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ali_miranda's review against another edition
3.0
El principio resulta algo tedioso, pero realmente merece la pena por lo que viene después. Amy es un personaje tan realista que te hace sentir como si estuvieras en Oz, un mundo perfectamente construido también. Deseando leer la siguiente parte.
skys_library's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I have really enjoyed reading this one, I loved the dark little extended twist on the story we all know and love. The writing was nice and smooth, it flowed really well and I absolutely devoured this book within 24 hours. I loved the characters and all their little intricate details, that may not be so noticeable at first glance. There were some nice twist and turns that kept you on edge and always some form of tension to keep you eager for more. Highly recommend picking up and can't wait to read the rest of the series.
roxnn2000's review
5.0
Talk about an interesting take on an old story.
Amy is a poor girl on the wrong side of the tracks just trying to make it in her small town and keep her mother from going over the edge. With no friends and her mother constantly either depressed or drunk, Amy has to rely only on herself. When a tornado picks up her trailer Amy is sure that is the end, only instead she ends up in the world of Oz with just her pet rat Star as her only companion. Thing is, this Oz doesn't look like the Oz of fairy tales and movies. This Oz is a dark and twisted version and there is only one explanation: Dorothy.
Amy must navigate through this new world where Good and Wicked mean nothing, where the Cowardly Lion is a fear sucking beast, where the Tin Man leads a group of tin terminators, where the Scarecrow conducts unethical and terrifying experiments and where Dorothy of Kansas rules all as Princess of Oz. Trust no one is the new mantra and where everyone believes that Amy can bring Oz back to it's former glory.
Amy only knows one thing: Dorothy Must Die.
I have to say that this story really pulled me in. I was interested in Amy from the start because she isn't like Dorothy in a lot of ways, but at the same time has a core understanding of Dorothy, or at least the Dorothy she used to be.
I found that the way each of the trio of Dorothy's companions in Oz were described interesting. The Tin Man had become an Edward Scissorhand-like individual and seemed to command his team with a tight fist, but you can still see traces of his heart in other scenes later on. The Scarecrow was also twisted and made darker, making him seem more like a Frankenstein monster creating other monsters in attempts to help Dorothy. The Lion seemed to become more like a massive beast that serves Dorothy and enjoys the power his courage gives him over others. Even Dorothy is twisted, with her magic-hungry personality and where anything could be cause for death.
I also liked all the new characters that were introduced and how they interacted with Amy.
A group of Wicked Witches takes Amy in and among them is Glamora, Glinda's twin sister, and Nox, a young wizard who specializes in fighting.
I also loved the relationship between Amy and Nox, although it was always considered more of a friendship, there was still moments between them where a slight romance was forming but could never really get there because of what was going on with everything else.
Overall, I loved this story and can't wait to find the next book and read it, along with all the prequels as well.
Amy is a poor girl on the wrong side of the tracks just trying to make it in her small town and keep her mother from going over the edge. With no friends and her mother constantly either depressed or drunk, Amy has to rely only on herself. When a tornado picks up her trailer Amy is sure that is the end, only instead she ends up in the world of Oz with just her pet rat Star as her only companion. Thing is, this Oz doesn't look like the Oz of fairy tales and movies. This Oz is a dark and twisted version and there is only one explanation: Dorothy.
Amy must navigate through this new world where Good and Wicked mean nothing, where the Cowardly Lion is a fear sucking beast, where the Tin Man leads a group of tin terminators, where the Scarecrow conducts unethical and terrifying experiments and where Dorothy of Kansas rules all as Princess of Oz. Trust no one is the new mantra and where everyone believes that Amy can bring Oz back to it's former glory.
Amy only knows one thing: Dorothy Must Die.
I have to say that this story really pulled me in. I was interested in Amy from the start because she isn't like Dorothy in a lot of ways, but at the same time has a core understanding of Dorothy, or at least the Dorothy she used to be.
I found that the way each of the trio of Dorothy's companions in Oz were described interesting. The Tin Man had become an Edward Scissorhand-like individual and seemed to command his team with a tight fist, but you can still see traces of his heart in other scenes later on. The Scarecrow was also twisted and made darker, making him seem more like a Frankenstein monster creating other monsters in attempts to help Dorothy. The Lion seemed to become more like a massive beast that serves Dorothy and enjoys the power his courage gives him over others. Even Dorothy is twisted, with her magic-hungry personality and where anything could be cause for death.
I also liked all the new characters that were introduced and how they interacted with Amy.
