Holy crap, that was dark! Having read the first book, and 4 of the novellas now, this is the only one that I could use the descriptor "disturbing" for. I've read worse (in the macabre sense), but what the author does here seemingly has more weight because it is taking something that was bright and cheerful from my childhood and showing me how these characters became dark and twisted. I know this isn't much of a sell for the story, but it's true. Overall, I like what Danielle Paige is doing with the Oz setting, and the overall story is quite entertaining. I wouldn't recommend that anyone start with this particular novella though. I started with Dorothy Must Die and then moved on to the novellas, in publishing order, beginning with No Place Like Oz. ( )

The Tin Man was pretty much my favorite character in The Wizard of Oz. As you can imagine, I was quite excited to read Heart of Tin, knowing it would be showcasing the Tin Man. I knew he was different in this series and I thought I was prepared for his individual story, but Danielle Paige managed to catch me off guard.

Turns out, the Tin Man is a scary creep. In Dorothy Must Die, he was scary and I wondered what the heck happened to him. So much so, that I couldn’t wait to read Heart of Tin. I was hoping for an explanation for why he became so scary and into murder.

He’s really obsessed with Dorothy in Heart of Tin. That kind of weirded me out because I’ve never thought of Dorothy having a romantic relationship with anyone in Oz, then again she wasn’t evil either. It was weird, but I did love how Danielle Paige twisted something that should be pure and wonderful into something creepy, scary and toxic.

The beginning of Heart of Tin was a little slow or at least it took about 3 chapters for me to become engaged in the story. Part of that was just the Tin Man was kind of pathetic. I wasn’t sure what was going on with him at first. Once the story got going though, I forgot why his obsession was confusing to me.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Heart of Tin. I’m definitely looking forward to reading about the Scarecrow and Lion next. I’m also hoping Glinda is a big part of Yellow Brick War (book 3) or she gets her own novella because I know there’s something more going on with her. I’m just not sure what. If you’re a fan of the Dorothy Must Die series, I would recommend Heart of Tin. If you haven’t read the novellas as part of the series, you’re making me sound like a broken record; they’re a great/necessary addition.

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Some of you might recall that I started reading a series which was a retelling of The Wizard of Oz with Dorothy as a villain. The last novella that I read (a prequel) concerned how Dorothy ended up back in Oz and how she came to be worse than all of the witches combined. This time around I learned about the Tin Woodman in Heart of Tin. I have to admit that I didn't find as much enjoyment in this book as I have in most of the others. I'm not sure if it's because I finished up The Lunar Chronicles and it kinda blew this series out of the water or if I just didn't care for the Tin Woodman's storyline as much. (In point of fact, I think it's a combination of the two.) This book is fairly straightforward. We see just how far Tin is willing to go to win over the heart of his one true love, Dorothy. I'm trying to come up with a delicate way of describing his preoccupation with Dorothy who is a teenager but all I can come up with is icky. The best part of Heart of Tin is that we get a few tantalizing glimpses of the schemes that Scarecrow and Glinda are cooking up behind Dorothy's back. I have a feeling that his story, The Straw King, is going to be a doozy. (Don't worry, I've already placed it on hold at the library.) ( )