Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die, 1)

One year after Amy Gumm's father abandoned his family and four years before the accident that robbed Amy of her mother, leaving her addicted to pain pills, she learned the difference between the haves and the have-nots. She was Salvation Amy, trailer trash and social pariah -- a status underscored by her mother's subsequent emotional abandonment. Tears weren't worth the effort, and if she was ever going to escape her hardscrabble Kansas existence, the only one she could rely on was herself. After getting expelled and fighting with her mother, Amy makes a fateful wish: "There's no place like anywhere but here." When a tornado threat materializes, striking her trailer park, the unthinkable happens -- drawn into the storm's furious power, she awakens on the edge of a steep ravine, saved from tumbling to her death in the only home she knows by a boy with emerald green eyes. A boy who tells her that she's not in Kansas anymore...she's in Oz.But this is no hallucination. The story Amy grew up with is true, but the reality of Oz is a far cry from the Technicolor-splendor that fed her childish imaginings. Oz's emerald-green, poppy-strewn countryside has been leeched of color, turned into a post-apocalyptic wasteland, with all of its resources, the magic that makes up the land's very essence, being mined and pulled to one central location: Emerald City, where Dorothy Gale sits on the throne. Amy quickly learns that the story didn't end with Dorothy's return to Kansas -- the gingham-clad heroine returned, attached herself to Ozma, and with the help of her allies the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and not-so-cowardly Lion, began to lay claim to Oz's magical resources. Can one outcast girl from Kansas undo another's unspeakable crimes? For joining the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked has a cost, for if Dorothy must die, Amy must find the power within to seize her fate, or risk falling prey to the various factions within Oz locked in a bitter power struggle.At the beginning of the year I devoured Paige's prequel novella, No Place Like Oz, and fell in love with her deliciously subversive continuation of The Wizard of Oz. The original story and film are undeniable classics, but I've always gravitated towards retellings that turned the original story on its head -- Wicked the musical, SyFy's Tin Man miniseries, and most recently the Oz-centric arc on ABC's Once Upon a Time. In No Place Like Oz, Paige hit all the right notes when transforming Dorothy the innocent into a selfish, would-be princess. Paige's Dorothy is a study in teenage immaturity run amok, and with her full-length debut she delves into the resultant fallout of Dorothy's fateful choices through Amy's eyes, a girl more like her tornado-traveling predecessor than she'd like to believe.And so it was with great anticipation that I delved into the pages of Paige's full-length debut, and Amy's decidedly modern, 21st-century take on her beloved childhood classic gone very, very wrong. I've read some reviews commenting on their disappointment that this is the first of a series, and not a self-contained story. Somewhere between reading the prequel novella and this book's release, I read about the proposed sequels, so I was prepared for this to be the first installment in a longer, epic journey. However, I will say that as such, the headline-grabbing title is a bit misleading -- for while Dorothy's death may be the desired endgame for Amy and her rebel friends, it is far from resolved in this installment.Pacing is an issue here, as our introduction to this deliciously twisted take on Oz spans over four hundred pages and succeeds in barely scratching the surface of what is necessary for Amy to learn in order to bring Dorothy down. Nearly sixty percent of the novel covers Amy's introduction to Oz, her commission by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked, and training. In that respect it ticks all the boxes necessary to be classified as dystopian YA -- spunky heroine with untapped potential, brooding love interest (Nox! *swoon*), eccentric supporting players, and a level of action and violence reminiscent in its intensity of The Hunger Games (or, I presume, Divergent, based on having seen that film). While there's far too much time spent prepping Amy for her mission into Dorothy's palace, I can't complain too much because I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Having read several of the original Baum novels as a child, I loved seeing Paige twist the source material into something new, capable of spine-tingling chills and surprises by virtue of turning classic characters and their world on its head.If Dorothy's original journey was about finding home, and getting the Tin Man a heart, the Cowardly Lion his courage, and the Scarecrow a brain, then Dorothy Must Die is a study in consequences. How those consequences play out remain to be seen, as this first volume only hints at Paige's ultimate narrative arc. However, I'm fascinated by the concept of Amy as a "new Dorothy" being tasked with undoing a grave wrong. For while the items they valued - heart, brain, courage -- are in and of themselves good, Amy's experiences call into question whether or not those gifts should ever have been granted. Did the gifts change the recipients? Or did what each individual in question most value subsequently change, and in doing so unleash havoc beyond imagining on Oz and its people? Therefore, if Amy's ultimate mission is to undo everything her predecessor put into motion, that begs the question -- how will Oz impact her, and vice-versa? It's a conceit I cannot wait to see play out in subsequent volumes!While Oz's traditional heroes are find themselves transformed into villains within the pages of this volume -- to horrifying effect -- the lesser known, or new supporting characters that Paige crafts to flesh out her world are among the story's highlights. I particularly loved Ollie the one-time flying monkey, and his quest to free his imprisoned sister. The flying monkeys TERRIFIED me as a child, and Paige's spin on their powers and motivation adds a welcome layer of depth and poignancy to these previously nameless terrors. I also LOVED how Glinda, Oz's traditional "good" witch, is transformed into a villain and contrasted with her dark-magic twin Glamora. Glamora is hilariously snarky, but her harsh demeanor masks a heart-breaking history with her sister, a relationship that perfectly underscores the fact that nothing -- and no one -- is as it seems in this new Oz.Dorothy Must Die is an absorbing, thoroughly entertaining, if flawed, debut, one that's left me incredibly eager for the next installment of this dark, twisted re-imagining of the classic Oz. The first third is incredibly exposition-heavy, but on balance I found Paige's decision to slowly and carefully dole out Oz's backstory wholly absorbing, as fascinating and appalling in turns as it must've seemed to the newly-arrived Amy. This is an Oz living in terror of being convicted of the Crime of Sass and sentenced to one of Dorothy's Official Attitude Adjustments, one where everything that was once good has gone horribly wrong -- and most terrifying of all, no one is immune to evil's seductive siren call. Despite its arguably excessive length and almost leisurely introduction to Amy and her mission, I absolutely devoured this book. By the final fourth, when Amy's mission kicks into high gear and the Wizard is introduced -- but his status as friend or foe remains to be seen -- the pages flew by, and the revelation of what exactly it will take to defeat Dorothy unfolds with a positively cinematic flair. Now that the exposition and set-up are complete, with a tighter narrative I have high hopes that subsequent installments will positively shine -- and I cannot wait to see where Paige's wonderfully twisted sense of humor and inventive imagination takes readers next!

