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"Fairy Queen in Oz"
"The Fairy Queen in Oz" follows the adventures of the Queen of the Faires of the Burzee Forest, first introduced to us by L. Frank Baum's story about Santa Claus. The queen has received an invitation to travel to Sweden, to the town that bears a close rendition of her very own name. The mishaps encountered on the voyage are nothing compared to the misadventures of poor Billina the Yellow Hen of Oz, who as Ozma's Ambassador to the Fairy Queen, does not quite make her destination as planned. In the meantime powerful storms over Oz are moving the yellow lands of the Winkies slowly to cover and take over the purple land of the Gillikins. Most of the magic workers in Oz are... More > powerless against the storms, including Ozma herself who gets carried with a new mysterious girl into wintery weather. Can the ruler of Oz make it out without harm? Can the Gillikin country be restored? Can the Queen of the Fairies ever remember her name after a terrible misunderstanding? Can Billina the Hen be rescued from a wodden cage afloat on the Nonestic Ocean? March Laumer had his own unique writing style. He and I disagreed on many of his heretical Oz works. This happens to be one of his better attempts to be mainstream Oz. Again like many Oz historians of latter days, answers to questions such as where did the Nine Tiny Piglets really come from, are answered in this book. Not a bad read overall, but the ending left me a little uneasy as March managed to slip in one of his strange ideas and not sure all Oz fans will like the ending. A nice book, and a bit controversial, but should be part of any good Oz collection. I would recommend this be read by older teens to adult, and not necessarily by younger children as there is a bit of darkness at the end that parents might have to explain. The drawings in this book do a decent job of illustrating the points of the story. I was given the opportunity to preview this edition of the book and would have liked a few more pictures. All-in-all a nice book and Marcus Mebes did a great job in ensuring this story is available again in print. Brian Brusky < Less

An obscure but pretty good Oz book -- for grownups, or at least teens. It's got a few bits of odd darkness and hinting at adult topics, here and there.