The Enchanted Island of Yew

Rating:
Summary: DO NOT ORDER THE BLUE UNICORN EDITION!!!!!!!
Review: The Blue Unicorn Edition is an incredibly shoddy book-- an InstaBook. It looks like a printout of an unillustrated web page. To top it off, the author's name is given on the cover as "Frank L. Baum," which showed these people had no idea what they were doing, not to mention it's poorly cut and there are blobs of ink all over the book. I'm going to send it back and exchange it for the Wildside edition. I know their books are good quality, since Phyliis Ann Karr showed me hers from them.

Rating:
Summary: DO NOT ORDER THE BLUE UNICORN EDITION!!!!!!!
Review: The Blue Unicorn Edition is an incredibly shoddy book-- an InstaBook. It looks like a printout of an unillustrated web page. To top it off, the author's name is given on the cover as "Frank L. Baum," which showed these people had no idea what they were doing, not to mention it's poorly cut and there are blobs of ink all over the book. I'm going to send it back and exchange it for the Wildside edition. I know their books are good quality, since Phyliis Ann Karr showed me hers from them.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent novel, not-so-good illustrations
Review: The novel is a typical Baum fantasy, that is, carelessly plotted, but filled with wonderful creations (there is more invention in one Baum novel than in a basket of trilogies by any current fantasy writer), and often amusing (the reformation of the thieves is hilarious). As for this particular edition: No one can fault the publisher for being stingy with George O'Connor's illustrations--there are approximately fifty--but that is not necessarily a good thing. O'Connor's work seems crude to me, and he has an annoying tendency to stray from the text--for example, the hero, Prince Marvel, is repeatedly described as "small" and "slight," yet O'Connor consistently depicts someone who could wrestle Superman.

Rating:
Summary: Lovely Light-heartedness.
Review: Yes, Baum has done it again. This book is a lot different from many of his others, yet maintains his odd magic. The only thing that I didn't like is that the main character is already so powerful that none of the bad guys pose much of a challange to him. But really, any Baum reader will love it.