Amy Gumm, a high school student with a difficult life, discovers that the Land of Oz is real and it is her responsibility to defeat Dorothy, who has now become a maniacal dictator over the magical land. In the first book of this retelling of the classic Wizard of Oz, Amy Gumm is a high school student in Kansas with a prescription-addicted, absent mother. Bullied by her classmates, Amy's sense of sarcasm makes her an outcast to everyone. A tornado whisks the trailer she calls home away and she finds herself in the land of Oz.
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However, this is not the land of Oz that Amy thought she knew. Giant black holes pockmark the land, draining the magic out of it and filtering it into the now dictatorial Dorothy. Munchkin slaves are driven to drain the magic by the hand of Glinda the Good Witch and Dorothy rules with an iron fist. Oz has been twisted into a dark, misshapen thing and even the lovable character of the Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodsman have been altered into power hungry, terrible beings.
After being held as a prisoner by Dorothy at the castle in Emerald City, Amy is rescued by a group calling themselves the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked. The Order consists of three witches, including Glinda's twin sister Glamora, and few teenagers close to Amy's age. They tell her that she is to kill Dorothy, and they will help her learn how to control her magic and weapons and do it.
Once she is deemed strong enough, the Order casts a spell over her to allow her to take the form of a servant girl within Dorothy's castle and Amy infiltrates under the guise of Astrid. Once inside, she sees about getting close to the dictator and is briefly stationed as lady-in-waiting.
Dorothy hosts a ball for all of Oz's wealthy to come to and Amy, as Astrid, is set to serve drinks at it. It's at this ball Amy decides to make her move and she makes a move to take Dorothy's life before being thwarted by Toto. Dorothy lives and she flees to call her guards. Amy tackles her over the edge of a balcony and they plummet to the ground. At the last minute, Dorothy manages to use her magic to whisk herself to safety and Amy is saved by flying monkeys, including one she had helped earlier in the book.
The monkeys take her to see the Wizard, who is now in possession of actual magic. He tells her that in order to be able to beat Dorothy, she is going to need to take the courage of the Lion, the brains of the Scarecrow, and the heart of the Tin Woodsman. At that moment, the Tin Woodsman appears to battle Amy and she cuts his heart from his chest. The Wizard fights off Glinda as Amy runs with the one true princess of Oz, Ozma, who has been hiding under the guise of the boy who pulled her from her trailer, as the books ends.
Best part of story, including ending:
This book shows an interesting twist to the beloved tale of the Wizard of Oz, and shows that power can so easily corrupt even those who were always thought to be good natured, kind people. This book takes the best parts of the beloved story and gives them a nefarious edge that leaves you on the edge of your seat.
Best scene in story:
There is a scene where the witches of the Order has provoking Amy in an effort to get her to access and harness her abilities while also teaching her how to dance in preparation for infiltrating Dorothy's castle, and they use her family and her home against her and aggravate her to the point where she spontaneously teleports away in the first true sign of her magic.
Opinion about the main character:
Amy has a certain kind of gritty determination to her, generally showed by her no-nonsense attitude and her sense of sarcasm. While she may be a little naive at times, she has little problem with realizing that she is the one who can help save Oz, and that by doing so, she will need to kill Dorothy. At her deepest, she is a good person and she is more than willing to do what she needs to do.
