L. Frank Baum’s fourth Oz book throws out the usual script. Instead of a cyclone, Dorothy Gale is caught in a catastrophic California earthquake while visiting her cousin, Zeb. The ground swallows them up, along with Zeb’s cab-horse Jim and a familiar face from the first book: the humbug Wizard of Oz himself, who just happened to be traveling by balloon nearby. Their freefall ends in the fantastical, sunless Land of the Mangaboos—people who grow like plants from the soil.

The Story

Trapped deep underground, the group’s only goal is to get back to the surface. Their journey becomes a desperate tour through a series of bizarre, interconnected realms. They escape the cruel Mangaboos, outwit a race of invisible bears, and are nearly turned to stone by a Gargoyle king. Each new valley presents a fresh danger and a new puzzle. The Wizard, no longer hiding behind a curtain, gets to use his bag of real (if often silly) magic tricks to help them survive. After many narrow escapes, they finally find a path that leads them, quite unexpectedly, back to the familiar comforts—and dangers—of Oz, where they must seek help from Princess Ozma to find a way back to the world above.

Why You Should Read It

This book is a blast because it lets the Wizard shine. Seeing him as a traveling companion, fumbling with his magic and using his wits, is so much fun. It adds a great new layer to his character. The underground worlds are some of Baum’s most creative and downright strange creations, which is saying something. The pace is relentless—it’s one crazy adventure after another. There’s a real sense of claustrophobic peril, too; being stuck underground feels much more immediately dangerous than being in colorful Oz.

Final Verdict

This is the perfect book for anyone who loves the sheer imaginative chaos of Oz but wants a story with higher stakes and a faster pace. It’s also a must-read if you’ve ever wondered what the Wizard was like outside of his Emerald City throne room. While it helps to have met Dorothy and the Wizard before, Baum writes it so you can jump right in. Grab this if you’re in the mood for a clever, funny, and wonderfully weird underground road trip.