Dorothy Must Die – Danielle Paige

Format: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Collins
Published: April 1st 2014
Pages: 452 Pages
Series: Dorothy Must Die #1

The Blurb
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, and I’ve been given a mission:

REMOVE The Tin Woodman’s heart,

STEAL The Scarecrow’s brain,

TAKE The Lion’s courage,

And then— DOROTHY MUST DIE.

Rating: 3/5

The Review
Amy hates Kansas and she wants out, so when she wakes up in another world she couldn’t be happier. The positives are she’s away from her alcoholic mother and she doesn’t have to go to her horrible school – no more Madison Pendleton. On closer inspection she realises that she’s in the land of Oz, what could be so wrong with that?

I need you all to think of The Wizard of Oz and all its greatness and then forget that and imagine the story where all the roles are reversed. Dorothy, the Tinman, the Scarecrow and the Lion are all evil and you definitely shouldn’t trust them. They’re torturing innocent people and making their lives a misery. Magic is a prime element to the land of Oz and everyone wants it – if they don’t – and those with it are a hindrance more than help.

It’s a shame that I had to give Dorothy Must Die three out of five stars because I was really looking forward to this YA novel. I mean who doesn’t like the yellow brick road, the Emerald City and Dorothy’s famous red shoes? Another big that drew me in was the fantasy element – I’m sucker for a supernatural twist. The concept and ideas were well thought out and I did like how they developed, but it could have been condensed into fewer pages – to me it was too descriptive. I’m a firm believer in that a person’s imagination does all the work (if given a little detail) and then creates the world and it’s surroundings, if it’s given too much it becomes clouded and confused.

This might be classed as a spoiler so I am warning you now, but I’m not sure much more can happen in the next book within the series. Amy is going to kill Dorothy and that’s that – unless i’ll be surprised and the ending will end up with Dorothy causing terror and hatred. We shall see.

You can purchase Dorothy must die on Paperback and Hardback.

Find out more about Danielle on Twitter at @daniellempaige.