The Wicked Will Rise is the next installment (hopefully) to the Dorothy Must Die series. For more information from my perspective on that one, see the post about book 23 :)
UGH...DOROTHY...*SNARL*
We pick up where we left off with Amy and Ozma being carried away by the faux winged monkeys, Ollie and Maude, after Amy has just removed the Tin Man's heart. They're headed to the Queendom of the Wingless Ones to regroup since all hell just broke loose in the Emerald City at the palace. However, on the way they encounter the Lion...this damn lion, man. Amy begins to tap into some seriously dark magic within herself and almost crosses a line in the sand into a very dark place that she may not be able to come back from. She ends up defeating the Lion by cutting off his tail which is where his courage is stored. Still...a side of Amy is revealed that is downright frightening to those around her and maybe a little bit to herself...but what's even more frightening is how much she actually likes the darkness. I think it speaks to human nature though...there's a little bit of dark in all of us...just what can a person be driven to do?
Once in the land of the monkeys, Amy goes before Queen Lulu who is a monkey with a bad ass attitude who basically makes it seem like she's allowing Amy to stay there out of the goodness of her monkey heart. Ugh...I spent most of this little trip rolling my eyes at Lulu. It's during the time that we're chilling with the monkeys that we learn just who the fuck Pete is. Apparently, when Ozma was birthed, created, whatever, she was a baby that was stolen away by the Wizard (dick) and given to Mombi because he thought he could do such a better job at ruling Oz. Mombi was a novice witch and when she tried to mask Ozma's true identity she accidentally created another soul within the same body. I know..weird concept but when you actually read it, it makes a lot more fucking sense. Anyway...Amy learns that if she taps into her magic, she can see these magical strings that make up everything and by manipulating a few of them, she can pull Pete forward and he can take over while Ozma in her loopy, no good state is suppressed. Amy and Pete are hanging out when Mombi teleports in from out of nowhere, is arrested by the monkeys, and placed on trial for basically being a wicked witch. She's an excellent actress, that Mombi. Mombi basically sets herself up Amy's room to recuperate after the battle she was just in at the palace while she sends Amy and Ozma on a mission to find Polychrome, the daughter of the Rainbow. Sometimes, more than once, I wondered if Paige was on an acid trip while writing these books...they're entertaining at least *shrug*.
Along the way to find Polychrome, Amy and Ozma go through the Fog of Doubt where you see Amy start to begin to find herself and her confidence. Once she passes the test in the Fog of Doubt, they must find the Island of Lost Things which you can only find by being utterly and truly lost. Once on the island they find Nox! Woot Woot! I was relieved to learn the hottie with a body hadn't died during the skirmish at the palace! Also showing up on the island is Bright...another hottie who knows Polychrome and agrees to take them to her. From there we go to Rainbow Falls where we meet Polychrome and learn that Bright is her consort. Polychrome knows some fairy magic so Amy gives her the Tin Man's heart and the Lion's tail in hopes she can figure out who placed the magic on them. Mombi also sent Amy to Polychrome in hopes she would be able to undo whatever Dorothy has done to Ozma in order to bring the Queen back to her senses. Polychrome has some ideas, but in order to do so, Pete would more than likely be erased. Pete hears this, flips his shit, knocks Amy out, goes to Glinda who in turn arrives in Rainbow Falls with fucking Dorothy and they burn that shit to the ground. In the skirmish in the sky, Polychrome and her familiar are killed but we learn that Dorothy can't be killed by Amy and Amy can't be killed by Dorothy....curious. Bitches, Dorothy and Glinda, also escape with a kidnapped Ozma.
Amy and Nox get off the charred remains of Rainbow Falls by some magic doorway thanks to Bright and they come face to face with a yellow brick wall. Amy loses her shit and begins beating the wall until her dark magic comes out and she transforms into some hideous creature. Luckily, she pulverizes the wall and Nox is able to bring her ass back to normal. The monkeys show up and reveal that Glinda and Dorothy just arrived not long before. Behind the brick wall is the Emerald City but it has been corrupted into something foul and evil. On the steps of the palace Amy and Nox find the Scarecrow with his brain empty but Amy still rips his head off. Once inside the palace, they see that everything is just wrong: there's a jungle growing out of the ceiling, staircases in midair, and Dorothy and Ozma are heading up one of those staircases in order to get to the maze that apparently surrounds the heart of Oz. Nox can't teleport but Amy is able to by slipping into the shadow world so she is able to follow them in secret. They get to the heart of the maze where the Wizard is.
The Wizard is seriously on a power trip...ugh. It's a bit stereotypical honestly...a man wanting power...I'm just saying. He somehow holds a hypnotic power over Dorothy and Amy so that they both become compliant with what he wants. It is now that we learn that apparently Kansas and Oz are the same place, just basically on different dimensions and that in order to power Oz, it's been coming from Kansas thus the reason it's such a dull place. Once again...acid trip?? Anyway, another tornado comes into play, Pete somehow bursts through Ozma's chest so now they're 2 different individuals, and Dorothy snaps out of the spell by all of the commotion and kills the shit out of the Wizard. Like holy shit, can you say blood splatter? Anyway, with the tornado, Amy and Dorothy are transported back the fuck to Kansas! What the monkey??!! It is then that Amy notices three figures in cloaks, one of them is Glamora and she tells Amy to "Rise". So side note on that...on her first night in monkey country, Amy had a dream that she stumbled upon three witches around a fountain and they told her to "Rise" and out of the fountain came Ozma, but she was darker than Amy knows her to be. Turns out it was some foreshadowing. Anyway, back in Kansas they tell her to "Rise" and she steps forward, but she also hears a man calling her name. She can't place who it is or why it's important so I'm left hanging wondering if it's Pete or Nox. It better fucking be Nox. Nox is the love interest and I need him to stay around. By the way, Pete is gay which I felt came out of left field but honestly I probably shouldn't be surprised considering he's been part of a fucking princess his entire life.
So yeah...Pete is no longer part of Ozma. I'm still not sure that whatever spell Dorothy placed on Ozma is broken. I have no idea what will happen to Dorothy now that she's back in the world of Kansas. I don't know if Kansas and Oz have now somehow merged or if she's in legit Kansas. I don't know where Nox or Pete are. I just know that Amy is about to be full on witchy and Glamora is alive. I also don't know what happened to Glinda but apparently the monkeys were able to do a little damage to her. It's like an episode of Lost...I have 45 new questions and not a single fucking answer. Ugh...this is what sucks about reading a series still in progress. I want answers NOW! And I have no idea when the next book will be out!!!
Hurry Up, Danielle Paige! I need to know just what the hell is going to happen next!!!
I'm seriously and ridiculously hooked on this series!
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