A group of Wicked Witches takes Amy in and among them is Glamora, Glinda's twin sister, and Nox, a young wizard who specializes in fighting.
I also loved the relationship between Amy and Nox, although it was always considered more of a friendship, there was still moments between them where a slight romance was forming but could never really get there because of what was going on with everything else.
Overall, I loved this story and can't wait to find the next book and read it, along with all the prequels as well.
faeonyx's review against another edition
2.0
I will admit that I had high hopes going into this book, but those were quickly dashed once I started getting into the "meat" of it. Unfortunately, I found it to be lacking in substance and couldn't find any of the characters to be likable enough to warrant my interest. I finished reading it out of a need to simply finish it and call it done. The climax was quite anti-climactic and the ending left a lot to be desired.
I really liked the idea of revisiting a very different, warped Oz, but this book seems to only scratch the surface. I understand that there are more books in the series, but it seemed that this one wanted to touch on more and fell just short of that. It explained some things that seem not to matter all that much and left others to be questioned. I was left frustrated and confused in the end.
The characters were not particularly memorable either. Maybe Pete was okay, but the Ozma reveal at the end should have been held off to another book when it could have been dealt with in a more detailed way without leaving the reader hanging so much on that particular aspect. The Wizard is clearly untrustworthy, and the only character from the Order that I liked is dead. Well, assumed dead. If this book taught me anything it's that things are not quite what they seem.
Unfortunately, the main character that showed so much promise in the beginning fell flat pretty quickly. She clearly cares about certain things, but typically realizes that when it is too late to do anything about it. She is consistently falling short of everyone's expectations, even her own, and the only actual good thing she did throughout the book was rescue Maude for Ollie. Of course, in the process she exposed the only person that actually had her back in the castle and got her killed. Surprise, surprise.
On the other hand, I now feel as though I have to finish the other books, so I suppose this story succeeded in one goal, but I am not overly eager to go out and buy the remaining books in the series and it will become one of those back shelf readers for a while.
I really liked the idea of revisiting a very different, warped Oz, but this book seems to only scratch the surface. I understand that there are more books in the series, but it seemed that this one wanted to touch on more and fell just short of that. It explained some things that seem not to matter all that much and left others to be questioned. I was left frustrated and confused in the end.
The characters were not particularly memorable either. Maybe Pete was okay, but the Ozma reveal at the end should have been held off to another book when it could have been dealt with in a more detailed way without leaving the reader hanging so much on that particular aspect. The Wizard is clearly untrustworthy, and the only character from the Order that I liked is dead. Well, assumed dead. If this book taught me anything it's that things are not quite what they seem.
Unfortunately, the main character that showed so much promise in the beginning fell flat pretty quickly. She clearly cares about certain things, but typically realizes that when it is too late to do anything about it. She is consistently falling short of everyone's expectations, even her own, and the only actual good thing she did throughout the book was rescue Maude for Ollie. Of course, in the process she exposed the only person that actually had her back in the castle and got her killed. Surprise, surprise.
On the other hand, I now feel as though I have to finish the other books, so I suppose this story succeeded in one goal, but I am not overly eager to go out and buy the remaining books in the series and it will become one of those back shelf readers for a while.
lyakimov's review
2.0
I was not really attached to any characters in this book. We move from one set of characters to another and we don’t have the ability to actually get any character depth or connections and so they all feel disingenuous. The main character felt so quirky and different but she was just boring. This whole book and the pacing seemed rushed, but at the same time, I felt like nothing happened. It was super slow but randomly shot through moments like Amy developing her magic and all this shit. Like suddenly she’s a whole wizard out here after 1 month? Super fast. Not as fast as the pacing of the romance, though, which was obviously thrown in because it’s a typical requirement that you must reach when publishing a YA book.
The concept of the story was pretty interesting but I was underwhelmed with the execution.
The concept of the story was pretty interesting but I was underwhelmed with the execution.
eesh25's review
DNF (At 65%)
I'm gonna be honest here. I only bought the book because of it's name. It sounded cool and I barely even paid attention to the blurp, much less the reviews. And while the book seemed okay enough when it started, almost nothing interesting happened.
The story follows Amy, a girl from Kansas. She gets caught up in a tornado and transported to Oz. Yeah, just like Dorothy. Except instead of ending up in a magical world where everything works on its own in the most convenient of ways, Amy is in a much duller Oz. She's gets there years after everything with Dorothy went down and finds out that Dorothy not only returned to Oz soon after going back to her aunt, she turned evil and is now the tyrannical ruler of Oz who will do anything for power.
