Book Reviews

Dorothy Must Die (2014)

Dorothy Must Die – Danielle Paige (2014)

Rating: 4/5

Genre: Dystopian

Amy Gumm is a girl from Texas; unpopular, unwanted and lippy. Until a tornado hits Texas and she is swept into another world. Oz. Except Oz is different, unsettling. Dangerous. A mysterious boy helps her out of the ruins of her torn up caravan and tells her not to trust anyone, suddenly Amy is alone in a place she has only read about.

“Welcome to Oz,” the boy said, nodding, like he expected I’d figured that out already. It came out sounding almost apologetic, like, Hate to break the bad news.

Dorothy Must Die is a twist on the original story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Everything is twisted and warped, Dorothy is evil, the Tin Woodman has an army of tin people at his disposal, The lion preys on the weak and eats their fear while the Scarecrow experiments on everything and everyone. Everything you thought you knew about the world of Oz was wrong.

“A vast field of decaying grass stretched into the distance. It was gray and patchy and sickly, with the faintest tinge of blue. On the far side of the pit was a dark, sinister-looking forest, black and deep. The air, the clouds, even the sun, which was shining bright, all had a faded, washed-out quality to them. There was something dead about all of it.”

You know how they talk about how power going to people’s heads? Well, that’s what happened to Dorothy. What you knew about Oz is what it used to be like, Dorothy came and left. But then she came back and developed a taste for magic and everything went wrong.

“They talk about Oz where I’m from. I’ve heard about it my whole life. But this is messed up. What happened here?”
Indigo’s impassive face twisted into a snarl. “Dorothy happened,” she said.

Dorothy Must Die is a VERY dark retelling of Oz. The characters are all really angry (rightfully so). Most of the characters have been enslaved and seen horrors you can’t even imagine, seen their friends and family murdered or nailed to a plank of wood and displayed all for being sassy.

“You asked why they work for her,” she said. “You asked why the Munchkins don’t just tell Glinda to fuck off and take her machine somewhere else.”
“Yeah. I was wondering that. Maybe it was stupid of me.”
“It was,” Indigo said, shooting me an annoyed look. “Do you think they have a choice?"

Eventually Amy meets and is bound to the Order Of The Wicked, she is then given a mission: Dorothy Must Die.

Dorothy is a real b***h in this book, she drains the life out of everything. Not to mention Dorothy looks like a slut. Saying that, her appearance is extremely deceiving.

 “Instead of farm-girl cotton it was silk and chiffon. The cut was somewhere between haute couture and French hooker. The bodice nipped, tucked, and lifted. There was cleavage.
Lots of cleavage.”

Dorothy is crazy, a complete psycho. There is this one scene that involves Dorothy and a mouse that was very hard to read.

Overall I really liked the main character, Amy she trains for her skills and her magic it doesn’t just develop overnight, she does get scared and she seems really realistic. There is romance, but its very light okay? Amy has a crush on a very hot boy. This novel is not centered around romance so I found it really refreshing.  

WARNING: THIS NOVEL CONTAINS SWEARING.