I listened to the audiobook. I have not seen the animated movie yet. There are a handful of elements from The Wizard of Oz, like pieces of a puzzle, that are jumbled and rearranged to make this new fantasy adventure. Later in this story, I could hear in my mind Dorothy being asked, "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?" The main character Sophie is a young woman venturing out to find her fortune when the Witch of the Waste transforms her into an old woman. Sophie's self-image is a normal, everyday woman who is bored of making hats for a career, but it turns out she has magical abilities as well. She'll also find out if the rumors about Wizard Howl eating young girls is true. I should say that this is quite unique. There is no one single quest. The characters are trying to achieve many different things. From scene to scene I had no idea what was coming next. The author avoids many fantasy tropes. From slime, to Wales, to misfired spells, and tricky geography it gets pretty weird, but enjoyable.