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige was one of my most anticipated reads of the season. I read and loved the prequel - No Place Like Oz - and indeed my desire to read Dorothy Must Die sent me into a reading slump for a while as nothing else hit the spot. Having read it, I can say that, while there was a lot to enjoy about Dorothy Must Die it didn’t quite live up to my anticipation.What I likedThe protagonist. I really liked our protagonist, Amy Gumm, and enjoyed following her journey. She is a strong, kick-ass heroine, yet is dealing with her own internal demons and has her own buttons that can be pressed. Coming from Kansas as she does, she is the reader’s inroad to Dorothy’s Oz. Many parallels are drawn between Amy and Dorothy; both are originally from Kansas, both were feeling trapped in their mundane lives with little escape from their farm/small town before their arrival in Oz. Both are sensitive to the magic that is all around in Oz.The worldbuilding. While it’s fair to say that L. Frank Baum did a lot of the heavy lifting in his creation of the world of Oz, Paige has added her own twist to the world. Baum’s Oz is clearly identifiable in the book, but there is a much darker twist to it with Dorothy’s influence. It’s based on the children’s novels rather than the 1939 Judy Garland film in that there are characters mentioned who are in the books not in the movie, and also that the original slippers are silver not red. I would suggest you read No Place Like Oz first before coming to Dorothy Must Die to get an idea of the background.Good vs Wicked and Trust. The question of trust and whom to trust and whom not to trust comes up too many times for it not to be a major theme in the series. Amy is working for the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked and is repeatedly advised by the operatives not to trust anyone. It’s clear that they don’t trust Amy either, keeping her in the dark until the last possible moment. It’s a common trope in good vs evil fantasy that the good guys always win because they trust their colleagues to have their backs and are willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good whereas the bad guys are too busy looking out for themselves to implement any cohesive plans or trust their colleagues to work with them. Although the so-called wicked have come together in Dorothy Must Die they don’t have that trust that good guys have. It’s an interesting twist and I look forward to seeing how it plays out in subsequent books.Writing style. I did enjoy Paige’s writing style. It came across as fresh and immediate and really brought me into the story.What I didn’t likePacing. Here we come to the main problem I had with Dorothy Must Die; the pacing was off. For a significant chunk of the first half of the book Amy is training with the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked yet, due to trust issues mentioned above, has not been given a goal to work towards except the vague Dorothy Must Die. This section drags on far too long and really slows the book down. I would encourage you to work past this section though - it improves a lot once Amy is working on a more specific goal.Misleading marketing. HarperCollins’ blurb for Dorothy Must Die contains the following:"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!"If that is the blurb you’re using to hook readers into the book, it might be a good idea to have your protagonist actually work towards that goal in that book and not have it be a supposed finale twist that Dorothy can’t die until the Tin Woodman, Scarecrow and Lion have been neutralised. Clearly, it’s a blurb for the series as a whole not just Dorothy Must Die. When reading the book please bear this in mind so that you are not frustrated at the end.The audio narration. In general I really liked Devon Sorvari’s narration. She really brought out Amy’s strength of character and kick-ass attitude. However there were long pauses left at the end of each paragraph - long enough to be very noticeable and very irritating. I kept wondering if I’d reached the end of a chapter.In general though I really enjoyed Dorothy Must Die and will definitely continue with the rest of the series. Amy is a really great character and I love the world of Oz. I look forward to seeing more.I gave Dorothy Must Die four stars out of five.

