Reviews

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Only show reviews with written explanations

emilymcgarr's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.0

yabooks4me's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

Imaginative take on the Wizard of Oz where all the beloved characters are now evil (including Toto!). Wish it hadn’t ended in a cliffhanger. Didn’t fall head over red heels enough to pick up the second but enjoyed it nonetheless.

leslie_ann_thornton's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

sometimes_iread's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

With a title like that, I had to add it to my TBR list. I’m glad that I did because the plot is interesting and I want to see how the series plays out. I really hope that the subsequent books do not disappoint.

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige follows Amy, our protagonist, as she is quite literally plucked from her miserable life in Kansas and dropped in Oz. However, this isn’t the Oz we all know and love with happy Munchkins, good witches, and kindness galore. Dorothy has returned to Oz as a dictator and has transformed the land to a barren wasteland through her mining and hoarding of magic. Her band of happy friends have likewise perverted their gifts, terrorizing the people of Oz. Amy ends up joining the resistance to overthrow Dorothy and her reign of terror.

I like a good shakeup of familiar stories, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is ripe for the picking with its rich fantasy. My favourite one is Wicked, the musical, partly because there’s plenty of smashing songs. This reimagining of the source material made me very excited at first, with much of what we already know of the Oz universe turned on its head. However, I wasn’t impressed with the execution. A lot of the characters felt one dimensional and the pacing was weird. I get that this is a young adult read so romance is necessary, but did we really need to sacrifice details about training or characterization for it? I think not.

Also, Amy, our main character, was much more interesting in Kansas. She had spunk, gumption, grief, and depth. However, not much of that is seen after her arrival in Oz. In fact, I spent most of the book annoyed with her, as she acted impulsively and as a know-it-all, often at the expense of others. I’m never forgetting Indigo and how she bore the brunt of Amy’s indiscretion. Not only that, young adult characters tend to have lots of growth precisely because of the age that they are in. However, I didn’t see that in Amy at all, with her repeating her exact mistakes with even bigger consequences. I guess that’s to be expected from a character with little introspection.

I know I’ve written at length about what I didn’t like about the book, but I have to say that it was entertaining enough and I felt invested enough in the source material to want to know where Paige will lead us. So I guess I will be continuing with this series.

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