Lost In Oz (Deluxe Hardcover) [Hardcover]

One of the single worst pieces of self published fiction I have ever had the displeasure to read. How is it possible that there he thinks so highly of his own work to give himself such a good merits? I'm generally willing to give a lot of self published stuff a go, but this stuff is the exact reason why there is such a stigma against it.

1.) No character development. The characters just appear in Oz. No explanation or reason, and within two pages simply accept it. No realistic "Wait, what the frick is going on here?", no explanation as where they had been moments before appearing in Oz, just they are there. We get no insight into their backgrounds. The first person narrative wasn't used effectively as the author wanted too much to reference what happened to other characters when they split up, and suddenly Dorothy and her gang just turn on the main characters, and the main characters beat the crap out of Dorothy and her gang for...... no apparent reason?
The main characters split up cause of simple disagreement. "We'll find our own way home." The characters say and walk off. Why would ANYONE do this? If something so seriously bizarre like this ever happened to me my first reaction would be to get back to the normal, stay with the normal. So you and four of your best friends end up in Oz? A place which you thought was fictional? Wow - we better SPLIT UP and not hang around with the only other FOUR NORMAL PEOPLE WE CURRENTLY KNOW TO EXIST!
To them their reasoning is simple: "You'll just wait and see, we'll be home before you guys." These characters are meant to be 18. When I was 18 and I suddenly was transported to Oz I'd be sticking with whoever came with me so we could all get the hell home.

2.) Told in the present tense. This is what gave me a headache. The author's insistence one using the present tense, when the past tense was so obviously the tense he should be using. I've read books told in the present tense, they are rare but they are out there and occasionally it does work. It did NOT work here. It didn't even get close to working here, and what was more infuriating was midway through the book the narrative makes a statement that makes no FREAKING sense in the present tense. It reads as follows:

If I Had read the Oz books or even had the slightest inkling about them, I'd have known that this Oz that my friends and I were in was not the REAL Oz anymore, and that our meddling had irrevocably changed it. Who knows WHAT kind of magic replaced kindly old Oscar Diggs with Bastinda, Wicked Witch Of The West, or how our meddling in 1899 changed events even before that point of time in Oz? But I hadn't read the book, nor any of the other books series. And looking back, I really wish I had.

WTF?!?!?! The rest of the book, and I mean the entirety of the book is told in present tense. Eg; "Believe this," Laura screams as she hurls a broken yellow brick from the road towards the witch's face.
What was going through his head? Why did he choose to write in present tense, when he really seemed to want to write it in past tense? WHY?

3.) Mary Sue. Look the term up, Joshua Patrick Dudley. Wikipedia it. Research it. Write a book where you're not the main character. So the main character has the same name as the author. The other main characters have the same names as the friends referenced in the acknowledgments page. (Which may not have been as noticeable if it were at the back of the book.)
So these characters appear in Oz, and it's the author and he's friends! And they interact with the Oz characters, and the fun times they had! Oh, and the author is going to save Oz. The author has written himself into the Wizard Of Oz world 'cause he always wanted to visit there. This is the point where all credibility begins to go out the window. It explains the lack of character development. In the author's mind the characters are real people, because in reality they are real people. The reader doesn't know this. The reader has never met Tamara or Tommy.
So should we care if the wicked witch slaughters them in Oz?

4.) No ending. This is the first part of the story, not the first book in a series. Even in other series, Animorphs, Harry Potter, Twilight, Partners In Time (which btw, is also self published), the first book is a story on it's own. The reader doesn't have to buy the sequel to see it all works out. There is a definite beginning, middle and end. This book doesn't have this. The book just stops. You are expected to read the sequel.

Which is where my real anger begins to ferment. Not only have I just read 156 pages of this self published fanfiction I am no forced to contemplate buying the sequel to see if it ends there. I do not want to buy the sequel. I never want to read another thing by Joshua Patrick Dudley again. But I haven't read the end of this story. I've only read the first part. Is it possible there is some redeeming qualities in the second book? If I'd know it was only "Book One" I would've been less willing to buy the book in the first place. I would've been prepared for this to be the first in a series, but it wasn't. It was

The preview of the sequel is written in the present tense. Which already opens up the problems of the first book. Against my better judgment I ordered the second book, in the vague hope the sequel is an improvement. Imagine my disgust when moments after ordering the next book I received an email telling me: "I want you to know that I am busy working on the third installment of the series currently titled Lost in Oz: Temple of the Deadly Desert."

I don't want to read the third installment. I don't even want to read the second. But the first installment was just that: an installment. Not a book or a story of it's own.

Thank you all for your continued support and for reading my books!!! Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the third and final novel in the Lost in Oz trilogy!

Ignore the other reviewers on this page, this book is fantastic! Well written, interesting idea and its presented in a very interesting way that I have not seen done before anywhere! Kudos to the author for creating a modern version of Oz that we can all love!