A Man With An Agenda

A visitor to the Nickel-Plated Emperor, on hearing the story of how he a rusted tin woodman was discovered by Dorothy, asks a most important question - what happened to his love? The whole reason Nick Chopper's ax was enchanted by the Wicked Witch of the East, and he ended up replacing all of his parts with tin, was to prevent his carrying off a pretty Munchkin girl. Having a kind heart instead of a loving heart, the Tin Woodman has not sought out Nimmie Ammee until reminded of his promise to come back to her. That...makes perfect sense.

An impromptu expedition is made, deliberately excluding most of the overwhelming cast due to the personal nature of the quest. There are some novel events, but the story remains episodic and bizarre for bizarre's sake.

The long and short of it is that 'The Tin Woodman of Oz' is still rather bad as far as my standards of what Oz books should be -- I know, there's my mistake -- but the rare nod to continuity must be rewarded with something.

Another thing I often overlook in my reviews are the illustrations. They are charming and highlight the novelty of each book's content. That's it. I'll keep trudging on, Baum promises that 'The Magic of Oz' will be something special. Maybe he stopped taking reader suggestions.

Oz

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