Rating: 
Summary: One star might even be generous
Review: Any discussion of this book's merits is now rendered irrelevant by the fact that it includes certain scenes which have the potential to upset readers in the wake of recent events. These might not destroy the appeal of a movie or TV show aimed at adults; they represent a more serious problem in the case of an Oz book, since the Oz books generally serve to bring joy and happiness to readers of all ages. (In L. Frank Baum's day his publishers used the slogan "No Baum book ever sent a child to bed to troubled dreams.") I think it will be a long time before anyone will again want to read this book or give it to their children to read. Previously I would have given "Visitors from Oz" three stars, but now, unless Gardner revises it, "Visitors" may as well never have been published.
Rating:
Summary: No one will want to read this book again for a long time
Review: Any discussion of this book's merits is now rendered irrelevant by the fact that it includes certain scenes which have the potential to upset readers in the wake of recent events. These might not destroy the appeal of a movie or TV show aimed at adults; they represent a more serious problem in the case of an Oz book, since the Oz books generally serve to bring joy and happiness to readers of all ages. (In L. Frank Baum's day his publishers used the slogan "No Baum book ever sent a child to bed to troubled dreams.") I think it will be a long time before anyone will again want to read this book or give it to their children to read. Previously I would have given "Visitors from Oz" three stars, but now, unless Gardner revises it, "Visitors" may as well never have been published.
Rating: 
Summary: A truly worthy addition to the Oz series
Review: Awesome. I sat in awe reading the magical text of this book. I know some Oz purists complain that "Oz doesn`t have computers and telephones" and that crap. Just shut up for a minute and be enchanted by this brilliant book. I love mythology and thought it was brilliant to have the Oz characters interact with Jupiter and Mercury etc. Sam Gold is a very believable character and is my favorite character. Buffolo Boggs is sinisterly evil and will do whatever he can to stop Sam,Dorothy et al,even murder. Martin Gardner comes up with a brilliant solution to the question of why we mortals never found Oz. Also,the summaries of the previous Oz books are great for new readers(and if you already know these books you can just skip them,thats what I did). From Glinda recieving the E-mail to the brutal attack on Buffolo Bogg`s yacht to the Oz characters returning via the Klein Bottle,this is truly a great read.
Rating:
Summary: Baum Bummer
Review: Being an Oz fan for nearly 50 years, I was reeled in. But I quickly drowned in Gardner's laundry list of celebrities, authors and beloved fictional characters who are insulted by their inclusion in this lusterless soggy saga. L. Frank Baum has been maligned. All of us who grew up with or grew to love the Joy of Oz have been maligned by this preposterous travesty. Save your money and your time. This book is neither adult nor children's literature. It's just plain drivel. - advice from a former schoolteacher.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: I am a HUGE Oz fan and I love this book. It's so exciting and addictive that I read it in one sitting. I especially appreciated the jokes. Unlike most humor today, they weren't offensive and were actually quite witty. I also found the portrayals of the characters to be faithful to Baum's books. The elements from "Alice In Wonderland" woven into the story were a little strange and slightly out of place, but since I love Alice too, I didn't have a problem with it. This is a wonderful book, but I can see how some people wouldn't like it. You have to like the style of writing and humor or else you might find it too corny.
Rating: 
Summary: A Worthy Book in the Oz Series
Review: I found this book to be a worthy member of the Oz series. While it is more enjoyable if you have a knowledge of the previous books, even a newcomer with only knowledge from the movie can enjoy it.It has a sense of humor to the series without making fun of it and fans and novices will enjoy it. A quick read, perhaps better use of illustrations would have added to the overall enjoyment of the book. Hopefully more books will be coming from the author.
Rating:
Summary: One star might even be generous
Review: I had the misfortune to pick this book up in a science fiction bookshop recently. The spiel on the back of the book - not clearly marked out as a children's book in its UK edition, I might add - promised a great deal, and being a fan of Jeff Noon's writing, in particular his Lewis Carroll homage 'Automated Alice', I was quite taken with the possibility of discovering an American equivalent, a funky modern revisiting of the Land of Oz.
Sadly, 'Visitors From Oz' proved to be abominable tripe.<
Rating: 
Summary: Not what I would call an Oz book
Review: I have read all of the original Oz books by L. Frank Baum and some of the more recent ones. I can tell you right now that this book spoiled Oz for me. I can't imagine Oz having computers and telephones. The author may have tried to recreate the land of Oz, but he did not succeed. He kept going back to different books that Baum wrote about Oz, telling about this or that, and that was basically what the first two or three chapters were about! And also, I never really got into this book as I did with the others, for me, this book wasn't Oz. Gardner may have thought he was doing a good job, but I didn't. Oz is supposed to be a magic place, if there are computers and telephones and the like, it takes the magic away. And Glinda never had Oz transported to another dimension, she made it invisible or something, not to another dimension. For people who love Oz the way Baum and the other authors depicted it, don't read this book. It really does take away from the world that Baum created and others just improved upon. Gardner shouldn't have written this book, in my opinion, it shouldn't have ever been written. Just leave Oz the way it is.
Rating:
Summary: Vastly Disappointing, as much as I didn't want it to be.
Review: I've loved Martin Gardner's work for years. I've loved Oz for years. I /wanted/ to like his 1st Oz book, but I just couldn't. While he has interesting things to say and a few interesting characters, the levels of real-world negativity in the book were nothing short of crushing. The plot was merely adequate and the mechanics clunky. While Gardner was an Oz fan for much of his life (and a founding member of the Int'l Wizard Of Oz Club in '57, I recently discovered), it seems that he came to write his Oz book too late, after his cynicism levels had gotten too high to suppress in his writing and his sense of wonder had had just a few too many Wicked Witches attack it. I really wanted to like this and I really didn't. (I'll also mention that the Posthumous John R. Neal Oz book, Illustrated by Eric Shanower, isn't really worth the time either, though it's not as bad.) Sorry, Martin. :(
Rating:
Summary: Not for purists, but fun for the rest of us
Review: Martin Gardner has given us a delightful addition to Oziana. In this book, denizens of Oz (Dorothy, the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow) come to our world via a Klein Bottle. It's unlike any previous Oz book. In it we find the Internet, the gods of Mount Olympus (Apollo "used to take the sun around the earth, but he had to stop doing this when astronomers proved that the earth went around the sun"), characters from Alice's Wonderland and Looking-Glass Land, and the bear detective Sheerluck Brown. Oz purists may disapprove of all this, but I think it's great fun. "Visitors From Oz," with its humor and originality, is one of the very best of the post-Baum/Thompson Oz books.
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