This was such a fun series! I loved all the puns and the fairytales woven into the story. I do wish the ending had more oomph to it. The epilogue seemed to hint that some day we could return to these stories and I really hope we do

Taking all three books separately, they were a little middle schoolish and not a edge of your seat adventure, HOWEVER, if you put all three as a whole, this is a great coming of age story. I felt it need all 3 to be considered good. This series is a very unique twist of the telling of The Wizard of Oz.

This was a middle-of-the-road read for me. While I liked a lot of aspects, there were some things I disliked, and overall, I just didn't feel strongly enough about the book to really warrant adding an in-depth review to the blog.

A fun take on wizard of oz. I’ve read a few different reversions of this type of story and wasn’t blown away, but I still really enjoyed reading it.

This story is an interesting take on the Wizard of Oz, and I can see many of my female readers flocking to read the third book in this series. While there are moments where this book drags just a bit, it quickly picks you right back up and continues to lead you through the story.

I think that I may have enjoyed this title more if I had read the previous two books in the series. I have heard a lot of good things and so I plan to do just that.

Banished is the final book in the Storymakers trilogy by Betsy Schow. Published by Sourcebooks Fire and released 1st February, 2018, it's aimed firmly at the younger end of the YA market. There is a strong continuity and back story for the characters and plot arc from the first two books, so I definitely wouldn't recommend this one as a standalone.

I enjoy the parallel fictional world and fictional characters in the 'real world' subgenre. There are several that are superlative (Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books to name a standout). This series, the Storymakers, never really got going for me personally. Admittedly, it's been a lot of years since I was a 13 year old girl - the primary audience. On the other hand, there are an awful lot of awkwardly written scenes covered over with sarcastic dialogue. I can't count the number of times I was yanked out of my suspension of disbelief by clunky descriptions or unfortunate dialogue. I received an early ARC for purposes of review, so it's entirely possible that much editing and polishing has occurred in the release copy.

I found many of the wordplay jokes too precious to be enjoyable ('No way in spell', 'No pixing joke', etc etc). I also freely admit the 'really sane person trying to convince authority figures in a mental hospital that the monsters are real' trope has always really bothered me a lot. I'm a medical professional and reading 'chemotherapy' in that sort of setting made me grind my teeth. It was just so unnecessary.

Without belaboring the point, Banished wasn't for me, I am not the intended audience, and there are enough really glowing reviews that my experience is probably anomalous.

Published 1st February, 336 pages, available in ebook and paperback formats.

Two and a half stars (mostly for grammar and snark. If punctuation and sentence structure don't matter to you, add a star or more).

I wasn't a huge fan of this book. I went in expecting an awesome retelling of Cinderella, based off of the cover, and I was disappointed. Maybe that's my fault for my expectations being so high.

Banished is the conclusion to the Storymakers series about Dot and Rexi. In book two Rexi has banished Dot to the real world (for good reason - you should read book 2) and is trying to make things right in story while Dot is trying to return home from Kansas.

The story is told in alternating chapters we hear some from Dot and then some from Rexi as the story progresses. Dot is stuck in Kansas, while Rexi is fighting for Story but they have to work together to finish the tale.

I don't want to go into too much detail about this book because it will give away a lot of important details from the previous two but it was a very good ending to the trilogy. Rexi had a lot of growth in this series and I think Dot did as well. They both learned about being more than what they believed themselves to be. Rexi wasn't fully a thief, while Dot wasn't just a princess. Coming together and this tale also made them help each other to make these changes in themselves when they needed them. I loved the character developments in this series. Sadly in the end, it was hard to tell the two characters apart. They were in different places but their personalities started to seem similar.

I enjoyed the ending and the story leading up to it. The plot picked up right where book two seemed to leave off and there was enough action to keep the reader interested. There were even a few twists that caught me off-guard which I think is always nice. Being a little unpredictable in a series is a good thing to have.

I have really been enjoying retellings and I think that if you want a trilogy to read in this genre, this is a pretty good one.

Sadly this book didn’t do anything for me. I mean I haven’t read the others so I was confused, but that’s not the authors fault. But I just wasn’t drawn into the story. The writing didn’t do anything for me, and I just didn’t care anymore about the characters. This book just didn’t hook me and I was just reading it to finish it and it didn’t make me want to go back and read the others. I was just bored.

I had not realized when I requested this book that it is the third volume in a series. It has so many charming elements, from the more-than-slightly wacky mishmoshing of characters from various books and tales to the misquotations ("Being entirely honest with oneself is a very, very bad idea" -- Sigmund Fraud) and works like the Definitive Fairy-Tale Survival Guide. But even with the author's heroic efforts to bring the reader up to speed, it's simply too far into the story, with too much history to cover, for a reader to comfortably begin here. I would, however, recommend the series from the beginning.

This novel that is the third novel in a trilogy. I highly recommend reading the other books in the Storymakers series. It is a fun book and great for those who love twisted retelling of famous characters.

There's so much to love about this trilogy. Starting with the covers; they're shoes but they're significant and tie-in! You know that moment when the title makes sense? That's what you get with the shoes on the cover.
That's another thing to love, that shoes are such an essential part in all three stories. I'm sure Dorthea wouldn't have it any other way.

