Review: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Published: April 2014

Pages: 452

Synopsis: “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:

Remove the Tin Woodman's heart.

Steal the Scarecrow's brain.

Take the Lion's courage.

Then and only then—Dorothy must die!”

Rating: ***

I've been seeing this book both online, in book shops and libraries for a while now, but have only just decided to read for myself. I thought the blurb was interesting and definitely grabbed my attention as it both challenges and carries on from the Wizard of Oz stories we know and love from our childhoods. I was intrigued as to how this would measure up to the more well-known Oz interpretations, such as Gregory Maguire's Wicked series.

I found the beginning quite slow and wondered how Amy's school peers and their goings on were going to be relevant once the plot inevitably moved to Oz. I hoped that the main peers mentioned would be similar to a character encountered in Oz, and this did become a little evident when we encountered Dorothy who came across as your stereotypical popular kid from school.

It took a good 60 pages for me to get into this, but I became a lot more invested in the plot from this point onwards. I think this was due to the plot picking up pace and more characters being introduced.