Hello everyone! This week's first Mark This Book Monday are No Place Like Oz by Danielle Paige & The Fall of the Hotel Dumort by Cassandra Clare and Maureen Johnson and are part of my November is for Novellas challenge!
These ones are my third & fourth novella read, so I only have one more to go to complete my challenge!
No Place Like Oz by Danielle Paige
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
When I first heard about Dorothy Must Die I was quite excited, since I love alternative stories and I'm a huge fan of Wicked, so I thought that an alternative story where Dorothy returns to Oz and ends up being evil would be great, so I decided to dip my toe in the waters and read this novella first. At 196 pages is more than just a short story and it's the how our dear sweet Dorothy goes from wholesome to evil.
No Place Like Oz starts with Dorothy back in Kansas and not so happy to be back as she thought she'd be. She enjoyed the attention she got when she returned and now she finds settling back to her quite ordinary life in the Kansas' farm is near impossible. Everyone thinks all her stories are lies and she feels very much apart. But then on her 16th birthday she is taken back to Oz, with her aunt and uncle in tow this time!
The progression of the story was interesting but somehow the change was a little too subtle at first and then too clear. We meet with other well known characters and we're not entirely sure who the bad guys are or why a choice is better than others. I found some of the suggestions of what Oz does to those who come from outside quite intriguing and I'm still curious enough to read Dorothy Must Die, but I wasn't swept up by the story. I think it managed to show us how Dorothy might have turned bad, but I'm afraid it was done a bit too much in the fairy tale way and not with too much depth. Hopefully the Dorothy in the book will be a bit of a more formidable villain with depth!
An interesting enough read, but not gripping or mind blowing so it gets 3 stars.
The Fall of the Hotel Dumort by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Fall of the Hotel Dumort is the next instance in the Bane Chronicles, and this one takes us even closer to the present date, since it takes place in the 70's.
Magnus returns to the US after a pair of years away and finds New York changed, with the vampires acting very violent & randomly. The Downworlders are worried about a possible intervention of the Shadowhunters that wouldn't be just against the vampires, but would put the Accords in danger.
This episode does help us understand a bit better the relationship between Camille and Magnus in TMI, and they each react to meeting again. It also gives us the reason as to why the hotel it's called Dumort now. Seems that the closer to present time we get, the better the stories that Magnus is involved in are weaved in the known human history.
An entertaining read that deserves 3.5 stars.
View all my reviews
These ones are my third & fourth novella read, so I only have one more to go to complete my challenge!
No Place Like Oz by Danielle PaigeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
When I first heard about Dorothy Must Die I was quite excited, since I love alternative stories and I'm a huge fan of Wicked, so I thought that an alternative story where Dorothy returns to Oz and ends up being evil would be great, so I decided to dip my toe in the waters and read this novella first. At 196 pages is more than just a short story and it's the how our dear sweet Dorothy goes from wholesome to evil.
No Place Like Oz starts with Dorothy back in Kansas and not so happy to be back as she thought she'd be. She enjoyed the attention she got when she returned and now she finds settling back to her quite ordinary life in the Kansas' farm is near impossible. Everyone thinks all her stories are lies and she feels very much apart. But then on her 16th birthday she is taken back to Oz, with her aunt and uncle in tow this time!
The progression of the story was interesting but somehow the change was a little too subtle at first and then too clear. We meet with other well known characters and we're not entirely sure who the bad guys are or why a choice is better than others. I found some of the suggestions of what Oz does to those who come from outside quite intriguing and I'm still curious enough to read Dorothy Must Die, but I wasn't swept up by the story. I think it managed to show us how Dorothy might have turned bad, but I'm afraid it was done a bit too much in the fairy tale way and not with too much depth. Hopefully the Dorothy in the book will be a bit of a more formidable villain with depth!
An interesting enough read, but not gripping or mind blowing so it gets 3 stars.
The Fall of the Hotel Dumort by Cassandra ClareMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Fall of the Hotel Dumort is the next instance in the Bane Chronicles, and this one takes us even closer to the present date, since it takes place in the 70's.
Magnus returns to the US after a pair of years away and finds New York changed, with the vampires acting very violent & randomly. The Downworlders are worried about a possible intervention of the Shadowhunters that wouldn't be just against the vampires, but would put the Accords in danger.
This episode does help us understand a bit better the relationship between Camille and Magnus in TMI, and they each react to meeting again. It also gives us the reason as to why the hotel it's called Dumort now. Seems that the closer to present time we get, the better the stories that Magnus is involved in are weaved in the known human history.
An entertaining read that deserves 3.5 stars.
View all my reviews
I love The Mortal Instruments series, but lately I've heard only not-so-good things about The Bane Chronicles. To be honest I still haven't read any of those. But this one sounds pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI never read about Oz yet. I have to add it to my list! :)
Happy reading!
Lis @ The reader lines
Thanks Lis!
ReplyDeleteThe first stories weren't really all that good for my taste, but they have been improving as they get closer to current times!