So I love The Wizard of Oz and all things Oz related. I actually own and have read the entire Oz series by L Frank Baum. And I love retellings. So I had high hopes for this book. I’m pleased to say they were met and exceeded. I knew after reading a few sentences that I was going to love this book. And I did. I was less than impressed by the author’s book Stealing Snow but this more than made up for it. I got completely lost in Amy’s dark and twisted Oz. Dorothy as the villain is a stroke of genius which took a bit of getting used to. I loved every word of Dorothy Must Die. There are another three main books in the series plus multiple novellas I need to devour as well.

Paige has written for a few tv shows, but Dorothy Must Die is her first novel. How does it measure up? Well, first let me explain the plot.The novel follows a teenage girl from Kansas by the name of Amy Gumm. Amy is in the unfortunate position of being disliked by one of the most popular girls in her school, and thus has to contend with being disliked in general. She appears to be relatively clever, but has not the ideal home life - living in a trailer park with her Mother, who seems to spend the majority of her time drunk. Long story short: life is not fun for Amy. Then a tornado hits, and whirls her away to Oz. Only this is not the Oz of the stories she remember, This Oz is dark, and dangerous, and the magic is leaving it's land. Why? One Dorothy Gale. Wicked is good and Good is Wicked and Amy has one mission: Kill Dorothy.Sooo.... as you can guess, it's a re-imagining sequel type thing. Yeah, I don't actually have the right words to describe it. I can tell you that without a single doubt? This is a good story to read, and I am happily awaiting the next in the series. Amy as a character is very easy to like, but not to the point that you are blinded to her flaws. She comes across as a very real sort of person, getting jealous as inappropriate moments - which she notes herself makes no real sense - and feeling very confused by the whole mess that she seems to have found herself in. Paige's writing is strong enough to keep us on Amy's level, while at the same time letting us know just how not right Oz has become.As for Dorothy herself? Honestly, my first thoughts on reading the description of Dorothy were to wonder if this was secretly a critique of those Hallowe'en costumes of story characters for women. You know, the sexy ones for classic characters like Alice and Dorothy? But on a more important note, you could argue that Dorothy shows an extreme view of addiction within the story, but I'll let you decide that for yourself.Overall, I found it to be a good read, something that I found myself getting through faster than expected. While the action does seem to be slow, with everything then happening at a rush towards the end of the book, it oddly fits for what the story is about. And no, I can't explain that any clearer, much as I'd like to. It is a book that I would recommend people try to get their hands on, if only to experience Paige's Oz for themselves.Just remember, the Wicked will rise.

When I started this book, I really didn't want to like it. I didn't like the idea of the stories I loved growing up (including the MGM film), being twisted inside out, but as the story unfolded, Danielle Paige's clever retelling had me enthralled, her writing is excellent, and I quickly parked the idea in my head that my ideals of Oz (Judy Garland in the movie version) would not be ruined by this work.In fact I loved it. Amy Gumm, (I see what you did there Danielle) is a well defined character, a normal teenager, with normal and no so normal teenage problems.The characters she meets along the yellow brick road are beautifully written and fit in well with Baum's legacy. I loved the winged monkeys in the book, tired of being controlled by successive witches clip their wings so they can be free.And the story goes on to prove that sometimes 'No place like home' is wrong and that absolute power corrupts absolutely.But even though Dorothy is now the villain, I still can't hate her, instead I feel sorry for her, the powers of Oz are not meant to be used by humans.A less talented writer would have not been able to turn Glinda and Dorothy bad, and make this an enjoyable retelling of the classic Oz stories

Following on from 'No Place Like Oz', the story begins with Amy, another girl from Kansas, a girl who is different, singled out because she is seen as poor, looking after her mother, who doesn't seem to care about her daughter. As with Dorothy, Amy gets caught in a tornado and ends up in Oz, a different Oz where Dorothy reigns and her friends, The Scarecrow, The Tin Man and The Lion dispense justice towards anyone who goes against Dorothy.Amy has been chosen to end Dorothy's reign, a task which troubles and scares Amy but she knows it's the right thing to do.I enjoyed 'Dorothy Must Die', I liked Amy, she was a great character, I liked how she faced challenges and proved herself.Dorothy is a horrible character and believe me, the more you read, the more you understand why her reign must end but there is always the chance that the next person to reign may be worse than Dorothy.The book has a good ending which leads hopefully into a sequel.

Well what can I say about Dorothy Must Die?It’s brilliant!This book was just about everywhere in the run up to the release and jumped right to the top of my reading list the moment it was delivered. I hope a UK publisher picks it up soon because I really want everyone to get a chance to walk down the dilapidated yellow brick road.I love retellings but they don’t always work out and the bigger the hype the more I dread that the book won’t deliver. Danielle Paige did not let me down. At. All.Amy Gunn is the other girl from Kansas, she arrives at Oz the same way Dorothy did. There is the yellow brick road, she finds a munchkin but Oz is corrupt. Good is cruel. Wicked can be good and Amy never gets the full story.I adored the way the Oz came to life on the page, even with pre-existing ideas Danielle Paige builds a world for you that you feel like you’re walking around in, instead of reading about. Old and new characters work together so well.Dorothy Must Die is a book that truly lives up to the hype.