The Wicked Will Rise

 "Look, fear's not always rational, okay? Anyway, there's a difference between being afraid and being a coward. At least there was one thing I could take comfort in: if you're afraid, you must still be a little bit human." I put off reading this for too long--I forgot how much fun these books are. Spoilers for the previous book will follow. Amy remains spunky (sometimes to the point of stupidity, admittedly, but I allow a certain amount of that in sarcastic heroines, honestly) and interesting. She gets to see some new places and meet some new people and get into an awful lot of trouble. In her defense, most of the trouble was pretty unavoidable. I also continue to enjoy how aware of how ridiculous her preoccupation with Nox is: "How stupid am I?" I asked myself aloud as I changed. I was still thinking about Nox. "How is it possible that I'm here in the middle of a magical war, supposedly saving the world--or the kingdom or whatever I'm supposedly saving--and all I can think about is some dumb boy? Tracking him down should be the last thing on my mind."I will admit to not being the biggest Nox fan (I just don't...get it, I guess. Why does she like him again?), so the fact that this was kind of the romance was not my favorite thing, but at least she's aware she's being stupid about it, so I can forgive her for it. Awareness of her flaws (real flaws, at least) is something I like in a character. I was not expecting that ending, or honestly large chunks of the plot twists. It got a little weird there with Pete for a bit, though things ended up cleared up. I was not expecting him to<spoiler>turn out gay,</spoiler >though I guess that makes a level of sense and also cleared up what was likely to end up being a super strange and awkward situation. Also, bonus points for<spoiler>ending a love triangle!</spoiler>I'm not sure where his character is going to end up going from this point forward, however. I liked Ozma's presence and how integral to the story she was. She's always been one of my favorite Oz characters, and I loved seeing this take on her. This continues to be a rough ride for Oz characters and new ones alike, and the death toll continues to mount. I like that it doesn't pull any punches, and I honestly find this Oz to be fascinating largely because of that. You worry about these characters because they may genuinely die, and there was at least one quite unexpected death in this novel.<spoiler>I did not expect the rat to die! Spunky animal sidekicks aren't supposed to die!</spoiler> The worldbuilding (for lack of another word--I suppose it is more "re-imagined" than "built") is pretty amazing. I am fascinated and disgusted and intrigued every time we end up someplace new, and I love finding all the little references to Oz canon twisted into something still recognizable, but now gone from whimsical to terrifying. It's a dark and beautiful place. I don't quite know what to expect of the next one, but I'm looking forward to it. I'll leave you with a quote that I think sums up the outlook of the book rather well and also explains how you can root for Amy even when what she is doing seems moderately questionable: "You can't just cover your eyes and pretend like terrible things aren't happening simply because you can't see them." 

Esta segunda parte se vuelve mucho más mágica que la primera, pero sin perder ese toque grotesco y oscuro que caracteriza a esta saga.Los personajes siguen gustándome mucho, y Amy aún más.Sobre todo destaco que la protagonista no suele estar mucho tiempo en un mismo sitio, así que aquí conocemos muchas más partes de Oz.Por mi parte, me ha gustado mucho :D