Review: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Title: Dorothy Must Die
Author: Danielle Paige
Series: Dorothy Must Die, #1
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retellings
Publisher: Harper Collins
Release Date: April 1, 2014
Find It: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Goodreads / Book Depository
My Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆
Book 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."

I was so excited to read this book because I love the Wizard of Oz and I love stories that give a different kind of spin to classic fairy tales. I have already read the first part of the prequel, No Place Like Oz, which I loved (read my No Place Like Oz review here), so it was a no-brainer (Scarecrow pun?) that I had to read this one as well. I really enjoyed Dorothy Must Die much more than its prequel. The story is very exciting and unpredictable. It's filled with danger, mystery, and adventure that turns the Oz of everyone's dreams into a horrifying nightmare.

Dorothy Must Die begins with a teenage girl named Amy Gumm. Amy is a pink-haired badass who is considered an outsider in school and lives in a trailer park with her junkie mother. She is very unhappy with her life and just wants to get away from it all; from her mother who barely pays attention to her, from her high school bully Madison Pendleton, and from her life in the trailer park. One day when Amy's mother leaves her home alone, a tornado comes and sweeps the trailer up, landing her on unfamiliar grounds. Amy soon discovers that she is in the Land of Oz, but this Oz looks nothing like the Oz from the stories she grew up with. This Oz is dark, depressing, and in ruins...and she learns that Dorothy is the cause of it. Somehow, Dorothy found her way back to Oz and decided that, because she saved Oz from the wicked witch, she should be the rightful ruler. However, the power, and her newly discovered magic, went straight to her head and she soon became a tyrant that ruled Oz with an iron fist. The munchkins and flying monkeys became slaves, and the yellow brick road became a place to display traitors. Dorothy's friends from the stories are not as "beloved" anymore either. The Tin Woodman's new heart has caused him to love in a frighteningly obsessive way, the Scarecrow's new brain has caused him to become obsessed with knowledge leading him to perform grotesque experiments on live subjects, the Lion uses his newfound courage to scare others in order to literally eat their fear and use it as fuel, and Glinda uses munchkin slave labor to mine magic from the grounds of Oz to use for herself.

In the Emerald City, Amy tells Dorothy that she also came to Oz from Kansas by a tornado and Dorothy doesn't like hearing that she is no longer "special" so she has Amy imprisoned. While imprisoned and waiting for her fate, Amy is rescued by an underground resistance movement called the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked that is determined to defeat Dorothy. The tell Amy that, because she is an outsider like Dorothy, she may be the only person able to stop her. In return for saving her life, Amy must now help the Order with their mission. The members of the Order then train Amy to fight and use magic to help her with her task in the mission - getting close to and killing Dorothy.

Amy struggles in this new world, not knowing who to trust when "good is wicked and wicked is good." She slowly realizes that she can't fully trust anyone, even those who are helping her, because everyone has a hidden agenda and will resort to anything to get what they want...even if it puts Amy in harms way.

Danielle Paige is fantastic at world building. The descriptive visuals throughout the story painted a very detailed picture in my head. She is very good at taking this magical place we all know and love and giving it an incredibly dark twist.

The characters in this story are very well written and fun to read. The characters we once adored (Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Lion, and Glinda) have all taken a sinister turn and are now overcome with power and greed. We are introduced to Amy who, although insecure about being an outsider, has a very strong voice filled with sarcasm and sass, and is a heroine you'll be rooting for throughout the whole story. The members of the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked (Gert, Glamora, Mombi, and Nox) are all very mysterious and secretive of their plans. Although it seems like they mean well, you're never really sure what their intentions are. There is also a budding romance between Amy and Nox that I found very enjoyable to read. The wizard is another man of many secrets who will keep you guessing as to whose side he's really on. Pete, Indigo, and Ollie are the very first friends Amy makes in Oz. Pete is a mysterious boy who saves Amy when she first arrives at Oz and continues to keep an eye on her, Indigo is a goth-punk munchkin who leads Amy to the Emerald City, and Ollie is a now-wingless flying monkey that Amy and Indigo save on the yellow brick road from the "punishment" Dorothy sentenced him to for his crime of sass.

The ending of Dorothy Must Die keeps you guessing and leaves you yearning to know what happens next. How Amy will continue to carry out this mission to destroy Dorothy and return Oz to normal?? I can't wait to find out!

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and the dark twist that Danielle Paige has put on such a beloved classic. I gave this book 5/5 stars and I definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the Wizard of Oz as well as anyone who enjoys reading retellings of classic stories.