Eric Hobbs

Let me first say that as marketed I thought this was a three volume series. It seems there is in fact a fourth volume to come out at some unspecified time. Some readers may prefer to wait until all volumes are available before embarking on this story.

This series, despite its apparent packaging, is NOT a children's book. Characters meet bloody deaths, and the world is just darker and more depressed that the comic drawings on the cover may lead one to expect.

I've earlier likened it to a different series, The Magician, and I still think that is the best analogy. A dark, violent, traumatic story seen through the eyes of children. Not unengaging, just not what I had anticipated.… (mere)

Initially I had difficulty getting into this story. While it seemed well conceived, something about the surface execution was a bit off-putting. In terms of genre, the best I can do is say that it does for the Wizard of Oz what Lev Grossman's The Magician did for/to the Narnia series. There too it took several volumes before I saw the reworked source material as more than lazy writing, cribbing from an existing mythology.

Now that I've read more, the disconcerting part is that he does a much better job writing adults, even fictional ones, than children. They invariably sound petulant and irrational.… (mere)