Through an Emerald Gale - bookrastinating.com

English language

Published 2023 by Story Garden Publishing.

ISBN:: 978-1-957627-32-8

The Wicked Witch and the Evil Queen are at war, and the Land of Oz may not survive the battle…

When Dorothy Gale is swept into the wild world of Oz, the Wicked Witch takes her hostage and places a curse on her cousin—one that can only be broken if Dorothy completes a quest for the heartless green hag. Dorothy quickly finds she’ll need more than her wits to stay alive. She partners with three unlikely allies: a know-it-all walking bag of straw, a lion-man who seems more mouse than monster, and a metal-armed teenager whose smart-aleck mouth is almost a match for Dorothy’s own. She’ll have to turn them into a well-oiled machine if they’re going to contend with not only the oddities of Oz, but the agents of the infamous Evil Queen as well.

Camellia Snow has lived as a handmaiden under the Evil Queen for …

The Wicked Witch and the Evil Queen are at war, and the Land of Oz may not survive the battle…

When Dorothy Gale is swept into the wild world of Oz, the Wicked Witch takes her hostage and places a curse on her cousin—one that can only be broken if Dorothy completes a quest for the heartless green hag. Dorothy quickly finds she’ll need more than her wits to stay alive. She partners with three unlikely allies: a know-it-all walking bag of straw, a lion-man who seems more mouse than monster, and a metal-armed teenager whose smart-aleck mouth is almost a match for Dorothy’s own. She’ll have to turn them into a well-oiled machine if they’re going to contend with not only the oddities of Oz, but the agents of the infamous Evil Queen as well.

Camellia Snow has lived as a handmaiden under the Evil Queen for as long as she can remember. She tends to the queen’s hair, serves her food, and lives a life of trapped servitude. Until, that is, the young prince takes notice of Cami and sweeps her off her feet in a clandestine romance—one that comes to a brutal end as the maiden celebrates her sixteenth birthday with true love’s first kiss, a betrayal, and a trip to a glass coffin. Cami should be heartbroken that her love was wasted on the selfish prince, but it turns out that in Oz, worse things can happen to your heart than it breaking.

The two young heroines are on an explosive collision course. Will they end up deadly enemies or powerful allies? The fate of Oz hinges on the answer…

1 edition

lastblossom reviewed Through an Emerald Gale by Jordan Riley Swan

Contrasting leads are very cool, with the chunk of the story leaning more into the fairy tale aspects rather than the land of Oz storyline.

No rating

There are two main threads happening here, so I'll hit them one at a time. We'll start with Dorothy's, since this is billed largely as a Wizard of Oz remix. Dorothy is street-smart, wisecracking, and generally a pretty great MC to cheer for. By the time we really get to know her, she's already learned a lot about Oz, so we don't get the wide-eyed lost girl from the books or films, but rather a competent and reasonably angry teen tired of being caught up in someone else's nonsense. She's also got a really nice somewhat romantic rapport with the Tinman that feels very natural and sits pretty comfortably inside the main story without distracting from the plot. Sadly, despite her being an awesome character, we don't actually get much time with her, as this book devotes more time to the other MC: Camellia Snow. Camellia Snow is a girl …

There are two main threads happening here, so I'll hit them one at a time. We'll start with Dorothy's, since this is billed largely as a Wizard of Oz remix. Dorothy is street-smart, wisecracking, and generally a pretty great MC to cheer for. By the time we really get to know her, she's already learned a lot about Oz, so we don't get the wide-eyed lost girl from the books or films, but rather a competent and reasonably angry teen tired of being caught up in someone else's nonsense. She's also got a really nice somewhat romantic rapport with the Tinman that feels very natural and sits pretty comfortably inside the main story without distracting from the plot. Sadly, despite her being an awesome character, we don't actually get much time with her, as this book devotes more time to the other MC: Camellia Snow. Camellia Snow is a girl living in a fairy tale - in both senses of the phrase. She lives a sheltered life by design, pining after true love and waiting for the magic of her first kiss. Instead, she finds herself caught by evil royalty, dark magic, tragedy, and some serious body horror. Her story has way more depth to it, with plenty of plot twists, some really great supporting characters (her friend Vivian is a standout at this point), and a more defined journey of character growth.

Overall, the story is more Camellia's than Dorothy's right now, but I enjoyed the contrasting leads, and I look forward to seeing their stories come together in the next book.

Thanks to NetGalley and StoryGarden Publishing LLC for the review copy. All thoughts in this review are my own!

Subjects

Fiction, fantasy, general