Then a cyclone rips through the night and carries her, her dog, and the farmhouse somewhere a lot farther than Dorothy imagined. She’s in a strange land that’s apparently cursed, shrouded in shadow. And to get home, Dorothy needs to seek out a wizard, following a treacherous path and watch out for a never-ending list of forest beasts, witches, a cursed mercenary, and perhaps most dangerous of all, the wizard himself.
Nikki St. Crowe vividly reimagines the world of the Wizard of Oz, where the villain gets the girl...and the girl gets the power."
West of Wicked wasn’t a book that I was specifically planning to pick up, but when I received a copy from the publisher I was excited to give it a read since I found Nikki St. Crowe’s Never King series so fun. I’m glad I decided to give this one a read because it was very different from her other series in a lot of ways, but still stayed true to really reinventing a classic story.
The story follows the general Wizard of Oz background and the general story beats we are all familiar with, such as Dorothy living with her aunt and uncle, the house being swept away and landing in Oz, and of course, Toto’s delightful presence, and I found all of these great aspects of the story to revisit and to help it feel grounded. What I most enjoyed was how the author chose to subvert the story using some classic elements from the original to be transformed into something different and entirely unique. That’s one of my favorite things in any retelling or story inspired by a classic: seeing how they choose to incorporate recognizable elements from said classic and all the ways they choose to change things while retaining some minor details that make it feel respectful of the original material.
Even with characters like the Scarecrow and the Tin Man, it was such a delight to see how she took the core ideas for those characters--being heartless, lacking a brain, etc.--and played with them in ways that were really imaginative and interesting, and I think that’s the strongest aspect of this entire book for me.
The plot itself is interesting and fun to follow and has some compelling layers to it. That being said, this also feels like the type of book that isn’t meant to be “overthought.” It’s not overly dense or complicated, but rather feels like something you’re meant to experience in the moment where you can enjoy the drama, intrigue, and all the twists and turns as they unfold.
Dorothy herself is a really great character to follow-we do always love a strong woman who knows how to stand up for herself. I appreciated seeing her internal conflicts over figuring out what she truly wants for herself in her life, and whether she can make those choices for herself--without feeling selfish, which is her biggest struggle--or if she wants to continue making choices just to make other people happy. She’s also very resourceful, determined… and very aware of the attractive men she meets.
The supporting characters were also very interesting and well-crafted. There are more than you might expect in this book, and we get multiple points of view, which I enjoyed. It added a lot of much-needed background and perspective from different sides, and I think it helped build out the world in a more well-rounded way, as well, which helped it feel more solid. This is something that I think Crowe consistently does: building a strong cast and giving each one their own thread and development, which adds a lot to the story overall.
I don’t have many negative things to say about this book, but I will say that there were definitely a few moments throughout where I found myself pausing and thinking to myself, “Really? That’s how you’d react to that?”, but not necessarily in a way that detracted from my experience. It was more in a way where I was just aware that it felt a little odd or silly, but I could shrug and keep going. It’s more the type of story where you know what you’re getting into and you’re just here for the ride.
I think questioning every little detail would actually take away from what is special about this story, and what is special is following a bold, confident protagonist who is ready to put herself into complicated, dangerous situations to reach her goals. This book works best when you let yourself stay in the moment with her on her journey. And I absolutely do not mean that there’s no substance in this book, because there absolutely is, it’s just not a story that demands deep analysis on every page.
I think romance readers will definitely like the romance aspects of this story, and although I am not personally a huge romance reader myself so therefore wasn’t all that invested in that part of the story, I do think the author balanced the romance within the greater plot really well. There’s a bit of a budding romance, but it never felt overwhelming or took over the story. If you don’t like romance, I think there’s still plenty in this book for you to enjoy, and if you do like romance, then there’s some nice romance in there as well for you.
And for those who may be wondering, especially if you’re familiar with Nikki St. Crowe’s other work--there were only two main sex scenes in this book, but they’re not especially long or intense. If that’s not your thing, I think they are very easy to skip, and if they are your thing, then they are there waiting for you. If you’re specifically hoping for as much smut as the Never King series, then that’s not quite present in this book [at least not in this first book!].
I ended up speeding through this book pretty quickly, which was a very pleasant surprise, as I found it very readable and easy to get into with plenty of exciting twists and plot developments. If this sounds like a fun read to you or if you like the Wizard of Oz and want to try out a version that does some new and subversive things with the story, then I think you’ll really enjoy this one and I encourage you to give it a read!
Buy the book: Bookshop.org | Amazon
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