't pick up on. This is one that Cayke and the Frogman find, only to be stopped by a bear. Bearing arms. Sure, they're all teddy bears and their weapons are toys, but that doesn't prevent the pun. They're also clearly cute, so much so that Lavender Bear even squeaks if you press his tummy. Why you'd do that to an honest to goodness sorcerer, I have no idea, but then I have no idea how he's a sorcerer, given that Glinda banned such things long ago. Maybe she lost her magic book long ago and it's only come to light now.

There's also Herku, ruled over by Vig, the Czarover, who's outrageously emaciated but incredibly strong, as are his people. That's because their diet consists of zosozo, which is pure energy. And in turn that's why they can be so puny but enslave giants to do their bidding. There seems to be a lot of that sort of thing going on in Oz too that Glinda rarely does anything about. And how can every person in Oz be happy when so many of them seem to be slaves? I'm sure that sort of revisionistic nonsense isn't what Baum was going for but he kind of stumbled into it anyway.

Of course, eventually it becomes clear where all the stolen magical items are and who took them, which leads to a fair but quick and relatively unsatisfying conclusion with a thoroughly convenient twist. The joy here isn't in the destination but the journey and the best thing about this book has to be that there are two journeys for the price of one. As the page count remains consistent with other books in the series that means that Baum had a choice of giving each party fewer locations to visit or spending less time there and I'm happy to say that he went for the latter. ~~ Hal C F Astell

For more titles in this series click here
For more titles by L Frank Baum click here