Date
Finished: October 10, 2017
Page
Count: 293
Genre:
Fantasy
I’d assume that you assume that The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige
must be a really good book as it was only the eighth when I said I’d get around
to reading the rest of the book in the Dorothy Must Die series. That, or I’ve
checked out too many books from the library at once and they’re all due in less
than two weeks. If you assumed both then give yourself a pat on the back
because you are correct!
Motives for finishing the book aside, the page count much less than the first
book in the series, so it makes the whole situation less cool but more
understandable. Even if this book was also four-fifty pages long or so, I’d
still be on the edge of my seat as I found Paige’s sequel to Dorothy Must
Die as riveting and enjoyable as her last, and at some points surpassed the
original in my opinion. The action was there, the bloodbath was increased, new
characters appeared that were as exciting as the previous, unexpected surprises
were at every turn, and Paige continued to make tons of fun references to the
Oz book series, with her characters and setting 
Amy
still dressed like a maid supposedly fighting the Lion (center) Ozma (inner
left), Pete (inner left), Maude (left) and Ollie (right) by her side just
looking cool. Behind them are the four witches Amy later see in a dream and in
the center is Amy turned into a monster.
The book started off strong, taking the first chapter for Amy to reflect on the
events of the previous book for all those who had to take the year or so in
between release dates when reading the books. This may have been the most
annoying thing about the book for me, but it was only a small thorn in the side
as Paige structured the text fairly well, balancing off the recap and Amy
flying away from a burning Emerald City with Princess Ozma via Ollie and Maude.
Luckily for me, Amy and allies get attacked by rocs (a species of birds) while
flying and fall to the ground, only to run into the lion and have to battle
him. Gotta hand it to Paige, she continues to write fast-paced actions
sequences that you want to read again. Sadly, this book had less action than
the first one, but I guess that’s to be expected when you downgrade by a
hundred fifty pages. Never the less, the lions fight was my favorite in the
whole book, mostly because we were able to see the effects Oz is having on Amy
and how much she’s improved since first landing in Oz. Seeing how much stronger
Amy’s gotten and how much more jaded she is towards the violence (she wanted to
slice the Lion into a pulp and was totally planning on doing it) was an
interesting direction Paige took her character in. Amy gets even cooler later
on in the book as she steps further into the shadows and goes as far as turning
into a monster unintentionally at one point. Amy is constantly fighting the
urge to give into the magic and allow it to transform her like it did to
Dorothy, and Paige beautifully illustrate this with Amy’s thoughts as much as
her actions. The development of Amy is smooth as ice and I just loved every
second Paige showed us how far she’d go in battle. Amy is by far my favorite
character in the series (right up there with Pete) for now, she’s relatable in
most situations, and has reasonable enough motives for me to jump on board with
her goals. Anyone can be corrupted in Oz with the right circumstances, and it’s
nice to have at least one character who is able to do this (especially the main
character).
Something else that I greatly enjoyed in this book was the development of Ozma
and Pete’s characters. Not much of them was seen in the previous book other
than an absent minded nincompoop in Ozma, and a shady yet slightly helpful
Pete. I personally guessed that Pete was Ozma in the beginning of the previous
book due to having some background knowledge of Oz and getting to see both
their different personalities work together (or perhaps I should say against
each other, since both want to exist when only one can at a time) was truly
fascinating. Ozma as stated before, was very distant most of the time,
wandering around like a child due to a spell Dorothy put on her. The few
moments of clarity she had still seemed like nonsense, yet revealed the true
Ozma and made me want to see her back to normal more. Her lack of clarity gave
her a childlike and innocent charm, a perfect balance for all the other
bloodshed and anguish that happens which makes me love her. Pete on the other
hand, was forced by Amy to reveal most of his secretes (the explanation on what
he was) and I for one, welcomed his openness. He was another guy Amy could
openly talk to (Nox was gone at the time) and the trust the two built up
together was wonderful. His serious yet, casual attitude was refreshing and the
guy wasn’t afraid to have a bit of fun so we got to see some leisure activities
happen in the Queendom of the Wingless Ones. Of course he had to go and screw
up everything by bringing Glinda to Rainbow Falls since Polychrome, the
daughter of the rainbow, was going to try to bring Ozma back with the side
effect of killing him. And that’s not even the worst part! Amy (at least that’s
what the next book states) freaking separates the two of them by freaking
accident without freaking killing Pete. Freaking fabulous job Amy!! She should
have totally done that before Pete went and betrayed her cause now everybody
hates him and no longer wants to give him a chance!!! Technically, I’d feel the
same way too, but I love Pete’s character, and I hate how bad he has so many
enemies and can’t even use magic to defend himself (though someone who can’t
use magic is also a refreshing aspect of his character). Either way, the fact
that these two stepped up their roles in the book was awesome and they totally
picked up the mantel from the Order and burned it just as bright.
