Out of Oz

The Wicked Years, Volume 4

By: Gregory Maguire

Narrated by: John McDonough

Length: 28 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

The stunning conclusion to the smash New York Times best-selling series the Wicked Years

Gregory Maguire's Wicked Years series became national best sellers and the basis for a hit Tony-winning Broadway musical. Now, Maguire returns with the final installment in his transformative work, a thrilling and compulsively readable saga in which the fate of Oz is decided at last.

Once peaceful and prosperous, the spectacular Land of Oz is knotted with social unrest: The Emerald City is mounting an invasion of Munchkinland, Glinda is under house arrest, and the Cowardly Lion is on the run from the law. And look who's knocking at the door. It’s none other than Dorothy. Yes. That Dorothy.

Yet amid all this chaos, Elphaba’s granddaughter, the tiny green baby born at the close of Son of a Witch, has come of age. Now it is up to Rain to take up her broom - and her legacy - in an Oz wracked by war.

The stirring, long-awaited conclusion to the best-selling series that began with Wicked, Out of Oz is a magical journey rife with revelations and reversals, reprisals and surprises - the hallmarks of the unique imagination of Gregory Maguire.

Return to Oz: listen to another title in the Wicked Years series.; Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2011 Gregory Maguire (P)2011 HarperCollinsPublishers

Just plain Odd and anticlamatic.

What did you like best about Out of Oz? What did you like least?

I have enjoyed all the other books in the

Which character ??? as performed by John McDonough ??? was your favorite?

He is good at all of them

Was Out of Oz worth the listening time?

It was better to listen to than read, at least the reader is entertaining.

Takes so long to get out

This novel requires no grasp of the plot; drop the needle on any track and listen for a few hours. Repeat randomly. Enjoy. The adult zany silliness built on Oz trivia (books and movie mingled) would entertain the Oz-Savy Tween, were it not for the challenging parlance, the opacious plot and the plethora of ribaldity. Well, maybe such readers would actually go for the latter, and it would be an excuse for binge listening. But 28 hours are a bit much; the cure is to listen at 2.5 speed: the narrator was clear and entertaining even at that speed.


Accolades aside, I may be a minority on this but it saddens me to see Baum’s concept of a de-fanged fairy world (in which a brave little girl of 1900 can have adventure) refashioned by this cynical revisionism. I shudder to think what will be done some day, once unprotected by copyright, to Sheeta, Mei, Satsuki, Kiki, Mononoke, Ponyo, Arrietty, Shizuku, Marnie, Kaguya, etc of the Ghibli universe (perhaps presented as a mono-gender cartel running a ponsi scheme defrauding gullible and greedy villagers); or Hermione Granger (Euro-centric, upwardly mobile, category-hopping, privileged & gifted causcasian).

UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Where does Out of Oz rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Out of Oz ranks with the rest of the Wicked series as like #5.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Out of Oz?

When Rayne is really revealed in all of her green glory as Elphaba's Grand-daughter.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Rayne figures out that magic is just magic, but love and life are far greater!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Out of Oz...where do the possibilities end?

Any additional comments?

Mr. McDonough is the most execptional narrator! I love hearing his voice lend it's talent to such a wonderful work.

Great story

As with all the Wicked series books, this was a wonderful story and ended the series very well.

Amazing Story, Slow Reader

LOVED this book. It takes me a while to get through any book, but this one took a bit longer than i expected. I found myself having to sit and digest what happened after a chapter or two, partially due to Maguire’s constant need to explain things in great detail. I admire it, as it helps paint a better picture of scenes, but some segments felt a touch bloated

John McDonough knocked it out of the park with his characterization of everyone, though i found myself constantly listening at 1.5-1.75x speed due to his slow-paced narration. It will be weird hearing someone else continue Rain’s story in the “Another Day” trilogy, as I’ve grown fond of his style, but that’s for… another day

Feeling a bit unfulfilled

Would you try another book from Gregory Maguire and/or John McDonough?

I love Maguire, but I really wish he had been the reader on this book, like he was for book two.

Any additional comments?

I was greatly looking forward to the last of the Wicked series, and the promise of loose ends being tied up. Yes, many loose ends find closure, but the ending left me a bit.... unfulfilled. No spoliers here. However the ending and some of the events leading up to it just felt empty. Book one, the ending being a bit ambiguous I felt added to the story. Book two felt the same. Book Three had the promise of more to come. However with book four stumbling back into an open ending, it was just frustrating. I do have a suspicion that if Maguire had been the narrartor as he had been on book two, perhaps there might have been a bit less... empty. Of course though that's speculation. Still a good read. However I'll be honest that I am disappointed.

Out of Oz

I liked how Dorothy was defined to Oz in a cage type elevator. The rest got me lost. I will listen again

excellent

this has an excellent conclusion to an enlongated story... i was glued to this book most of all in the 4 book series

Nice Wrap Up

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Not on it's own, no. I think this is a nice wrap up to the wicked series, though I can't help but feel sad at the end, because Rain's life was so lonely and depressing, and then just when it looks like she might have a chance at happiness it gets taken away from her.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The long journeys got a little boring, and I pretty much hate Dorothy the whole time. The very VERY vague allusion that Elphaba returned was the most interesting thing to me.

I mostly listened to this book because I had read the 3 previous books.

What three words best describe John McDonough’s voice?

Grizzly by comparison to the people.

Did Out of Oz inspire you to do anything?

no

Not What I Was Expecting

What did you like best about Out of Oz? What did you like least?

I feel like an awful traitor but I didn't really enjoy this. I loved Wicked so much and this series has spanned a big chunk of my life. Enjoyed Son of a Witch and A Lion Among Men much less than Wicked, then this even less. I enjoy Maguire's writing (enjoyed his others like Mirror Mirror, etc) and the overall arc Of the series but I felt like I would have been just as well ending it at Wicked and not reading anything else - as far as resolution goess in the storylines I care about. After waiting for the end of the series for so long I had many expectations, and in fact I waited more than a year after publication to read this because I didn't want it to end/was dreading it would end unsatisfactorily. There are many beautiful reviews of this book but I was disappointed. After so many hours of listening to the seemingly endless travels across Oz and war strategy... And Dorothy (oh how I hate Dorothy)... so many hours that were just not interesting but I was holding out to hear how it ends. Don't want to get into spoilers but I also was disappointed in the resolution of some characters.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I can't listen to one more minute of the dwarf and his wife.

Any additional comments?

Again, I feel like a traitor for not liking this.