Out of Oz

The final instalment in The Wicked Years series by Gregory Maguire, Out of Oz is the book that ties up many a loose end and brings an era of fairytale fiction to a close. Whilst the series is no Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, Maguire’s adult and political reinventions of Baum’s Oz has definitely provided with me many hours whiled away in great forays of fantasy and intertexuality. I still have to admit that the first one is the best, but this large final volume does deliver the engagement, thrills, and excitement that it promises. 

The once peaceful and prosperous land of Oz is wracked with social tension. The Emerald City is mounting an invasion of Munchkinland, Glinda is under house arrest, the Cowardly Lion is on the run from the law, and Liir and Candle have had to part with their green-skinned daughter, Rain, in order to protect her. To make matters worse, none other than Dorothy Gale arrives back in Oz and is put on trial for the murder of Nessarose and Elphaba Thropp. Amidst all the current chaos, Rain, has now come of age and once she’s plucked from her scullery position in Glinda’s house it falls to her to take up her grandmother’s broom and her legacy. 

It took me long enough to get through this book. Half a year to be honest. Whilst I can chalk that up to having no free time to read during the first semester of uni, the prolonged bout of non-reading I think was further intensified by the fact that I found it easy to put this book down. Whilst perseverance with this does mean that you reap some rewards, the fact that a really large chunk of it is all exposition and descriptions of not very interesting stuff that will hold some significance in later events, disrupts the frantic frenzy that comes with a great book; a book that you don’t want to put down. 

There’s a lot crammed into this book in terms of multiple stories, time frames, places, and writing techniques. One thing that stood out for me is the ever-shifting focalisation from character to character. Half the time the registers suddenly change from third person omniscient to first person and around around around. I found this clever and effective though at the same time, the rapidity of it caused me to become a little displaced. 

Unlike its predecessors, the sense of time elapsing and years going by isn’t as strong in this one. Whatever time has passed is merely mentioned and, for me, I didn’t really get a sense of the characters changing all that much or growing up (in Rain’s case). 

I did love the little intertextual tricks and titbits that are scattered throughout the story like rare gems. They inject a story of war, growth, and uncertain futures with humour and a little bit of warmth. As well as allusions to The Wizard of Oz, we’ve got a few made to Gone With the Wind and there are other such popular culture references that just lighten the whole reading experience. 

Filled with action, romance, adventure, drama, plot twists, and comedy, Out of Oz serves as a great book to close a great series with, although the fire with which I read Wicked and Son of a Witch, it seems, has died down somewhat. At the end of the day, it’s definitely worth reading, as it’s a fantastical story that promises many different enjoyments.