This was kind of a disappointment to me. Now, that's not completely the fault of the book itself: it introduced some interesting ideas, it added some new characters, and things did progress (though it took a little longer to get to the "progression" stage of the story than I wanted). However, as a heads up that I definitely did not have going in, this is not the last book in the series, and it is also rather alarmingly short.
The combination of these two things meant that up until almost the very end, where I finally felt like we started moving things forward, I was getting progressively more miffed with the way things were going. I had questions that needed answers, I was not getting answers to those questions, but I *was* getting more questions, which is not how one wants to see the ending of a series go. Having my Kindle inform me every time I turned a page that I was now 2% further along in the story was just adding insult to injury.
Amy was weirdly whiney throughout, mostly over her Love Interest, which I found oddly annoying. I don't generally mind teen angst over romance, even in the midst of bad situations, but this felt oddly forced and like a step back from Amy's gung-ho attitude in previous books. She didn't seem like the type to suddenly start whingeing about like this and it was distracting.
Her relationship with her mother and with her Kansas--I guess I'm going to say 'friends' because I'm not sure what else to call them, but wow I did not see that coming--was not well-handled either. Things seem like they may finally be coming around with her mother, but do we get to see much of this? No. It was somehow weirdly important without actually seeming to be handled.
The magic of Oz was legitimately intriguing, and the parallels between Amy and Dorothy being painted throughout were fascinating, but Amy's behavior in the face of them was also a bit questionable. While I've always admired her ability to throw advice to the wind and just do stuff (both for plot purposes and because this Oz is remarkably insane and figuring out who to trust is difficult at best), when the advice of a bunch of people you swear you trust and your own experiences seem to line up, you should maybe take a step back and consider things again.
Despite all of this ranting (I am aware this has become a rant), I retain a fascination with this universe that won't quite let go. I will be reading the next book in the series (though I won't burn myself by buying it on release day as I did this) just to see how things come out in the end. This Oz is dark and fascinating, and putting together the pieces of how one of my favorite childhood fantasy-lands turned into this is worth the price of admission for me.
Rating: 2/5
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