Some time ago, I decided I would collect and read all 14 of the "Oz" books by L. Frank Baum. It took me a few years to find them all, but I finally finished my little project with "Glinda of Oz," Baum's final outing. Not one of the best books in the series but not one of the worst, either, "Glinda" falls somewhere in the middle. While visiting the good witch Glinda, Ozma and Dorothy learn of two factions living in a remote corner of Oz that are planning to go to war. Wanting to prevent such discord in her paradise, Ozma and Dorothy travel to this land to prevent the Skeezers and Flatheads from coming to blows, but wind up becoming prisoners in an island beneath a lake.
The biggest problem I have with this book, as with many of the "Oz" books, is that just because the title has a character's name in it doesn't mean he or she is the star. While this is one of Glinda's bigger roles, it's not really her book but more of an ensemble piece. Baum, as if he knew this would be his last outing, crams nearly every character he'd created into the rescue party that sets out to free Ozma and Dorothy (but no Hungry Tiger, sadly), and most of the characters featured in that rescue don't have much to do but stand around befuddled.
The story has a fair amount of magic and introduces a few new characters, but no particularly memorable ones. Though there's nothing really bad about it, the book is noteworthy mainly because it's Baum's last before he died and Ruth Thompson took over the series.
Wow. All this time and I've finally finished reading Baum's "Oz" books. Heh. Time to start looking for the ones written by everyone else...