Review: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Posted October 25, 2014 by Stacie in Reviews, Stacie, Young Adult / 20 Comments

Review: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
Series: Dorothy Must Die #1
Published by HarperCollins
Published on: April 1, 2014
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 464
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
One StarOne StarOne StarOne StarOne Star
Amazon | Book Depo | Chapters | Kobo | B&N | GoodReads

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.



I’ve had this book on my shelf for a while, just waiting for the right time to read it. Now, all I can ask myself is..Why did i take so long to read this!!!??? I was seriously hooked from they very first page. One of the best books I have read all year!

The story starts out with the main character, Amy Gumm, who lives in Kansas, of course! She’s never been the popular girl in school, her dad left her and her mom when she was still young. She grew up in a trailer park and the popular girl at school started calling her Salvation Amy (because she gets all her clothes at the Salvation Army). Her mother is a drunk and doesn’t pay much attention to Amy like she used to.  One night there is a warning of a tornado coming through and usually when the town hears that they don’t pay much attention to it because ones never actually come through, but this time they listen. Amy notices that all her neighbors have left their homes, Amy’s own mother leaves Amy at the house to go to a party. And of course, a tornado comes and just like you’d expect, it lifts Amy’s trailer in the air and takes her to Oz.

When Amy lands in Oz, she’s not really sure where she is. She thinks its just somewhere in Kansas. She meets a boy about her age, Pete, who helps her out of her trailer before it falls into a giant pit. Pete is very mysterious, she actually doesn’t learn his name for a while and as soon as he helps her he has to leave and she’s left on her own to figure out where to go. She see’s the yellow brick road, thinks she’s crazy of course, but follows it because she knows she has to get back home. She meets some people along the way, well a munchkin and a talking monkey, and Amy realizes that this isn’t the Oz that she read about in the book. The Good seem Wicked and the Wicked seem Good. The Lion, the Tin Woodman, and the Scarecrow are nothing like what they are in the books. They’re all mean and just really sadistic. But it seems the reason that they’re like that now is because of Dorothy. She now rules all of Oz and stealing all the magic along with it. She is nothing like the Dorothy in the book. She is very evil and thinks that everyone should love her and do as she says and if they don’t she loves to put them in their place and getting one of her people (The Lion, Tin Woodman, or the Scarecrow) to do something really awful to them.

On Amy’s journey to the yellow brick road, she gets captured by the Tin Woodman (he is also in charge of the security for Dorothy) and takes her back to the palace. Dorothy of course wants her killed because she knows she is from the Other Place where she is from and she doesn’t understand how she got here. Dorothy luckily escapes with the help of Mombi, who is a witch that is a part of the Order of the Wicked. They hate Dorothy and everything she stands for. They recruit Amy into the order to help them kill Dorothy because they say that since Amy is from the same place that Dorothy is from that she is the only one who can kill Dorothy. Amy ends up having to go into the palace undercover to get as close to Dorothy as she can and learn everything that they need to know about her.

There is a lot of times I caught myself saying “OMG!” because some things happen that you just really don’t see coming. A good love connection, people who aren’t who they say they are, and of course…a cliff hanger!! I haven’t read the novella yet but that is next on my TBR list and I can’t wait to read book two that comes out in March of next year. I’ve also heard some rumors that this is in the talks of being a TV show, which would be awesome, so I hope the rumors end up being true! I love when someone can take an old story like The Wizard of Oz and put their own spin on it and it actually become something truly incredible. I seriously loved this book and I know all of you will too!! 🙂


Stacie Signature

One StarOne StarOne StarOne StarOne Star

My name is Stacie McAdams and I live in Morganton, North Carolina. Reading is what I love to do more than anything. I love everything Paranormal and if it involves a sexy werewolf, that’s even better! My NOOK is with me at all times, even if I know I wont have time to read anything. I love learning new things, hiking, video games, and my biggest obsession…The Vampire Diaries. 😉

Facebook Twitter  

Related Posts

Tags: , , ,

20 responses to “Review: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige”

  18. Julie S.  

    One of my book clubs read this book this month, and the general consensus was that it was alright but not great. I think we were all pretty upset at the non-ending ending heh. But glad you liked it 🙂 I really liked the concept and the first half of the book was awesome, but then it kind of dragged and didn’t really resolve. Not a fan when that happens, even in a series.
    Julie S. recently posted…Spin Off Novels and YA Paranormal Romance, Guest Post by C.C. Hunter – Eternal blog tour

  20. Molly Mortensen  

    I’ve seen a lot of retellings recently, but the old main character becoming the villain is unique. I love it when a book can surprise me! I didn’t realize there was romance in this book. Ugh, why with the cliffhangers? I hope Amy has some sort of magic, that would be cool.
    Molly Mortensen recently posted…Cipher By Aileen Erin