Rating: ★★★★★
Thank the Almighty that I have this book in my possession because I really don't have a lot of authors who have the same first letter in my last name and the few that I have I do not have the desire to read them at the current moment. I was beyond excited getting ready to read this book and I knew within the first few pages that this was 5-star material!
I have always been a fan of "The Wizard of Oz" and if theres a sequel, a spinoff, a miniseries, a movie, or even a book that deals with Oz, I will the first one to know it and the first one to get my hands on it. I do not know what it is about this magical world but it sucks me into another dimensional and I get lost with the characters and the magic. I absolutely worship the first book and I believe it is one of the creative retellings of the Wizard of Oz even though it has a sick and demented twist on this fantasy land. When the sequel arrived in the mail, I was kind of disappointed that it was way shorter than the first book and it took a bit of my excitement away from reading it worrying whether it will live up to the first book and it wasn't until this book marathon that I finally put all my worries away and simply read the book and I am ecstatic to have finally read it.
The sequel begins right where "Dorothy Must Die" with Amy & Ozma escaping from the Emerald City. Everything that was going according to plan practically failed and Amy is lucky that through the help of the Wizard she is able to escape with the flying wingless monkeys. Now that Amy had failed her mission, she is back at square one not knowing which side to rely on, if the Wizard is someone to be trusted, and the whereabouts of Nox and the rest of the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked. But one thing that she has accepted is her new mission to remove the Tin Woodman's heart, steal the Scarecrow's brain, take the Lion's courage, and only then she is able to kill Dorothy. That seems easy enough to accomplish right? (Sarcasm inserted)
At the end of the first book we learn that Pete is Ozma and so many people are confused by this which in reality it is extremely simple. Picture Pete and Ozma as different sides of the same coin. Pete and Ozma have different thoughts, beliefs, abilities, and even different souls but they share the same body. Like Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker, they are two different characters of the same person. Now that I got that solution handle lets get back to the story.
Ollie and Maude transport Amy & Ozma to the forest of the Wingless Monkeys for protection and recovery after the Battle of Emerald City, and everything is running smoothly until these giants birds destroy the monkeys wings and sends everyone into the outer rim of the forest farther from the path they need to take. They realize that the forest is quite different and believe that the magic that Dorothy and Glinda robbed from the land of Oz is returning and making the land stronger. They believe they have reached paradise and made Amy treasure the innocent belief of what Oz used to be before the evil dictator and out of nowhere Ozma says, "He's here, everyone hide somewhere".
Since they are in the forest it is no other than the Cowardly Lion except he came for blood. He tries to kill Ozma but since she is having her moment of lucid, she puts a protection bubble to protect her and the monkeys. Since Amy needs his courage, she decides to kill him and have this epic fight. Whats different about this fight is since she is more connected to the magic of Oz and using her darker emotions, her magic is completely different and for the ones who are witnessing her in action sees her as a monster instead of a witch. In the end she doesn't kill the lion but she does cut off his tail making him powerless and back to the original lion we love.
The Wingless monkeys have arrived and they all look at her like a ghost. They take her to their village and she gets to meet Queen Lulu, Queen of the Wingless Monkeys. Its through her guidance that they reach sanctity. They have a private chatter in which they find out that the Emerald Palace is growing, its abandoned, and Dorothy is hiding from everyone. No signs of the Revolutionary order of the Wicked. Later on while Amy is enjoying herself in what seems like a water resort in this monkey village, Mombi comes out of purple smoke looking decrepit, bruised, and exhausted trying to reach Amy. Through her she finds out that the other witches are in limbo because she didn't properly anchor herself to transfer everyone out of the battle that failed thanks to Amy fault. She has no clue where they are and won't find out until she recuperates.
Since she is in no working conditions, she tells Amy that she must find Polychrome, daughter of the Rainbow who is the ruler of Rainbow Falls. No one can enter unless she invites you and Dorothy has spent countless resources trying to find a backdoor entrance with no luck. That fact alone would discourage Amy but since Ozma is the true ruler of Oz, and is a powerful fairy she has the 6th sense in locating the entrance to Rainbow Falls and that is where the action begins.
This is a trilogy I already had an idea of how the story was going to be written. I knew she was going to fail in the first book because then whats the point of sequels and I believe what was going to happen is she was going to kill the scarecrow and the lion in the second book and then the third book would be this big badass book dedicated to sole purpose of Amy finally killing Dorothy and then happily ever after the end. I was so wrong.
Danielle Paige either figure out how simple this trilogy could have been but instead she deviated from the norm and finally took complete control of Oz and made it her own. The big battle scene midway into this book came as a huge surprise and the ending left me speechless. When she went off course, I realize I have no clue what is going to happen leaving me at the end of my seat wanting more. It was such a plot twist and even though it came as a surprise I realize that throughout the entire book they made it obvious about a particular character and even the map that came with this book gave the hint away and still I was speechless by all of it.
I hate that it left in such a cliff hanger because now I have to wait forever for the final book to be published but I applaud Danielle Paige for being unique and guiding us into this fairy land without knowing whether who will live and who will die. This book reminds me a lot of Empire Strikes Back (what is up with me making Star War references?) in terms of how the evil characters react to Amy when she tried killing Dorothy and the big secret revealed in the end.
I cannot get enough of this series and even though I do not believe it is as epic as the first book left me, I still believe this sequel is marvelous at providing background story about Oz and certain characters, and we get to see character development with Amy dealing with this new world, her mission, her magic, and this constant journey figuring out who she can trust and what needs to be accomplish in order to save Oz and for her not to turn evil as everyone compares her to Dorothy.
