Synopsis

I didn’t ask for any of this. I didn’t ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado – taking you with it – you have no choice but to go along, you know?
Sure, I’ve read the books. I’ve seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little bluebirds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can’t be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There’s still a yellow brick road – but even that’s crumbling.
What happened? Dorothy.
They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.
My name is Amy Gumm – and I’m the other girl from Kansas.
I’ve been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.
I’ve been trained to fight.
And I have a mission.

My thoughts

When I started this book, I really didn’t want to like it. I didn’t like the idea of the stories I loved growing up (including the MGM film), being twisted inside out, but as the story unfolded, Danielle Paige’s clever retelling had me enthralled, her writing is excellent, and I quickly parked the idea in my head that my ideals of Oz (Judy Garland in the movie version) would not be ruined by this work.

In fact I loved it. Amy Gumm, (I see what you did there Danielle) is a well defined character, a normal teenager, with normal and no so normal teenage problems.

The characters she meets along the yellow brick road are beautifully written and fit in well with Baum’s legacy. I loved the winged monkeys in the book, tired of being controlled by successive witches clip their wings so they can be free.

And the story goes on to prove that sometimes ‘No place like home’ is wrong and that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

But even though Dorothy is now the villain, I still can’t hate her, instead I feel sorry for her, the powers of Oz are not meant to be used by humans.

A less talented writer would have not been able to turn Glinda and Dorothy bad, and make this an enjoyable retelling of the classic Oz stories