_Glinda of Oz_, Baum's fourteenth and last Oz book, finds Dorothy and Ozma captive in the sunken city of the Skeezers, whose contentious relationship with the militant Flatheads has lead to imminent war. In order to rescue the two young girls, as well as bring peace to the Flatheads and the Skeezers, Glinda, the ruler of Quadling Country and the most powerful sorceress in Oz, creates an army consisting of most of Oz's singular inhabitants.

_Glinda of Oz_ is dominated by two qualities: it is consistent and logical. Scenes follow one another by a thread. A great deal of the story is devoted to an almost pseudo-scientific exploration of the different kinds of magic in Oz. Unfortunately, this sets it apart from most of the previous novels, which often presented a story that meandered from beginning to end and from encounter to encounter. Although encounters often possessed their own weird and fantastic logic, and individual characters tended to follow their own, sometimes exclusive, rules, they didn't require what might be considered "adult" realism--Oz demanded the suspension of disbelief that children find so natural.

The story also brings together a swath of characters from previous stories, but most of them get short shrift--cameo appearances.

Of course, there is still some of that magic that Baum was so good at crafting, but I didn't find enough of it to truly bring me to Oz. Three stars. ( )

I read a great many of the Oz books when I was a child, and I simply ADORED them. Many I read more than once, although now, after so much time has elapsed, I don't have a lot of memories about specific happenings in each of the books. (Although character names are still familiar). I look foward to reading these sometime soon with my son; then I can come back and give more detailed reviews. ( )

At long last, I have finally finished all of Baum's Oz series. Glinda was an excellent way to close the series; Baum was ill at the time and it seems that he knew this would be his final book. Almost every major character appears for one final hurrah before the end of the story, and several stray plots are tied up. Baum explains how magic works in Oz quite well; I'm sure these specifics were quite useful to the later Oz writers, although writers like Gregory Maguire tend to ignore it.

Great book. ( )