Mini Review--Queen of Oz by Danielle Paige

Good is Wicked and Wicked is Good in the New York Times bestselling Dorothy Must Die series!

This digital original novella is the ninth and final installment in the series’ prequel arc. It reveals the mysterious backstory of Ozma—and how she went from fairy princess to the rightful ruler of Oz.

Young Mombi was never the best witch in Oz. She wasn’t the most talented, or the most powerful. But when the Wizard knocks on her door holding a baby girl who needs protection, Mombi agrees to take the job. She casts one powerful, surprising spell—hiding the baby where no one would find her. Years later, a boy named Pete goes on a journey to the Emerald City, where he learns the truth about his true identity…and his role in Oz’s destiny.

The final novella of the Danielle Paige’s Dorothy Must Die prequel series is Queen of Oz and this, as you might guess, is about Ozma. I never did read the Wizard of Oz books as a kid, so I suspect that there was a lot more detail to Oz than what MGM showed us with Judy Garland! I watched the Emerald City mini-series earlier this year as well, and I think that may have even helped me a little bit in understanding some of the stories of Oz that I didn’t know about before.

Mombi is a young girl who wants to be a witch, a good witch mind you. She has some magical abilities, but she wants to learn more. So she goes to Glinda in hopes of becoming her apprentice of sorts. Naturally things don’t quite go as planned, as Glinda isn’t really up for teaching anybody anything to do with magic. Then Lurline, a fairy queen, comes to Mombi and tells her that she must go hide in secret and to care for this child, Ozma. For she is the true ruler of Oz and if any of her enemies would know about her, there would be great and terrible danger. This is when little Ozma gets transformed into a boy, by mistake, I think. And so Pete grows up thinking he’s nothing special except for Mombi’s servant boy.

It was another interesting little story. I can’t help but feel that maybe the order of these novellas got a little jumbled. Maybe not though. I did read them in a very odd order of the years with many books in between. It just felt like at times, Dorothy hadn’t returned yet, then she was, then she didn’t. I just would’ve thought that these novellas would follow a certain timeline. As in the last one I read the other day, Dorothy was back! Now in this one, she is apparently back in Kansas.

While it was still an interesting read, I couldn’t really figure out its point. It basically just shows us what Ozma was doing in her time away from the throne. Perhaps there’s a different order these novellas are meant to be in and that would’ve helped to make more sense. As this is the final one of the prequel series, it doesn’t really lead you right into Dorothy Must Die. But again, it was still an interesting read, just not as enlightening as I would’ve hoped for.

 
Overall Rating 3/5 stars