Release Date: April 1, 2014
Series: Dorothy Must Die (bk. 1)
Genera(s): Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
Subjects: magic, adventure, retellings, witches,
wizards, fairy tales
Setting: Present Day Kansas, and then Oz
POV/Tense: 1st person POV, past tense: Amy
Gumm
Age/Grade Level: Teen
Length: 452 pgs.
HC/PB: Hardcover
List Price: $17.99
Publisher: HarperTeen
Summary/ product description: “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!”
My Review: Dorothy
Must Die is and exciting and unique retelling. It centers around the character
Amy Gumm, who’s just a normal, snarky girl from modern day Kansas. She’s teased
at school for living in a trailer with her mom. Her and her trailer are swept
up in a tornado and she lands in Oz. She has the same kind of beginning as
Dorothy, but she’s so very different. Dorothy came back to Oz only two years
after she left. You can read her story in the novella called No Place Like Oz.
Dorothy has been twisted by the magic of ruby red high
heels. She’s ruling Oz like a tyrant queen. She has a lot of horrible laws and
punishments and Amy finds this out shortly after she arrives. Later on Amy
meets a group of Witches that call themselves the Order. They consider
themselves wicked because Dorothy, who’s assisted by Glinda, considers
themselves good. She by being against Dorothy, they are Wicked. The lines
between Good and Wicked are blurred.
Amy learns a lot from these Witches. They want her to
kills Dorothy, who’s hoarding Oz’s magic. The witches want Oz to be what it
once was.
I did not know what to expect when I first heard of
this book. I wasn’t expecting it to be as amazing as it turned out. My first
impression was that it was going to be a retelling and that maybe it was set
sometime in the past. When I started reading I was happy that the narrator was
a modern girl and that her voice was so snarky and a little angry. She’s a bit
of a rebel and not sweet. Amy is able to channel her anger into a powerful
magic.
There’s some brief romance in this book, but it’s
definitely going to build. I didn’t realize this was a series when I read it.
There’s a hot warlock/wizard named Nox. He helps train Amy along with the other
witches. I like a lot of the characters. Nox, as well as Gert and even Glamora.
Ollie also. Ozma who was in the novella prequel, is not herself, but kind of
funny.
My favorite part in the book was when Amy had to
impersonate a maid, and also the training scenes with Nox. There’s a lot of
action too. More than I expected. There’s references to the Wizard of Oz book
and movie and there’s even characters a creature that we’d expect. There’s even
fairies. The story’s full of magic and all kinds of crazy strange stuff. For
some reason the book had a dystopian feel. A post-apocalyptic fantasyland ruled
and ruined by Dorothy.
Dorothy Must Die lives up to the hype and will leave
you dying for more. It’s not the Dorothy you know. It’s bloody, action packed
and fun. I also just heard it might become a TV show on the CW!!!! If you like shows like Once Upon A Time or other retellings, you'll love this.
Cover Art Review: Minimalist vector based cover. Like
the use of texture. I like the title and the hand rendered word DIE.
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