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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fuck this book. It's boring, infuriating, uninspired, the characters are annoying af, the FMC is as dumb as a bag of rocks, and the story is agonizingly slow it'll make you crave death.
I was so indulged in this book... I couldn't put it down. I loved the concept, and the idea was definitely there. I do think there were so many cliques in the book though.
The biggest issue I had: the ending. leading to the sequel. like okay that's normal for a book. but when the description and even the title isn't even accomplished in the book, wtf!? the whole back cover saying 'remove the tin woodman's heart. steal the scarecrow's brain. take the lion's courage, and then Dorothy must die.' , didn't even happen! Wasn't mentioned until the last like 4 pages. That completely threw me off. I noticed that half way through the book when I was confused why this main idea had barely been talked about.
I was so into the book, which only led to more disappointment. I expected to get something out of this book, but it all seemed like a rising action.
Also with the magical mirror couldn't Dorothy have just said "show me Amy" and then be able to find her easily .-.
The biggest issue I had: the ending. leading to the sequel. like okay that's normal for a book. but when the description and even the title isn't even accomplished in the book, wtf!? the whole back cover saying 'remove the tin woodman's heart. steal the scarecrow's brain. take the lion's courage, and then Dorothy must die.' , didn't even happen! Wasn't mentioned until the last like 4 pages. That completely threw me off. I noticed that half way through the book when I was confused why this main idea had barely been talked about.
I was so into the book, which only led to more disappointment. I expected to get something out of this book, but it all seemed like a rising action.
Also with the magical mirror couldn't Dorothy have just said "show me Amy" and then be able to find her easily .-.
New twist on The Wizard of Oz. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
When I was a much younger reader, I read ALL the Oz books. And it was a very fantastical and nonsensical world. And it wasn't a world that was all about Dorothy either.
I just couldn't get into the vilification of Dorothy. As a girl who hated her life on the farm, and sucked up all the magic in Oz so she could dress like a blue gingham-ed hooker, and along with her equally perverted original team, torture and terrorize the locals.
Even though the characters fall into the "YA" age range. This book had a lot of grotesque and bloody scenes, and didn't spare the language, to a degree that I don't usually see in YA books. Beyond some introspective questioning about how someone who seemed good can turn bad, or how you can "kill" another human, even if it's for a worthy cause and retain your own "goodness." And what truly is wicked, and what isn't. Beyond those deeper themes, I didn't care for this book or the story, or the characters in it - it was just too grotesque a re-imagining of the fairy tales I grew up with for me to find enjoyable.
I just couldn't get into the vilification of Dorothy. As a girl who hated her life on the farm, and sucked up all the magic in Oz so she could dress like a blue gingham-ed hooker, and along with her equally perverted original team, torture and terrorize the locals.
Even though the characters fall into the "YA" age range. This book had a lot of grotesque and bloody scenes, and didn't spare the language, to a degree that I don't usually see in YA books. Beyond some introspective questioning about how someone who seemed good can turn bad, or how you can "kill" another human, even if it's for a worthy cause and retain your own "goodness." And what truly is wicked, and what isn't. Beyond those deeper themes, I didn't care for this book or the story, or the characters in it - it was just too grotesque a re-imagining of the fairy tales I grew up with for me to find enjoyable.
Wow! That was great! I Loved this book, Danielle Paige did a fantastic job at retelling OZ. We all know Dorthy as a sweet little girl from Kansas but in this book Dorothy is a real b**** and if you have read it you will agree. One major thing I loved that the author did was including some of the lesser-known Oz characters like Ozma and Mombi. All around I loved this book and recommend it to any Wizard of Oz lovers, and I can't wait to read the 2nd book The wicked Will Rise!
Could I have known that it wouldn't be a great read? Yes. I actually picked it up in the hopes of a nice in-between 3 star read. A lot like The Selection and Queen of Hearts were for me. You pick it up knowing it won't be amazing, but you pick it up to be entertained.