Afterwards Amy meets a bunch of people, goes through stuff, and eventually becomes part of a plan to kill Dorothy. Why does Amy have to be the one to do it? Who the fuck knows? Which is kind of a common theme in the book. Not much of the important stuff is known.
Yes, we know who the villain is but saying that Dorothy became evil just because she got a taste for magic? You gotta give us more than that. The Dorothy from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is an innocent, personality-less girl who, through all the adventures, just wants to back to Kansas. If you want me to buy her becoming an evil dictator, I'm gonna need a lot more of an explanation that a few fucking sentences. Same for Glinda, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Lion.
This was one of my biggest problem. This is a series that has four book (as far as I know) and if, after 300 pages, I give zero fucks about the villains or the story, it's not good. That might have worked for a standalone (one that wasn't 450 pages long) but not for a series. And it's not that we haven't met the villains properly, we have. They just have no personality or menace.
But moving on to the other characters. I actually kinda liked Amy, so it's a shame that this book didn't work out. Other than her, all the other characters are generic and cliched. The too-obvious love interest, the mentor-like individual, the mean girls... And the fact that the prose lacks any grit and darkness whatsoever... It was had to stay invested and by the time I got to 300 pages, I'd been dragging myself through the book for a while. The character motivations and development (for everyone other than Amy) was next to none. So I gave up.
There are a lot of people who enjoyed this book though so I'm not gonna say you shouldn't read it. Just be prepared for a long and slow ride. Who knows? Maybe the series gets better. I'll likely never find out.
I'm gonna be honest here. I only bought the book because of it's name. It sounded cool and I barely even paid attention to the blurp, much less the reviews. And while the book seemed okay enough when it started, almost nothing interesting happened.
The story follows Amy, a girl from Kansas. She gets caught up in a tornado and transported to Oz. Yeah, just like Dorothy. Except instead of ending up in a magical world where everything works on its own in the most convenient of ways, Amy is in a much duller Oz. She's gets there years after everything with Dorothy went down and finds out that Dorothy not only returned to Oz soon after going back to her aunt, she turned evil and is now the tyrannical ruler of Oz who will do anything for power.
Afterwards Amy meets a bunch of people, goes through stuff, and eventually becomes part of a plan to kill Dorothy. Why does Amy have to be the one to do it? Who the fuck knows? Which is kind of a common theme in the book. Not much of the important stuff is known.
Yes, we know who the villain is but saying that Dorothy became evil just because she got a taste for magic? You gotta give us more than that. The Dorothy from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is an innocent, personality-less girl who, through all the adventures, just wants to back to Kansas. If you want me to buy her becoming an evil dictator, I'm gonna need a lot more of an explanation that a few fucking sentences. Same for Glinda, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Lion.
This was one of my biggest problem. This is a series that has four book (as far as I know) and if, after 300 pages, I give zero fucks about the villains or the story, it's not good. That might have worked for a standalone (one that wasn't 450 pages long) but not for a series. And it's not that we haven't met the villains properly, we have. They just have no personality or menace.
But moving on to the other characters. I actually kinda liked Amy, so it's a shame that this book didn't work out. Other than her, all the other characters are generic and cliched. The too-obvious love interest, the mentor-like individual, the mean girls... And the fact that the prose lacks any grit and darkness whatsoever... It was had to stay invested and by the time I got to 300 pages, I'd been dragging myself through the book for a while. The character motivations and development (for everyone other than Amy) was next to none. So I gave up.
There are a lot of people who enjoyed this book though so I'm not gonna say you shouldn't read it. Just be prepared for a long and slow ride. Who knows? Maybe the series gets better. I'll likely never find out.
ciaramonae's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
luey03's review
2.0
Ok, I am always down for retellings, but this… just didn’t do it.
I was excited for an evil Dorothy retelling, but when Amy got to Oz and it was like emo punk land with munchkins wearing combat boots... No. I feel like a lot of the magic was lost in this modern day depiction of Oz which was seriously disappointing.
I was excited for an evil Dorothy retelling, but when Amy got to Oz and it was like emo punk land with munchkins wearing combat boots... No. I feel like a lot of the magic was lost in this modern day depiction of Oz which was seriously disappointing.
olital's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
makenaseal's review
It was just boring and not well written. I did want to get more invested in characters but when I went to read I was dreading it.