At this point, Baum has worked through his demons about writing more Oz adventures and embraced the delightful oddities. Yes, this volume pulls heavily from the formula of the first two books --a road trip to the Emerald City, picking up more friends along the way -- but it's a formula that works for this series. This time we don't get the anthropological gawking at other cultures or the genocide of the wooden gargoyles; instead it's a journey full of comical misunderstandings and adventures.

This probably won't be my favorite, but after the last two I was ready to go back to the formula that worked.