Stranded in the Other Place (aka Kansas), Amy Gumm goes searching for Dorothy's silver slippers, reputed to be somewhere in her old high school.They are apparently the only way Amy, along with witches Glamora, Mombi, Gert (thought dead but resurrected with some authorial hand-waving), and superhot Nox, can get back to Oz. Although the magical mechanism that maroons them in Kansas is only limply explained, as a plot development, it's a welcome one. Amy reconnects with her mother, who's cleaned up her act after the tornado took her daughter away, as well as with her high school crush, Dustin, and her erstwhile bully, Madison, now the capable and loving mother of baby Dustin Jr. This represents a welcome respite for both readers and Amy from the grim reality of Dorothy's Oz as well as an opportunity for some genuine exploration of emotion. Alas, the idyll in Flat Hill is all too short, and then it's back to Oz for some more mass violence, anguish, romantic yearning, arbitrary magic, and double-crossing. At this point readers may well feel Amy's weariness that the Nome King has been introduced as a new adversary, as it guarantees that seeming victory will give way to more defeat and another volume.L. Frank Baum churned out 14 Oz books (and his successors another 26), but at least each one had a complete story arc, unlike this dreary effort. (Dystopian fantasy. 14 & up)

Yes, it's war: Amy versus Dorothy and her clone soldiers d sometimes even versus the Wicked. In this third in Paige's Dorothy Must Die series, Amy is back in Kansas, this time with a reformed, loving mother; the still snarky, now prickly Madison; and a morphing-into-evil Assistant Principal Strachan. Amy longs to stay in Kansas, but must defeat Dorothy to save both Oz and Kansas, so it's back to Oz and the battle for control. The goal? To restore Ozma as ruler of Oz d be near Nox. Paige's world building is intriguing and effectively augments the original world created by L. Frank Baum. The real story in book three, however, is that of power. Amy must defeat Dorothy and the evil elements of Oz without allowing them to corrupt her in the process. She is at war with herself as well as the outside world. But even if she is successful, it will be only temporary. Just as in Return to Oz, the Nome King is awaiting Amy, Nox, the Wicked, and readers in book four. Ozma's restored reign of peace, it seems, will be brief.