I am really sad to say I didn't enjoy this book, which is a real shame because I absolutely love how Danielle Paige writes.

There's a lot of reasons on why I couldn't get into this book, and I feel like I need to explain them or else the mobs will attack....:
1. It's been a while since I read the first book (which I loved, by the way) and the summaries and reviews of that book didn't catch me up all that much.
2. I didn't have time to re-read the first book, so I went into this book feeling half-lost.
3. I don't know the original Wizard of Oz story, only the Judy Garland and James Franco versions, so that didn't help me much either.

That being said, it took me a while to get into this book. I kept jumping to plot summaries, YouTube videos and other forms of media to try to catch myself up. I honestly think this series needs to be one that you read back to back in a short period of time. Danielle's story is SO GOOD but it has a lot of plot details you don't want to miss. Also, if you don't know the original story of Oz as well as some other readers (haha... not me) then you'll want to know what's going on. If I would have had all of these books at the same time I probably would have done a much better job of reading them all in a row! Unfortunately, as a university student my funds are low and I had to wait until I could find this at my local used book store (that took some sweet time, let me tell you).

Aside from my obvious annoyance at myself, here are the good parts of the book:
1. We learn a lot about Amy, Ozma and the monkeys. I thoroughly enjoyed Danielle fleshing out these characters more and allowing me to see into their worlds. Ozma I found the most interesting, to be brutally honest, but mostly because I forgot a lot about Amy.
2. There's a pinch of romance brewing and I am really curious to see how it plays out. I don't know if I'll ever find the sequels to this book, but I am morbidly curious about Pete.
3. Some of the choices in this book were really stupid, but honestly... I probably would have made the same ones given the situation! I liked that this book wasn't cookie cutter YA in all forms. Seriously, it's refreshing.
4. In general, I just like when people re-tell fairy tales or other famous stories, so Danielle gets a plus for retelling Oz. Oz is so cool and whimsical and weird and exciting, so to retell it with such a change in story... yeah, it's cool. Hence why I continued this series!
5. Lots of action! Enough said.

What I found confusing and/or didn't like:
1. I don't really know where this book was going. Amy killed some major characters and Glinda is up to some tricks but... what else? I honestly just didn't know where this book was heading to. What's the end goal of this series? It wasn't obvious for me personally.
2. The author drama that went on around this book scared me away from reading it and writing this review. Hence why I posted what I did about this book - I did like it but it's just not for me. I'm almost scared into seeing what people will say about my review and rating (which is absolutely just goofy, but honestly... I think it's fair).

So what is my overall opinion? The book is good and if you've read the first novel and want to continue this series, PLEASE DO IT. I think Danielle is ridiculously talented and this is a really cool series. Buuuuuut... I'm the type of reader who likes to dabble in different books and jump back into this series. This book was REALLY hard to jump back into after some time, even with the summaries. That means for me that this series isn't for me. I like being able to jump back into a book without having to go find summaries to know what's going on. And that's a ME problem, not an author problem. Danielle can write whatever way she wants!

One out of five stars due to my lost-ness. ( )

3.75/5 ( )

Full Review on my blog!

The first book was a bit more entertaining, but I still really enjoyed this one! This was a great sequel!

One of the things that I really love about The Wicked Will Rise is how strong the main character, Amy Gumm, is. Amy Gumm is a really good heroine. Flawed, as expected but I really saw her develop in this book; discovering more about herself, and realizing who she is and who she will become. I loved how she went through with what she believed in. I know, I know that probably sounds stupid but still …. :c Amy has these amazing powers that are connected to darkness, and didn’t try to stop using them, but rather welcomed them and she tried her best to control it.

I love the relationship between Amy and Nox, I liked how the story didn’t revolve around them which was nice; it was literally perfect.

Throughout the beginning of the book, it seems like all is going according to plan. Get the Tin Man’s heart, the Lion’s tail, and the Scarecrow’s brain before she can properly kill Dorothy, restore the magic to Oz, right? Wrong. When the reader least expects it, BAMMM! Major plot twist. This isn’t a typical plot twist that will surprise you and then you’ll get over it in a few minutes. No, no, no! The plot twists in this series so far are very powerful, and amazing and will make you LOVE the series!

I know this book seems really short, but it’s jam-packed with suspense and action. Danielle Paige does an amazing job describing Oz. I absolutely LOVEEEE how she includes the same landmarks, like the yellow brick road, the Emerald City, which really makes reading so enjoyable. What makes this book even better is the character development, an improved story line and more plot twists.

I REALLY, REALLY LOVED THIS SEQUEL. Y'all should definitely check this series out! I highly recommend it!

Check out my reviews of the rest of this series!
Dorothy Must Die
The Wicked Will Rise
Yellow Brick War
The End of Oz
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I really just love this series so much! Amy Gumm really finds her dark and WICKED side in this book! I can't wait to get to the next in the series!!! ( )

Not as good as the first book in my opinion..
Lacking a little bit of punch but still an interesting story line and the ending had a decent twist ( )