Wednesday 16 July 2014

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige


Synopsis

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.



Review

Ah I just LOVED this book! Anything to do with the reworking or continuation of fairytales or other such stories and it is a guaranteed hit with me. 

After a shaky first chapter for me, where I wasn't sure if I was going to like this or not, Chapter Two really delivered and the story well and truly took off. 

Amy is just a regular girl from Kansas, but like Dorothy she is blown into the land of Oz on a tornado. But this isn't the beautiful Oz as we remember it. Oz has become a very dark and dangerous place to live since Dorothy's return and under her rule the lines between Good and Wicked have become extremely blurred. It now has unwillingly fallen down to Amy to kill Dorothy.

I was so not expecting to get the story that Danielle delivered, but this was part of the reason I liked it so much because it was so incredibly different to the original Wizard of Oz story. I will warn that this probably isn't for the faint hearted as there are quite a lot of graphic scenes, that if you are not expecting them may come as a bit of a shock

There were some truly fantastic characters in this and I felt very much on the 'Wicked' side. The way that Danielle managed to turn four well loved characters into evil villains of the story was brilliant, and it still managed to work without it seeming too far-fetched. I found Amy a likable, real protagonist and was surprisingly relatable despite the crazy world she finds herself in.

Danielle Paige's story writing skills are top notch in my opinion. Despite lots of things happening at once and a bit of randomness thrown in in each chapter it all managed to make sense. 

This was definitely one of those books that kept me turning the page and I hated having to put it down as just wanted to keep reading. I am absolutely thrilled that this is a series, as I cannot wait to get back to the adventure with Amy

A truly brilliant, surprising and page turning read!

4.5/5

Dorothy Must Die is available from Amazon UK, Waterstones and other bookshops 


4 comments:

  1. I so need to read this, I waited impatiently for it to be released, bought it as soon as I could but haven't touched it since as I just haven't had the time to squeeze it into my reading schedule yet. I really need to get on with it! xx

    Thea @ Gizzimomo's Book Shelf

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    1. Definitely definitely try and bump it up the TBR if you can! I'm so glad I did :)

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  2. What a glowing review! I have been slightly put off fairytale adaptions because I was very disappointed by Gretel and the Dark but I think I'll give this one a shot! Great review :)

    Laura @ What's Hot?

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    1. Thanks so much! I read Gretal and the Dark too, although I liked it, I can see why you would be put off as that turned out to be quite a harrowing read. Promise this one isn't like that, but will warn it is a bit gory!

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