Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

"REMOVE The Tin Woodman's heart,

STEAL The Scarecrow's Brain,

TAKE The Lion's Courage,

And Then- DOROTHY MUSTER DIE."

 

When Amy's trailer in Flat Hill, Kanas is swept up into a tornado and lands in the middle of Oz, she is amazed with how different Oz looks from the Dorothy version she remembers. Oz is crumbling to the hands of Princess Dorothy and all the characters she had grown to love are evil, and has no choice but to put her trust in the Wicked Witches. The Revolutionary Order of the Wicked have given Amy four simple little tasks.. To save Oz, and herself from Dorothy, it's not about who is good or bad, but who is less wicked.

 

When I first heard of this book I was so excited to get a new perspective of Oz, like I have been currently doing with Wonderland.

 

I was not a huge fan of the main character, Amy Gumm, I'm not really sure why, I just couldn't connect well with her. I also find the story moving really slowly, it's like pulling teeth trying to figure out what's going on. Amy is walking around Oz aimlessly with no real idea what she should be doing nor does she have a plan on what she's really doing once she gets to her destination: Emerald City. Her new friend, Indigo, gave the impression she would be going back home to Kansas with Amy, but Amy doesn't really have a home to go back to. As I very slowly get backstory on what is happening in Oz I still find the story boring and unclear. Glinda the good witch of the North from the original story, is considered the witch of the South in this version. All the loveable characters from the original story are evil, scary, and servants to Princess Dorothy. A number of times Amy has thought "this only happens in fairy tales" or "something you only see on tv" while she's getting deeper into her Oz adventure, and to be honest it's a little tiring. I didn't mind the first mention but it's been a couple times now and well it's boring and a little overused. There wasn't a lot that happened in this novel. If you read the official back cover synopsis (or even my personal synopsis above) you have enough information to move onto the second book.

 

My favourite part of this book is seeing the heroes from the beloved "Wizard of Oz" as dark and evil, the bad guys in Paige's version. How even the most innocent and pure can become wicked when exposed to endless power.

 

This debut novel by Danielle Paige was slow. I felt it had a very good story direction and has tremendous potential, it just took so long to get on track. I will eventually read the rest of the series and plan to read anything else Paige writes. I love reading new authors and watching them grow into their work. I have no doubt that Paige will get better with every book she writes.

Book 2: The Wicked Will Rise

Book 3: Yellow Brick War
Book 4: The End of Oz

Novella: Dorothy Must Die: Stories

Novella: Dorothy Must Die: Stories Vol. 2
Novella: Dorothy Must Die: Stories Vol. 3

 

My Rating: 2.5/5 Stars