The Ozite Cycle Series by Rebecca A. Demarest

The Ozite Cycle Series by Rebecca A. Demarest

I met Rebecca after I moved the Seattle Ladies Comic Book Club up to Arcane Comics in Shoreline- she actually ended up taking over the club over for me. Quite a while ago she told me about this series she was writing and it sounded absolutely wonderful. A short time later (which at this point is quite a while ago) she told me about a fundraiser she was running to fund printing of the third book. I chose the option to get a digital copy of the first three books and I finally read them on the way back from my trip to North Carolina at the beginning of September.

Thea of Oz
Thea is from Earth but has been in Oz almost as long as she can remember. Global warming on Earth has increased the frequency of storms that transport people to Oz. As a result, Oz has taken in Earthen refugees.
Though I am not overly familiar with Oz and and am not sure what has been made up for this story and what is from the original world of Oz, I still really enjoyed this story. Though these books are novella length, somehow she has condensed down the feeling of a full-length novel into thirty-something pages.
We learn along with Thea that she is a descendant of the original Dorothy. Thea and her cat, Mrow, accompany the Minister of Trade to oversee a project on behalf of her aunt.

Zosozo in Oz
Thea travels as an honorary member of the royal family to see first hand the condition of the camps where most of the Earthen refugees live. While there she discovers that many of them have become addicted to the drug Zosozo. The whole situation feels off to Thea, and she discovers that the refugees are actually being encouraged to take the drug.
I loved the second book in this series. This one still felt like I had read a whole book by the time I was done with this novella.

The Ruby Caverns of Oz
After a confrontation about the Zosozo epidemic, Thea is forced to flee into the mountains. This book has the most fantasy elements to me. We see a totally different landscape from the other books and we get to meet the Wizard of Oz. I was hoping that this was a trilogy and the last in the series but only because I didn’t want to wait for another book to come out! I’m not sure how many novellas are planned for this series but this is not the last one.

I can’t wait for more of these to come out- I have been assured that she is in the process of writing the fourth one now.

5/5 Stars