This is one of five books I purchased at a bookstore, and I suspect someone bought the entire series in 1919--after the publisher changed its name from Reilly & Barrow to Reilly & Lee. With that in mind, I think of these five, the only one that's the original edition is the 1919 book The Magic of Oz, which was published a month after L. Frank Baum died.
So... this is an early but not quite original edition. ( )

Dorothy and the Wizard journey to the center of the Earth.

2.5/4 (Okay).

There's some good stuff in here. For instance, one of the main characters is a kitten, and there's a weird scene with a Muppety old man. But most of it isn't particularly creative, nothing in it connects to anything else, and there are serious continuity problems.

(Aug. 2022) ( )

I read this aloud to my three-year-old son. I recollect that this was one of my favorite Oz books as a kid. I don't think it's a coincidence that it was just one of two that I owned as a Dover edition. The Dover editions aren't facsimiles to the extent that the Books of Wonder ones are—they are trade paperbacks, they have no end papers, the color plates are in black and white. But the book is reproduced at its original size, with all of its interior illustrations intact, meaning that this was one of my best examples of the artistry of John R. Neill, and thus the book was brought to life in my imagination.

It's a dark story, something the Shanower & Young comic adaptation brought out to good success. Unlike other Oz books, where our hero makes friends as they travel, Dorothy never really does; the people who are with her from the beginning (Eureka the Kitten, her cousin's cousin Zeb, Jim the Cab-Horse, and later, the Wizard) are the only people who journey with her. The lands they travel through have little respite for them: vegetable people who cannot feel sympathy, a valley of invisible bears who can slaughter you at any moment, the wooden gargoyles who don't speak a word, the dragonettes who would eat you if only they could. The best our heroes can hope for is indifference, such as they receive from the Braided Man. My favorite part this time though was a small one; as the adventuring party climbs a subterranean mountain, they look out on a strange sea and strange sky... and it's utterly indifferent to them. Insignificance is the best they can hope for beneath the surface of the Earth.

I didn't find it disturbing as a kid, I don't think, and my son didn't either as far as I could tell. Baum as always never dwells on this kind of stuff, and treats it all completely matter-of-factly. Our heroes are a little more callous than usual (the Wizard kills pretty easily), but they are in a callous world. Like in Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Ozma, one of the pleasures is the group of dynamic characters, all of whom contribute to saving the day in their own way at various times. I have seen commenters complain about Eureka and say Baum must not have like cats... but to me, Baum just captures what it is to be a cat, something he always excels at with his talking animal characters. Yes, she's selfish and annoying, but that's what makes her fun. The jokes at the trial of Eureka went over my son's head, but I enjoyed them. Indeed, this one was a pleasure to read throughout. It's dark, but it's also some of Baum's most imaginative work, with good tension despite the fact that it's a pretty linear journey. I like the handling of the Wizard here, and there's something moving about him being given a place in Oz at the book's end... even if does require Baum to ignore some of the basic facts he establishes in Marvelous Land about the Wizard, Mombi, Ozma, and Ozma's father! The backstory of Oz being divided between four wicked witches is a tantalizing one, though.

The main problem, of course, is the frankly stupid way Dorothy gets out of the subterranean world. At the end of Ozma, Ozma told Dorothy she'd look for her in the Magic Picture once a week, and magic her to Oz via the Magic Belt if she made a sign was in trouble. Here, we are told Ozma looks in the Magic Picture once per day.... but somehow Dorothy doesn't think to signal Ozma until two-thirds of the way into the book! It's a move that utterly destroys the tension, and makes Dorothy look like an idiot to boot. (Not that my son noticed.) But if you keep on reading, it's easy enough to ignore.

L. Frank Baum is an author I have read many times since I first discovered him in second grade. I find that his books stand up to the test of time and they are books that I enjoy re-reading. Some of them are stronger than others but as a whole I quite enjoy both the stories and characters. ( )

I don't particularly care for this installment of the series.
The cavalier attitude towards violence and killing was rather troubling, especially since this is supposed to be a kids book.
Now, I don't mind the fighting, I just mind how lightly the main characters approach destroying another species (chopping up the thorny sorcerer, planning to burn the wooden Gargoyles, putting Eureka on trial with the intention to convict her and put her to death...)
On the whole, it was neither entertaining, nor had the story any real moral. ( )