Review: Not what I hope for
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 6, 2014
Prequel novella to upcoming novel "Dorothy Must Die." Dorothy's return to Oz. I was, admittedly, disappointed. While I thought the concept was delightfully unique (I purchased this prequel in anticipation of the upcoming novel!), I found the execution to be extremely simplistic. Of course, it *is* a Young Adult novella - as is the upcoming novel - and that includes a very wide age range. I would place this right around the 12-13 age group...just this side of a Middle Reader. Even so, I felt that Dorothy's driving motivation could have been more subtly presented and still well understood by the savvy YA audience. This felt like being hit over the head with a brick. Likewise for the dialog.I'm giving it three stars because there is the chance that this prequel was rushed in order to get it out there before the novel was released. I certainly understand that under time pressure the author wouldn't be able to produce her very best work.And I certainly won't let this stop me from reading her new novel, Dorothy Must Die. I'm just going to cross my fingers that this novella isn't indicative of the writing I'm going to encounter for 400 pages of the main course. I'm sure it won't be.....will it?