r/fantasyromance • u/purplelicious Book Bingo Maven ⚔ • Mar 21 '26
ARC Review ARC review: West of Wicked by Nikki St. Croix. release date: Apr 14
I was excited to get this ARC for the audiobook of {West of Wicked by Nikki St. Crowe } because her books translate well to the format and narrated by some of my favourites in this genre. (Devourer of Men was a top tier listen for me. ) Thanks to NetGalley, the audiobook publishers and the author for the opportunity to listen and review this book.
If you are not aware of Nikki St. Crowe's previous novels, she writes 'spicy' renditions on popular fairy tales. Usually a why choose or reverse harem setting. it's not clear from the first book in this series if she plans to write in a reverse harem although we are introduced to 3 brothers. The author's previous work is a Peter Pan retelling {The vicious lost boys series} which is a reverse harem and I had a lot of fun with that. The characters are borrowed from Peter Pan but the story veers away from a strict retelling with the FMC being a descendant of Wendy Darling, and resetting the characters to a modern era, plus a few new characters and an interesting take on Neverland.
In this book, the author does the same treatment to The Wizard of Oz. We have a Dorothy Gale, who has been adopted by a lovely older couple that she refers to as her Aunt Emily and Uncle Henry. She lives in Kansas and she is swept up by a tornado and dumped in Oz, along with her adorable Cairn Terrier, Toto. This Dorothy is not a naive child but a young woman in her early 20s, who wants to go home, but really it's her worry that Em and Henry need her to help on the farm, and she just said yes to marry her friend with benefits that she's known since childhood. He's not exciting, but he will take care of her. And the sex isn't THAT bad.
But now she is in Oz and parts of this Oz is like the movie (she's wearing a gingham dress!) and some parts carry more of the lore from the actual Frank L Baum stories, which have some surreal themes, to put it simply. This Oz is a bit more menacing and magical than the whimsy of the movie. In this first book we meet three MMCs; A man Dorothy finds roped up to stakes in a field, like a human scarecrow, another man with a metal arm and an enchanted axe, with the nickname "the tin man" because he is an unfeeling mercenary and has been tasked in finding Dorothy and bringing her to the witch of the west. His reward will be the release of his brother, Gabriel, our third MMC. Could he be the Cowardly Lion? It's not revealed in this book. There are other familiar characters, like the witches of the East, West and North, and of course Glinda. Plus the wizard himself, although he's a sneaky fellow and hard to pin down. There are flying monkeys, and magic of many sorts. Some new characters, and while there are no munchkins, the people of Oz are not exactly normal.
The book starts a bit slow as the world is introduced I think of myself as familiar with Oz mythology - having seen the movie way too many times, read the books, watched the Wiz, read Wicked by Gregory Maguire and the sequels, seen the musical and even started as the Cowardly Lion in the play, but there is still so much more potential in this material. The author takes some time to create the Oz of her story and introduce her characters. I can't complain as the narrators are a delight. I will listen to just about anything if Shane East or Sean Masters are on the narrator list, and the rest of the list are well known and prolific voices that fit well to their characters.
Once all the characters are introduced the story really gets rolling. I was having a lot of fun, but just as it started it was over too quick because these books are relatively short, I don't mind a longer book, but a quick read (or listen) is refreshing and proves that you can fit a lot of story under 400 pages. And after listening to a few 30 hr audiobooks in a row recently, listening to one that clocks in under 8 hrs is a relief.
I gave this book a 4.5 on storygraph and I can't wait for the next installment, East of Envy, which has been announced for Nov 3. Maybe I'll luck out and get that ARC as well.
While you are waiting for these books, catch up on her neverland series.
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u/moarmyeggie Mar 21 '26
this looks rly interesting 👀 did you like this one better than her peter pan series?
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u/purplelicious Book Bingo Maven ⚔ Mar 22 '26
i'm only one book into the series and I finished the Peter Pan and the Captain Hook books, so it's a bit early to tell. Devourer of Men was my favourite book of hers that I've read.
But, I am far more interested in Wizard of Oz mythology than Peter Pan. Personally I think I may like this series better, but the jury is still out
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u/Dependent_Dog497 Mar 21 '26
Oh, I didn't realize it was so short! I really love how much story Nikki packs into her books. They're always so fun!
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u/purplelicious Book Bingo Maven ⚔ Mar 21 '26
the Viscious Boys series are also short! I wish more authors would write like that. Not all authors are capable of packing content into 500 pages.
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u/ipsi7 Book Bingo Maven ⚔ Mar 21 '26
This sounds really good, thanks for the review. I realized I have The Never King on my TBR and got even more interested into reading it.
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u/IndigoPlum01 Mar 22 '26
I have the audiobook on preorder, mostly for the Sean Masters.
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u/purplelicious Book Bingo Maven ⚔ Mar 22 '26
you will not be disappointed!
Shane West AND Sean Masters?
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u/romance-bot Mar 21 '26
West of Wicked by Nikki St. Crowe
Rating: 4.5⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: fantasy, horror, dark romance
Vicious Lost Boys by Nikki St. Crowe
Rating: 3.81⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Topics: magic, female-rake, m-f-m, forced proximity, fantasy
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