Review: Dorothy Must Die

Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die #1) by Danielle Paige

 

 

Description:

 

I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado—taking you with it—you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little blue birds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still the yellow brick road, though—but even that's crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm—and I'm the other girl from Kansas.

I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I've been trained to fight.

And I have a mission.

My Thoughts:

 

Dorothy Must Die had one of the most exciting premises of all the new releases to come out this year, yet it failed to deliver what it promised. The description made me picture all your basic rebel-against-controlling-government scenes but with talking scarecrows and yellow brick roads and magical red shoes and all that jazz thrown in to take us for a spin. What this was actually about was a very dull girl named Amy Glumm who got tricked by "Wicked" witches into joining some sort of revolutionary Order. She wasn't given any choice but to fight for them and she didn't really strike me as the type of kickass rebellious leader the story really needed to make it work. Amy didn't have much personality besides getting really ticked off all the time. I never came to care for her and really wouldn't have minded if she hadn't succeeded in her "mission".

What I loved though was the vividly-described apocalyptic Oz Danielle Paige has created. It was very well done. I loved the new versions of the Lion and the Scarecrow and the Tin Man and the Wizard and... just everyone! It was wonderful to see a retelling that completely flipped the original book and yet managed to keep it all linked together. There were times that I got a little confused though. I didn't understand much about Ozama or what the Wizard was up to. Also, I didn't like how we never found out why Amy was "summoned" to Oz in the first place but I think that is left for us to discover in the sequels.

The main thing that let this down was the fact that it seemed to drag on and on and on... and on! I read about five chapters and was so bored that I practically cried when I saw that that had only moved me about 3% closer to finishing. Luckily it did end with a bang - its one of those books that leaves all the best drama and action to the last couple of chapters.

I will be picking up the sequels when they are released as I am definitely intrigued as to what will befall Oz now. Alliances have shifted and new allies have been introduced. I am curious to see how everything will pan out.
2.5 stars