This 2 star (close to 1 star) is a not entertained star. Why was it so bad you ask?:
Too many pages for too little plot
This book has 452 pages, I listened to the audiobook which was with speed 2x still 7+ hours. This is really accessive in my mind for what actually happens in the book. This all could be told in half the pages! It isn't as if the extra pages were used for useful things, most of the pages were used to portray how flat the characters actually are and unnecessary events that aren't important for the plot in the end.
Flat characters
We all know the original story of Dorothy in Oz, the characters are pretty flat. The witch is wicked, Dorothy is good. In this book, being a retelling, I was expecting a comment on the black and white view of the first book. Because isn't there also a grey aspect? In the beginning it seems to be setting up for that, Amy arrives in Oz and learns how all these horrible things are due to Dorothy. Later in the story, she joins a group that wants to take Dorothy down, they call themselves wicked and Dorothy is good. In this case, wicked would be good and good is bad (this is confusing I know). That's the moment in the story where I want that grey to come in because even though they switched the names around there is still a distinct evil and good. The rest of the book is used to tell how incredibly wrong, bad and "wicked" Dorothy and her friends are now. Sometimes it is commented that Amy sees a flicker of the old Dorothy, but that's immediately overruled by her doing something incredibly bad. It is never really explained why they are like this now.
I did discover that this series has, not one, not 3, no no, 9 (!!!!!!!) prequel novellas. After 452 pages of nonsense it was decided that they hadn't had enough room for a little explanation, so yeah instead of a prequel book, lets release 9 prequel novellas that are a thousand pages combined... Why??
There is one thing that I liked and that I could relate to. It was this quote by Dorothy:
"DON'T HURT MY DOG YOU BITCH"
And she is damn right in that, don't hurt her dog, don't hurt my dog, you know what, don't hurt any dog!
Would I recommend this book? No. It was a bad retelling and I really don't think that I will be continuing this series or reading the prequel novellas. But as always, if it sparked your interest do try it out, because maybe it has something in it for you!
This 2 star (close to 1 star) is a not entertained star. Why was it so bad you ask?:
Too many pages for too little plot
This book has 452 pages, I listened to the audiobook which was with speed 2x still 7+ hours. This is really accessive in my mind for what actually happens in the book. This all could be told in half the pages! It isn't as if the extra pages were used for useful things, most of the pages were used to portray how flat the characters actually are and unnecessary events that aren't important for the plot in the end.
Flat characters
We all know the original story of Dorothy in Oz, the characters are pretty flat. The witch is wicked, Dorothy is good. In this book, being a retelling, I was expecting a comment on the black and white view of the first book. Because isn't there also a grey aspect? In the beginning it seems to be setting up for that, Amy arrives in Oz and learns how all these horrible things are due to Dorothy. Later in the story, she joins a group that wants to take Dorothy down, they call themselves wicked and Dorothy is good. In this case, wicked would be good and good is bad (this is confusing I know). That's the moment in the story where I want that grey to come in because even though they switched the names around there is still a distinct evil and good. The rest of the book is used to tell how incredibly wrong, bad and "wicked" Dorothy and her friends are now. Sometimes it is commented that Amy sees a flicker of the old Dorothy, but that's immediately overruled by her doing something incredibly bad. It is never really explained why they are like this now.
I did discover that this series has, not one, not 3, no no, 9 (!!!!!!!) prequel novellas. After 452 pages of nonsense it was decided that they hadn't had enough room for a little explanation, so yeah instead of a prequel book, lets release 9 prequel novellas that are a thousand pages combined... Why??
There is one thing that I liked and that I could relate to. It was this quote by Dorothy:
"DON'T HURT MY DOG YOU BITCH"
And she is damn right in that, don't hurt her dog, don't hurt my dog, you know what, don't hurt any dog!
Would I recommend this book? No. It was a bad retelling and I really don't think that I will be continuing this series or reading the prequel novellas. But as always, if it sparked your interest do try it out, because maybe it has something in it for you!
I really enjoyed this book.
The description was amazing and the characters were so interesting and complex. this was a amazing spin on a already great story.
The description was amazing and the characters were so interesting and complex. this was a amazing spin on a already great story.