Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Dorothy. Must. Die.

Excuse me? Why? Well because in this story of OZ she is not sweet and kind. Dorothy made it back to OZ a second time and became a power-hungry princess who is a mean and scary dictator. Her ruby slippers are instead magical ruby spiked heels. The winged monkeys are not evil but they are enslaved by her to fly her magical carriage. She has loyal followers who enjoy evil the way that she does, there are followers who pretend to like her out of fear of punishment, and then of course there is a resistance.

I thought it would be difficult to get into Dorothy Must Die. I’ve seen the movie many times, and Dorothy and her friends are sugary sweet and like-able. Dorothy even has a face that just can’t appear evil to me. It is a testament to the skill of Danielle Paige that she could sway me to the resistance against Dorothy and friends. The tin-man has knives for fingers, the lion feasts on fear, and the scarecrow experiments on people!

Amy Gumm is a “normal” (how do we define normal?) girl who gets swept up in a tornado and lands in Oz. She recalls the story of Dorothy that we all know so she has a hard time reconciling that with what she hears from people living in OZ under her rule. “Glinda the Good” is a loyal follower of Dorothy. Glinda has enslaved munchkins to drill out magic from OZ for Dorothy’s use. Meanwhile, her Wicked twin Glamora is part of the resistance. Wicked witches like Glamora are banded together to stop Dorothy. Something that Amy is told by everyone she meets is that she should trust no one. What Amy is certain of is that Good is Wicked, Wicked is Good, and she is magically bound to the Wicked resistance and MUST kill Dorothy. Can she actually do it?

I’m hooked on this series. Thankfully I discovered this one late and all of the books have been released already.

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine

“Knowledge is all. The Library’s motto … it meant that nothing – nothing – was more valuable. Not even lives”

My love for books came a little late in life. At the time, I was a reader of physical books in hand. Since then I have only kept my favorites in print and have adopted various editions of kindle readers. Sure, I love the feel and smell of a book, but I love the convenience of an e-reader more.

Illustration of the Great Library of Alexandria, Egypt.

Whether or not you agree with me, Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine will transport you to a world where it is illegal to own real books. Imagine that you’re only allowed to own “blanks” which will provide you with the information and stories approved to be read by “The Great Library” of Alexandria (google for a history lesson). If you are caught in possession of an original work, it is confiscated and you are prosecuted. The wealth of information and knowledge is protected and distributed by The Great Library.

This control of information creates a huge black market for books. This is how we meet our main character Jess, known as a “cutter”, which is a runner of books. People pay high prices to obtain original works, and Jess is one of many kids who must run across the city with the books in hiding and avoid capture. Capture can lead to immediate death for the cutter and all of their connections. Following an unfortunate occurrence where Jess witnesses the destruction of an original book that he treasured, Jess no longer has the grit for being a cutter. He’s offered a reprieve by his unforgiving father but doesn’t realize until years later that it was all just clever scheming by his father for the use of Jess as a spy.

The power of The Great Library is maintained by its scholars, obscurists, and High Garda (library army). In Ink and Bone we see how little regard the elder scholars hold for human life. Nothing is more important than knowledge, but said knowledge must be controlled. Innovation is unwelcome. Those who wish to challenge or improve the system are silenced.

While working to become a trusted member of the Library, Jess will face situations where his loyalty will be tested. He faces the chance of death many times. There is heart ache and tragedy in this story but plenty of intrigue and suspense.  I promise, you won’t want to put this book down.