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Summary
Summary
"Maguire's work is melodic, symphonic, and beautiful; it is dejected and biting and brave. How great that people flock to these magical novels."
--Los Angeles Times Book Review
Bestselling author Gregory Maguire's remarkable series, The Wicked Years, comes full circle with this, his fourth and final excursion across a darker, richer, more complex landscape of "the magical land of Oz." Out of Oz brilliantly reimagines L. Frank Baum's world over the rainbow as wracked with social unrest--placing Glinda the good witch under house arrest and having the cowardly Lion on the lam from the law as the Emerald City prepares to make war on Munchkinland. Even Dorothy makes a triumphant return in Maguire's magnificent Oz finale--tying up every loose green end of the series he began with his classic Wicked, the basis for the smash hit Broadway musical.
Author Notes
Gregory Maguire was born June 9, 1954 in Albany, New York. He received a B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany and a Ph.D. in English and American literature from Tufts University. He is a founder and co-director of Children's Literature New England, Incorporated, a non-profit educational charity established in 1987.
He writes for both adults and children. His first book, The Lighting Time, was published in 1978. His adult works include Wicked, Confessions of and Ugly Stepsister, Lost, Mirror Mirror, Son of a Witch, and A Lion Among Men. The Broadway play Wicked is based on his book of the same title. His children's books include the picture book Crabby Cratchitt, the novel The Good Liar, and the Hamlet Chronicles series.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The final volume of Maguire's Wicked Years series finds Oz torn by war, and Shell Thropp, Elphaba's brother, as emperor. Munchkinland has seceded, and the Emerald City invades with the Ozian army to get it back. Glinda, former Throne Minister, is held under house arrest by General Cherrystone, who takes an interest in Rain, Glinda's broom girl, teaching her to read. He doesn't know that Rain is actually Liir's daughter and Elphaba's granddaughter, and the only one who can understand the infamous Grimmerie, supposedly a volume of magical lore, coveted by Oz. A troupe of traveling players arrive and secretly give the Grimmerie to Glinda, who distracts the soldiers long enough to send Rain off with Brrr (aka the Cowardly Lion). So begins a quest for Rain to discover her true identity and unravel the layers of political and personal secrets that have caused strife and division in Oz. Maguire's take on the trouble-prone Dorothy Gale is refreshing, and his Oz far darker, sadder, harsher, more complex, and convoluted than Baum's (which will make this hard to follow for readers unfamiliar with the series). The language and imagery are rich, and the sense of love, loss, and regret palpable. For fans, this will be a revealing and satisfying end to the layered tale begun in Wicked. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
After the slightly disappointing Son of a Witch (2005) and A Lion among Men (2008), Maguire recaptures his mystical mojo in the fourth and final installment of the Wicked Years series. Although it still falls a bit short of the startling dark artistry that defined Wicked, rapidly catapulting it to the top of the best-seller list and spawning a major Broadway musical, this twisted fairy tale is a worthy conclusion to an imaginative and emotionally searing cultural phenomenon. With the fate of Oz hanging in the balance, the Emerald City is preparing to invade Munchkinland. Although th. Matter of Doroth. seemed settled some time ago, Miss Gale is caught in the epicenter of another natural disaster, hurling her straight back into the heart of Oz. As an incarcerated Glinda whiles away the days waiting for the long-overdue arrival of an old friend, Elphaba's granddaughter, Rain, unable to escape heredity and fate, takes center stage. Everyone who has ever known, loved, or even been a bit frustrated by Maguire's creative, myth-bending reworking of the Oz saga will eagerly hop onboard to find out exactly how the journey ends, because nobody does fractured fairy tales better than Maguire.--Flanagan, Margare. Copyright 2010 Booklist
Kirkus Review
Wicked (1995), with this pensive but action-filled capstone. The truest gauge of whether a fantasy series is any good, apart from the ordinary tests of writing and storytelling, is whether the world the writer imagines is complete--and whether it's interesting enough for a reader to be bothered to go there. In the made-upworld department, Maguire is a signal success, and a captivating storyteller to boot. This concluding volume finds Dorothy Gale back in Kansas--for a time, anyway, for 16-year-old Dorothy isn't so keen on following Aunt Em's dictum, "We aren't going to live forever, and you must learn to manage in the real world." Better flying monkeys than Topeka, one supposes. Up in Oz (or down, or sideways; the directions to the place are provisional, depending on which path the twister takes), the lines of genealogy and elective affinity alike are beginning to tauten as it's revealed just whose blood the Emperor shares. Some of his kin, however, are hanging out with Glinda and her kind. Even after fate has made done with the unpleasant witchy-poos of east and west, things aren't all skittles and beer up in the Emerald City. Indeed, as one short fellow remarks, "The Munchkinlanders discovered that liberation from sniffy Nessarose didn't provoke them into wanting a return to domination by the EC. Can you blame them?" Can you indeed? While the Lollipop Guild is busy transforming itself into a cadre of freedom fighters, the rest of the Emerald City girds up for war within and war without, for there's nothing that the Emperor likes more than a good dust-up. All is chaos, swerve and swirl: the once cowardly lion now has moments where he sounds like Sean Connery, people fire up cigarettes and mount grim battles of resistance and Maguire pays subtle homage to Tolkien and Rowling and even Frank Baum while having a grand old time in the fantastically complicated world he has crafted. Is a neat ending possible? Not likely. There's even room in this deliciously fun novel for a trap-door sequel. Stay tuned.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
In the midst of Oz's civil war, Rain, granddaughter of the infamous Elphaba, Wicked Witch of the West, is coming of age with a ramshackle band of friends. Adding to the chaos, Dorothy is back, destructive and irritatingly chipper as always, and events spiral into an ever-expanding web of betrayals, friendships, secrets, and unexpected returns. Maguire excels at creating multidimensional characters that rise above their many flaws. Readers will delight in the lyrical writing and many thinly veiled references to other Ozian works (Wicked, the Broadway musical; The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) found throughout this gritty conclusion to Maguire's popular "Wicked Years" series (Wicked; Son of a Witch; A Lion Among Men). The provided map, summaries of previous books, and family trees and time lines prove helpful in recalling characters and situations introduced earlier in the series. VERDICT This engrossing, complex novel continues to flip the world of Oz on its head while answering new and old questions about Oz and its denizens. Highly recommended for fans of the series. [Six-city tour; see Prepub Alert, 5/16/11.]-Katie Lawrence, Chicago (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
