I once heard a teenage box office salesman describe Chekov's Three Sisters as "three hours about not going to Moscow." That's pretty much how I feel about this crap novel. Maguire creates setup after setup that have no payoff. The characters are static and thin, the weak drama makes daytime TV seem edgy...I just can't overstate my distaste for this novel. Maguire seems to have tried something that's way beyond his reach. I can't believe he's built a career exploiting L. Frank Baum's fictional universe. Carpet baggery.