Review: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Title: Dorothy Must Die 

Author: Danielle Paige 

Publisher: HarperTeen
Publishing Date:  April 1st 2014

Pages: 432
Genre:  YA Classic Retelling

Series:  Dorothy Must Die #1
Source: Audio

  

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!

When I first discovered there was an OZ retelling, Dorothy is the bad guy, my world changed. I was so very excited. I wasn't a big fan of the movie, but I loved the story. I was excited to see a new take on the book. The book was good too. I enjoyed it very much. I was into the story, adored the main character, and loved the creativeness of the story. 

Amy Gunn is sucked into OZ when her mobile home gets sucked up by a tornado. When she realizes where she is, she realizes Oz is nothing like the storybook portrays. More disturbing than the big crater in the ground or the emo munchkin... Dorothy is the bad guy. Wicked is good and good is wicked. Say what. Yup its all mixed up and all wrong and now its up to Amy to get it back the way it should be. The only problem.... who do you trust when good is bad and bad is good. 

Quite a twisted book but so good. The story started off a bit slow for me. Not slow in pace just slow in excitement. It felt at first like a normal book, not at all what I was hoping for. Somewhere in my read.... not sure where. It all changed. I was wrapped up in a dark and twisted fairy tale story with strange creatures, pure evil, and psycho girls. Once the story took off, I couldn't stop the listen. It was so on. 

There is so much cool about this book. Dorothy was just amazing. Even though she was evil, and she was evil, she made the story. Its awesome to see a sweet girl turn into a maniac. Addicted to magic and power and delusion, she brought so much to the story. She was just plain crazy cakes. 

Amy was a great main character too. She wasn't sweet and innocent like Dorothy originally was. She  tried to right most of the time, but she has had a pretty hard life, bullied, neglected, abandoned. She was pretty screwed up.. but she still knew what was right from wrong and Oz was wrong. She cared for the little guy and could kick butt pretty awesomely. Snarky and sharp. Loved her. 

There were quite a bit of odd characters too. A pretty emo munchkin, a couple wacky wicked witches, and a couple of hot guys thrown into the mix. Oh and don't forget the flying monkey. It was pretty fun and ridiculous. 

There was just a start of a romance. I think I am going to like where the romance is going. There may be a future love triangle and there may not be. Not sure. But so far there seems to be just one that Amy has her eye one. He is pretty yummy too. Not a good boy, not a bad boy, but everything in between. The love story isn't the story center but its there, lingering int he background. Just how I like it. 

The story really is the main attraction for this book, but it wouldn't be that spectacular without the amazing and quirky characters. The story is about right and wrong, to far or not enough. Choices... which one to make and the consequences afterwards. Don't lose yourself but don't be a pushover. Its pretty jammed packed with goodness, except the ending. The ending was just an ending, no resolution, and I hate that. I have to wait a really long time to see where it goes... I will be first in line to grab it for sure. 

A very twisted but wondrous read. From classic fairytale to dark fairytale. So Loved It!

Danielle lives in NY. Before turning to YA, she worked in television & was nominated for several Daytime Emmy's. Dorothy Must Die is her first novel.