P.S. Theres a gay character in this sequel and I knew who it was because it is impossible for him to be straight if he is a different person. No spoilers but I am happy he is gay because we need a gay guy in Oz since we are all a friend of Dorothy.
I have always been a fan of "The Wizard of Oz" and if theres a sequel, a spinoff, a miniseries, a movie, or even a book that deals with Oz, I will the first one to know it and the first one to get my hands on it. I do not know what it is about this magical world but it sucks me into another dimensional and I get lost with the characters and the magic. I absolutely worship the first book and I believe it is one of the creative retellings of the Wizard of Oz even though it has a sick and demented twist on this fantasy land. When the sequel arrived in the mail, I was kind of disappointed that it was way shorter than the first book and it took a bit of my excitement away from reading it worrying whether it will live up to the first book and it wasn't until this book marathon that I finally put all my worries away and simply read the book and I am ecstatic to have finally read it.
The sequel begins right where "Dorothy Must Die" with Amy & Ozma escaping from the Emerald City. Everything that was going according to plan practically failed and Amy is lucky that through the help of the Wizard she is able to escape with the flying wingless monkeys. Now that Amy had failed her mission, she is back at square one not knowing which side to rely on, if the Wizard is someone to be trusted, and the whereabouts of Nox and the rest of the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked. But one thing that she has accepted is her new mission to remove the Tin Woodman's heart, steal the Scarecrow's brain, take the Lion's courage, and only then she is able to kill Dorothy. That seems easy enough to accomplish right? (Sarcasm inserted)
At the end of the first book we learn that Pete is Ozma and so many people are confused by this which in reality it is extremely simple. Picture Pete and Ozma as different sides of the same coin. Pete and Ozma have different thoughts, beliefs, abilities, and even different souls but they share the same body. Like Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker, they are two different characters of the same person. Now that I got that solution handle lets get back to the story.
Ollie and Maude transport Amy & Ozma to the forest of the Wingless Monkeys for protection and recovery after the Battle of Emerald City, and everything is running smoothly until these giants birds destroy the monkeys wings and sends everyone into the outer rim of the forest farther from the path they need to take. They realize that the forest is quite different and believe that the magic that Dorothy and Glinda robbed from the land of Oz is returning and making the land stronger. They believe they have reached paradise and made Amy treasure the innocent belief of what Oz used to be before the evil dictator and out of nowhere Ozma says, "He's here, everyone hide somewhere".
Since they are in the forest it is no other than the Cowardly Lion except he came for blood. He tries to kill Ozma but since she is having her moment of lucid, she puts a protection bubble to protect her and the monkeys. Since Amy needs his courage, she decides to kill him and have this epic fight. Whats different about this fight is since she is more connected to the magic of Oz and using her darker emotions, her magic is completely different and for the ones who are witnessing her in action sees her as a monster instead of a witch. In the end she doesn't kill the lion but she does cut off his tail making him powerless and back to the original lion we love.
The Wingless monkeys have arrived and they all look at her like a ghost. They take her to their village and she gets to meet Queen Lulu, Queen of the Wingless Monkeys. Its through her guidance that they reach sanctity. They have a private chatter in which they find out that the Emerald Palace is growing, its abandoned, and Dorothy is hiding from everyone. No signs of the Revolutionary order of the Wicked. Later on while Amy is enjoying herself in what seems like a water resort in this monkey village, Mombi comes out of purple smoke looking decrepit, bruised, and exhausted trying to reach Amy. Through her she finds out that the other witches are in limbo because she didn't properly anchor herself to transfer everyone out of the battle that failed thanks to Amy fault. She has no clue where they are and won't find out until she recuperates.
Since she is in no working conditions, she tells Amy that she must find Polychrome, daughter of the Rainbow who is the ruler of Rainbow Falls. No one can enter unless she invites you and Dorothy has spent countless resources trying to find a backdoor entrance with no luck. That fact alone would discourage Amy but since Ozma is the true ruler of Oz, and is a powerful fairy she has the 6th sense in locating the entrance to Rainbow Falls and that is where the action begins.
This is a trilogy I already had an idea of how the story was going to be written. I knew she was going to fail in the first book because then whats the point of sequels and I believe what was going to happen is she was going to kill the scarecrow and the lion in the second book and then the third book would be this big badass book dedicated to sole purpose of Amy finally killing Dorothy and then happily ever after the end. I was so wrong.
Danielle Paige either figure out how simple this trilogy could have been but instead she deviated from the norm and finally took complete control of Oz and made it her own. The big battle scene midway into this book came as a huge surprise and the ending left me speechless. When she went off course, I realize I have no clue what is going to happen leaving me at the end of my seat wanting more. It was such a plot twist and even though it came as a surprise I realize that throughout the entire book they made it obvious about a particular character and even the map that came with this book gave the hint away and still I was speechless by all of it.
I hate that it left in such a cliff hanger because now I have to wait forever for the final book to be published but I applaud Danielle Paige for being unique and guiding us into this fairy land without knowing whether who will live and who will die. This book reminds me a lot of Empire Strikes Back (what is up with me making Star War references?) in terms of how the evil characters react to Amy when she tried killing Dorothy and the big secret revealed in the end.
I cannot get enough of this series and even though I do not believe it is as epic as the first book left me, I still believe this sequel is marvelous at providing background story about Oz and certain characters, and we get to see character development with Amy dealing with this new world, her mission, her magic, and this constant journey figuring out who she can trust and what needs to be accomplish in order to save Oz and for her not to turn evil as everyone compares her to Dorothy.
P.S. Theres a gay character in this sequel and I knew who it was because it is impossible for him to be straight if he is a different person. No spoilers but I am happy he is gay because we need a gay guy in Oz since we are all a friend of Dorothy.
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