Dorothy Must Die - Danielle Paige : Review

Title: Dorothy Must Die

Author: Danielle Paige

Series or Standalone: Series

Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy

Format: Paperback

Publication Date: April 1st 2014

Goodreads Summary:

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 bluebirds. 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 a yellow brick road - 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 Review:

I had a lot of mix feelings about this book. I love the Wizard of Oz so I was extremely excited to read this! 

As soon as I picked it up I loved the idea of "Dorothy turning evil". It is such a creative and captivating concept and the author took advantage of that. I felt as if the way the book was written was very familiar and as if I had read similar writing styles before. That was a bit upsetting. 

The one thing she did very well was the imagery. Throughout the entirety of this book I could picture everything so visually and perfectly in my mind. It made the reading experience so much more enjoyable and easy to read. This is something I love so much when it is done well.

I had an immense problem with Amy, the main character, constantly in this novel. At the start I really couldn't stand her talking back, sarcasm and her continuous battle of feelings going back and forth one hundred times a page. I admit she did grow as a character towards the end. But I am still not too fond of her. 

The rest of the characters in the book were done exceptionally well. I enjoyed comparing the characters from The Wizard of Oz and linking both of the stories together at some points in this book. It really did help that I had watched the movie about a million times as a child. The new characters too were amazing and the character development was astounding.

Danielle Paige wrote in a context that was very age appropriate and captivated the readers as well as enhanced my appreciation of the book. Even if I had seen it done in many Young Adult books before.

In conclusion I did enjoy the plot of this book and it was quite a pleasurable read. I will be continuing on with the rest of the books in this trilogy at some point in the future. I highly reccommend this book if you adore The Wizard of Oz as much as I do and want to have a little throwback with a few twists!

Plot: ★★★★.5

Characters: ★★★★

Writing: ★★★

Feels/Romance: ★★★.5

Overall Enjoyment: ★★★.5