Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
So you have probably heard of Dorothy Must Die by now. It is
one of the hottest reads out there right now and is a retelling of the classic
The Wizard of Oz. This book has had LOADS of hype from Epic Reads and those who
have read it.
*Spoilers below read at your own risk.*
The story is about Amy Gumm who is, like Dorothy, a Kansas
native. When Amy gets caught up in a tornado she doesn’t expect to live through
it but wakes to find herself in Oz with a mysterious boy named Pete. He tells
her to follow the famous Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City but gives her no
real information about Oz or how to get back home. Amy meets more people/creatures
along the way who inform her that the beloved story book character Dorothy has
become a power hog princess who is literally sucking the magic out of Oz. Oz is the exact opposite if what we thought it was. Amy
gets captured by the Tin Woodman’s army and is thrown into prison for treason. The
date is set for Amy’s trial and final punishment for her crime. Pete visits Amy
in her cell but is every bit as mysterious as before. When the time comes for
Amy’s trial a witch named Mombi appears in her cell and whisks Amy away to the headquarters
of The Revolutionary Order of the Wicked (they're against Dorothy, duh. lol.). They give Amy a mission, to get close to
and kill Dorothy in order to return Oz to its former glory. Which doesn’t happen, hence book
two.
Sooo….this book did NOT live up to its hype for me. It took
me like a month and a half to read it. I just wasn’t that interested to be
honest. One, Dorothy didn't die, Amy was so confused, the “mission” that the
Order gave her was not at all clear, and nothing from the back of the book
cover was even addressed until the last chapter. The idea of a corrupt Oz was
cool, Amy was a likeable character in her way, Nox was interesting to me and I wished
to see more of Ozma, which may be the case for book two. But I just wasn’t all
that impressed as I thought I would be. It felt rushed and drug out in ways and
there was a lot of unnecessary bad language.The best part was Amy's training, for sure! I'm not saying that I hated it; I'm
just saying that it’s not my personal favorite book.
Recommended age:
15+ (because of the heavy cursing)
On to the ratings!
Stars..
0 = None 10 = Tons
THE FEELS:
I personally didn't get emotional for the characters at any
moment. Others may see some moments differently though.
2/10
Violence:
There is some violence throughout the book. Amy trains and
learns how to fight with and without magic. Amy has to fight to defend herself
on multiple occasions and she witnesses others being tortured.
5.5/10
Sexual content:
Amy kisses her hot trainer, Nox but nothing more happens really.
2/10
Crude language:
There is crude language used throughout the whole book that
was just really not necessary at all. At least one of each “curse” word
imaginable was used including the f-word and a religious profanity. But I guess
it could always be worse?
9/10
Other elements/comments:
Like I said, it felt rushed. Amy got to Oz and immediately was
intended to do something big. Amy was also tugged on from a few different
sides. The Wizard, Pete and The Order. She was forced into the so called “mission”
with very little information to go on. It really felt as if Danielle hadn’t worked the details of the plot out yet so she just let the characters remain super vague and mysterious.
Overall:
Overall I liked the concept. I liked that the protagonist
has pink hair. But I wasn’t as into this story as I thought I would be.
5/10
Xoxo
- Sarah
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