Book Review: The Unknown Witches Of Oz

David "Dave" Hardenbrook has so far written two books of a trilogy he's planning called Dan In Oz. The first is The Unknown Witches Of Oz from Galde Press, which is a modern day follow up to the original Famous 40 Oz books. It retcons alot of the original Oz history, like having the Three Adepts which appeared in Glinda Of Oz are renamed Zsuzsu, Judit, and Sofia, and are the granddaughters of Locasta, the Good Witch of the North, who has been missing from Oz for sometime. After trying to find her, the Adepts are lost in a time warp for nearly a century, and come out to find out that Ozma has matured physically into a teenager. Locasta has really been on Earth for the last hundred years, and meets up with a young teenage orphan named Dan, who she brings back with her to Oz to court Ozma. However, Ruggedo(the former Nome King)has regained his memory, and become the master of the genie Taarna, a former witch who is actually the mother of both the Wicked Witches. They've teamed up with Forg, the evil leader of a group of demons and other monsters intent on taking over Oz. Taarna transforms the Wizard, Ozma, Glinda, Locasta, and the Adepts into light, and they shoot out into space. Polychrome rescues them, and gives them back their physical forms, which provides Glinda with nearly infinite power, enough in fact to defeat Taarna, and get rid of Forg and his army. Ruggedo reforms and is welcome back in Oz, Taarna is turned into a human, and Dan becomes an official Prince. In all, the story is pretty good, being influenced by sci-fi writers like Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, and implements the concept of magic as if it were a universal science that could by applied to computer progamming. The only downside is it might seem like more of a fan wish-fulfillment about someone who is an Oz fan actually being sent to Oz and getting to date one of the characters. This book lead to a sequal, Jellia Jamb, Maid Of Oz, and a third one is supposedly in the works titled, That Ozzy Feeling, either this or a spinoff involving Oz characters in another reality called The Shining Chalice Universe is also planned. Oh, check out this original animation of the "Nonestica" continent Oz is set in by Hardenbrook.