THE WICKED WILL RISE

In Oz, the rebellion begun in Dorothy Must Die (2014) continues as its players regroup.

As the story opens, Kansan Amy Gumm and the newly transformed Princess Ozma are taken to the queen of the formerly winged monkeys, leaving the wreckage of the Emerald City behind along with Nox and the rest of the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked. There, Amy learns that her friend Pete from the Emerald City still exists within Ozma; with a little magical help from Amy, he can emerge and interact, but most of the time his personality is submerged beneath the addled princess's. But where is Nox? Soon enough, Amy and Ozma/Pete are off to find Polychrome, the daughter of the rainbow, who may be willing to help the Order. But before they go, tough-talking monkey queen Lulu warns Amy that the dark magic she is becoming increasingly adept with could turn her into another Dorothy. And where, oh, where is Nox? With this second full-length novel in her Oz reboot, Paige continues to develop her dystopian vision of the classic tales, offering readers grimly twisted versions of the characters developed in a more innocent time. It's very much a middle volume, taking Amy and readers around the fairyland but returning them inevitably to the Emerald City for another blood-soaked confrontation. Amy's struggle with her alarming capacity for wickedness and her swoony fixation on Nox feel obligatory rather than organic, but when she's not mentally wringing her hands, her snarky voice still entertains.

Readers who liked Volume 1 will be perfectly happy waiting with this sequel for the series climax.