In addition to learning about old characters, Paige brought in some fun old
characters of the old Oz books but put her won twist on them. Polychrome, as
mentioned before, made an appearance in this book due to Mombi sending Amy to
her in hopes of finding a way of returning Ozma to normal. Her authoritative
tone, yet carefree personality was fun and well suited to someone with such an
affinity for rainbows. Heathcliff, her pet unicorn that looks more like a white
panther with a horn, also added to the fun as well as Bright, the placid
womanizer that was her lover. I physically felt my heart sink once I realized
she was dead, partly because I love her character so much and the other part
was because it was just depressing to read about her dying and Rainbow Falls
burning into oblivion.
Queen Lulu of the Queendom of the Wingless Ones, was another spark in the dying
world that I was fascinated with. She wouldn’t take crap from nobody, but Ozma,
preferred to keep her people out of the surface’s business, and had a grudge
towards witches due to being enslaved by them. She became livid when someone
wasn’t going to follow her rules in the trees and had the power to back her up.
Lulu isn’t all salt and no sugar though, due to previously caring for Ozma when
she was a baby, and can’t help but feel bad about not being able to protect her
from The Wizard. Her strongest character trait though has got to be her
appearance. If bright red lipstick, a pink tutu and cat-eye sunglasses
encrusted in rhinestones doesn’t scream character then I don’t know what does.
Her sass was a favorite of mine to read and it was sad seeing her get left
behind in the Queendom later on (luckily she reappears later on in the story
and in the next book so I’m cool with it).
Then we have The Wizard who suffered death by implosion thanks to Dorothy. I
don’t feel sorry for him since he pulled a total Magolor right at the end
there. Just walk with me for a moment here (or go Google, Kirby’s Return to
Dream Land). The whole plot of Kirby’s Return to Dream Land was that
this little alien landed on Pop Star, the home planet or the hero, Kirby, and
needed your help repairing his ship. You help him and he rewards you by taking
you to his home planet, Halcandra, where a dragon named Landia attacks you
causing Magolor to request you help again. Fast forward to Landia’s defeat and
Magolor reveals that they were guarding a crown that possesses unlimited power,
and he originally attack them to get it but failed so he used you to get the
crown for him. Then you get to fight Magolor and kill him (though he somehow
come back to life or something and reappears in later games) and that
essentially it. See how much Magolor’s like The Wizard? He sends Amy on her quest
to get the Tin woodman’s heart, the Lion’s courage and the Scarecrows brains
only to use them to try to merge Oz and Kansas into one (since it turns out the
two are linked) and put himself in charge. I was not expecting this change of
heart from him, but it was an interesting twist, reinforcing the fact that
trust is fragile and not everyone is worthy of it. He was an unpredictable
villain than no one could control and Dorothy just went on a killed him. Thank
you so much Paige for dousing his potential to be the true villain.
On the flip side of that, nothing is seen from
Glamora, not much from Dorothy (though she was a killer villain when she did
show up), and Nox, ugh, he was merely remained Amy’s love interest despite the
small developments in personality he got as well. Glinda was taking her own
path slightly in this novel which was interesting to see her and Dorothy’s
alliance fall apart. Other characters from the previous book with a big role
like Jellia had died in previous books (also like Jellia), were licking their
wounds somewhere, or had no connection to the events that were happening in the
book so they didn’t appear either. Emerald City also only had a minor
appearance at the end but I didn’t mind much since it got twisted into something
outlandishly awesome and served the purpose of creating the new cliffhanger.
Yeah, Paige did that again too. Not too angry this time though since I could
start reading the next book the following day and finish it too.
To sum things up, this book was only slightly weaker than the first and
provided a very satisfying sitting. The action was there, though a smaller
dose, and Paige introduced some fun characters while killing off some others.
Paige also didn’t falter with her vivid weaving of words, and I was so pleased
with the descriptions of the new characters as well as the battle scenes.
Definitely worth reading this sequel to Dorothy Must Die, though I can
also see it possible for some people to just leave the book for good and be satisfied
with that. This book did however surpass the first in terms of themes. The
theme of holding onto hope was evident in how the characters Amy meet on her
journey had confidence in her abilities and expected her to kill Dorothy
despite the odds. This theme was far more optimistic than the previous themes
and a like the change in tone it brought. If you enjoyed the grim tone of the
previous book however (you did read the book after my amazing review didn’t
you?) corruption was still a present theme, but it was much more prominent due
to Amy reaching to a darker side of magic and the contrast between it and the
theme of hope. With all that said, I hope you’ll consider reading this sequel
after reading the first one as Paige has continued to keep up with herself and
brings something that is sure to stick with you for some time.
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