No Place Like Home (The End of Oz – A Book Review)

The End of Oz (Dorothy Must Die #4)

Author: Danielle Paige

Published: 2017

On Goodreads

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My Rating:

Rated W for wicked creeps in a land of complete horror where the food is dreadful.

 

Ding dong—Dorothy is dead.

But it turns out girls from Kansas are harder to kill than we look.

Dorothy is dead. Ozma, the rightful ruler of Oz, has finally returned to her right mind and her throne. Oz is free…not.

All was right, and now it isn’t. Amy’s old enemy turned friend, Madison is now stranded in Oz and the Nome King is sweeping in to take over Oz. Luckily, they are saved by Oz, but lead them to Ev, the gnarly kingdom of the Nome King. There they hope to find a way to defeat the Nome King there.

While Oz is still at risk, Amy is struggling with whether she wants to go back to Kansas or remain in Oz. Where will she call home?

 

The Dorothy Must Die series is one of the series on my New Year’s resolution and this is book 4 of 4

 

Amazon

Dorothy Must Die Review: Here

 

Amazon

The Wicked Will Rise Review: Here

 

Harper Collins

Yellow Brick War Review: Here

 

All series eventually come to an end. Except for series like Shadowhunters (Cassandra Claire) and possibly Morganville Vampires (Rachel Caine). LOL. They might be eternal. This is the final book in the Dorothy Must Die series and it was so different from the books that precede it. While the heavy feeling of the end was there, I really loved that if ever Paige wanted to come back to Oz later, she could. So, it was bittersweet, yet warming to my heart.

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Amy and Nox are teaming up once again to save Oz once and for all. They have to be among one of the most interesting relationships I’ve read in a book. I like my pairs/relationships hot, steamy, and intense, but I find ones that begin in friendship with a solid steel bond that turns into so much more amazingly beautiful too. They’re more real. Amy and Nox were very real.

Madison has come to Oz! Whoa… Still pretty surreal, even now as I’m reviewing the book. I couldn’t stand her! I’ve definitely turned my leaf on her. She turned out to be kickass and that’s epic. I really love it when an enemy can turn out to be an ally and even a friend. The development is a splendid one.

Also, Ev was creepy AF. No joke. Ick and double ick. The reference to Return to Oz was on point!

“Return to Oz? It’s like showing a little kid Clockwork Orange. Fucked me up for life…” (Madison, p.31)

I’m just glad there’s no zombie/robot Totos. Eesh. The Wheelers were pretty messed up though. Just a lot of disturbing creatures in a disturbing world. I get a Castlevania mixed with The Dark Crystal vibe.

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Looking back on the past played a big part in this book. Each character, including some just being introduced, was looking back to what brought them to this point, Oz on the verge of another war. It’s shocking to look back at where this all began. So much has changed. It just stuns me. You know what I’m saying, right? That feeling? It’s crazy. And satisfyingly fulfilling.

 

Overall

A pretty good conclusion to an entertaining series. Magical and certainly out of this world. I had a lot of fun and was always surprised. Definitely a delightful and simultaneously disturbing twist on a tale I already find slightly screwed up. From wingless monkeys to wicked witches to ugly ass beetles that are easily offended. I was really taken with Amy’s journey and how it changed her life. So, maybe the story wasn’t the most exciting, but her journey was important and brave and well-developed.

 

Quotables:

“…I can’t erase our past but I don’t live in it. I am not ruined. I’m just done with it. What you did to me…it’s a part of who we both are, and I carried it for a long time. But if you still carry it, that’s for you to deal with.” (Amy to Madison, p. 199)

“No matter how many times I said it, I knew I’d never get used to the feeling of the words in my mouth. The knowledge that it was true. That I’d never feel this way about anyone else again as long as I live.” (Amy, p. 213)

“Nothing cures a broken heart like pie.” (Dorothy, p. 239)

“We are made of what shapes us.” (p. 251)

 

More to come soon…

  -K.

 

P.S. Song today? A Place Called Home by Kim Richey.

 

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