I remember reading that Baum, as he also states in his introductions, didn't want the OZ series to carry on for a long time - that he had other projects in mind. You can feel his reluctance in The Road to Oz. It just doesn't shine like the first three OZ books did, and it is even worse than Dorothy and the Wizard - luckily, I know that the series picks up again from here. This walking around, trying to get to OZ and meeting strange creatures and countries along the way just isn't that engaging. Especially when the plot climax is considered to be the troupe finally reaching OZ, only to be introduced to all of the characters we already know. And then there are the inconsistencies. Did Dorothy forget that Ozma checks in on her at the 4:00 hour every day? And the Wizard's piglets - there are 8 of them because Dorothy's cat ate one. I don't know - this one just didn't strike great interest with me.