Not only do we get a dual point of view this time around, but two separate stories in two different realms. I've seen a few comments that mentioned not liking the separation but I really enjoyed the switch up. Although it is too bad that we don't get to see the two characters together since I loved their banter in the previous books.
Though we do still get banter, Rexi wouldn't be Rexi without it.

Rexi is still my favorite and I loved seeing her continue to grow and get a happy ending. Dorthea's story was just as great because it's a new twist especially after all the fairytale mash ups we've gotten in the past.

This was such a fun trilogy and will definitely be a long time favorite of mine.

I requested this book because I live in Kansas, I looked up the Betsy Schow and saw her other books had good reviews and rightfully so. Her Writing is good. However, at this time I can not finish Banished because I was not aware this was part of a series. Banished starts off with not needing to have read the first two books to understand what is going on, but around page 50 I started to get lost. I will be reading the first two books and come back to this one.

Rating: 3/5

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: ---

Pages: 336

Author: Betsy Schow

Amazon

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review thanks to NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

So this will be a short review because I had to DNF this book. It’s not because this book was horrible or anything like that (quite the opposite actually), but I did not realize when I requested this book that it was the third in a series and I’ve not read the first two. I want to read the first two in this series before I read this one (and I’ll purchase it and everything because this was my fault so I should have to pay for it). So, I’m DNF-ing in order to avoid spoilers for myself.

Dot and Rexi are back for the final battle against the villains of Libraria. After almost losing my interest in this series in "Wanted", Ms. Schow returns to the original style and writing format that originally hooked me in "Spelled". The plot is fast-paced and engaging, the character's dialogue is witty and humorous, and this storyline had me hooked from the beginning of the story until Dot's ink dried on the final pages in Kansas.

This is a fun read and a fitting finale to The Storymakers series!

While lying in the hospital in a place called Kansas, Princess Dorthea of Emerald struggles to regain her memory of the events that propelled her out of the land of Story—and to remember how to get home.

Meanwhile, in Story, Rexi, with the help of Excalibur, continues to gain confidence in writing her own tale as she fights to save the land from the Wicked Witch. But as is always the case with evil villains, she is not to be underestimated. Can Dorthea and Rexi save their home while protecting the prince they both love from getting caught in the crossfire?

As the third and (final?) book in the Storytellers series, readers will find this just as much fun as Spelled and Wanted. Schow has perfected the twisted fairy tale vibe by also added a rift on the modern. Her characters are well developed who have fantastic individuality. I especially love that her female protagonists are strong, sassy and intelligent.

Overall, this was a fun read and recommended for fans of Dorothy Must Die, The Lunar Chronicles and other fantasy/fairy tale based books with humor and romance.

Final rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The third book in the storyteller trilogy, Banished follows the story of Dot and Rexi while Dorthea is in hospital regaining her memories.

I absolutely love books that are based off of fairy tales. I was hoping that this book would be a “standalone” but I was able to read it with only a few minor ‘what’s going on’ moments. I will definitely be going back and reading the first two.

I love the world, I love the settings, I absolutely adore the authors writing. I give this book 4.5 stars. Now I’m off to buy and binge read the first two!

I received an eARC of this book via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

Banished by Betsy Schow is the fantastic conclusion to The Storymakers. Told from both Dorthea’s and Rexi’s point of view, I found myself reminded of what I loved about this series in the first place: it’s subtle combining of pop culture with fairy tales.

At the end of Wanted, we are left wondering if Dorthea survived and well it’s answered immediately. Dorthea is in a hospital in Kansas when she awakes and when the story begins she’s been there a month. The scar on her chest isn’t from a Excalibur but from surgery to remove cancer. Dorthea is being told that all she knows about Libraria (the land she hails from) is false, that it is all in her head, a psychotic invention brought on by the stress of her cancer. And she’s starting to believe them. Dorthea is heartbroken and lost, yet in Kansas her parents are alive and well. She is a far cry from the spoiled princess in the first book. She’s broken and must find herself in order to help her friends.

Meanwhile Rexi is still in Camelot being named the true king after Excalibur found her. Mordred is at her side and together they plan on saving Dot and the kingdom from Morte and Blanc. This is not the same girl we saw in the last two books. Instead Rexi is changed for the better. She’s finally what’s important to her and that’s her friends who she is determined to save. She’s on a mission and that’s to give all of story a happily ever after.

The plot moves quickly and I found that I liked the dual POV more than I would. I loved seeing Rexi and Dot’s perspectives. But what I loved more was the setting. The author returned to the Oz storyline since really the story has been centered on Dot. I liked the little things like the name of her psychologist Dr. Baum (as in L. Frank Baum the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) and the club Dot goes to. Dot’s time in Kansas is very reminiscent of the original story this is based on. And Rexi’s trials to find the wishing well brings in some Camelot elements which I also enjoyed. I loved how well the author was able to mesh the stories together, creating Libraria.

Overall Banished was a great read. I enjoyed the climax and the heartbreaking conclusion. I was sad and happy to turn the final page and the end? Well all I can say is I hope that means the author will write more from this land. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that has read the series previously and to those that enjoy urban fantasy and fairy tales.