Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

DOROTHY MUST DIE
by
Danielle Paige
(Goodreads|Twitter)

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.

★★★★
Welcome to the messed up world of OZ.



Whoops. Sorry, wrong visuals... Here, take a look again..





Summary:
This is the story of a girl from Kansas, Amy Gumm, who has arrived to Oz on a tornado, along with her mother's pet rat, Star. Her life wasn't really something worth living. There's this pretty girl,Madison Pendleton, who seemed to dedicate her life on making Amy's life a living hell. Home, if you can even call it that isn't any better, she's living with a "Human Slug", uhm, I mean with her pill addicted mother who left her alone when there's a tornado/storm coming. Yeah, Life freaking sucks for Amy. No wonder she wanted to leave home.

"She(her mother) didn't want me. School didn't want me. What was I waiting for?"

Just leave already. I would run away from home too if it was me. So Amy, what are you waiting for? Oh yeah, money. How can you run away home if you don't even have money to buy a bus ticket to take you away from home? Poor Amy... But don't worry!! Tornado is coming to take you away and fulfill your wishes!

"You've got to be kidding me."

Ha! Finally! away from home! Away from Kansas! Yey! But.. where is this place, really?

"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.

Oz.



But what happened here?

Indigo's impassive face twisted into a snarl. "Dorothy happened."

Dorothy? Yes. The sweet little girl that was brought in to the Oz by a cyclone from a farm house. The one who helped kill wicked witches that free some villages in the Oz... That was before. Before the power gets into her head and corrupted her. Now, things get a little bit messy around Oz when she's in charge.

"Oz has changed," Gert said. "The trees don't talk.The pond of Truth tell lies, The wandering Water stays put. The Land of Naught is on Fire. People are starting to get old. People are forgetting how it used to be."

Now, this is not exactly what she was hoping for when she wishes to leave home.

"I have enough problems of my own back in Kansas. Why couldn't I have been swept away to an imaginary kingdom where nothing was wrong at all-where I could just kick my legs up and enjoy a nice, relaxing vacation?"

Sorry Amy, I guess that is too much to ask.

It appears that Amy might be a celebrity in this world. People, munchkins and witches alike believe that she can save Oz from the cruel hands of Dorothy. But how?

"Simple. You're going to kill her."She looked right at me and said, "Dorothy must die"

Ha! Yes. Sounds simple! because killing a person, even from a fantasy world is a piece of cake.

"No offense or anything, it's just, I'm not a killer.I'm not the girl you're looking for here. I think it would be pretty amazing to know what you guys know. But you all have magic;you know what you're doing.I'm sure you can handle her without me"

In the end, Amy did agreed to be some kind of a hero. Not willingly if I must say. From then on, Amy's adventure as a Teenage assassin began.

Characters:
Amy Gumm: Amy's not the typical kick ass heroine you usually read. She will in fact run away on the first sign of trouble. She gets scared, but the good thing about it is atleast she can acknowledge her own fault.

"I told myself I didn't want to ruin the Order's plans-they'd told me to wait-but I knew that wasn't entirely it. I'd chickened out."

She's not perfect, but one thing I really liked about her character is that we get to see her growth throughout the story which is very believable.

Dorothy: Gone is the sweet girl we first heard of that has been the savior of Oz Once Upon a Time. Now, think of the typical bitchy but very pretty girl on high school that loves to bully the not so pretty/normal girls. Visualize it? Yes, that is pretty much how I visualized Dorothy, except the usual bitchiness of high school girls was replaced by cruelty and evil.

I think it is creative to make Dorothy, and her friends, the tin woodman, the lion and the scarecrow, the ones who used to be a hero, the villain of the story. Ofcourse, the reason they have became that way was believable, it happens even on the real world that it really does make sense.

Romance:
Uhhhh, what romance? The girl's got a hundred problem and love life ain't gonna be one of 'em.. just kidding, there is actually this boy, a love interest, that inspires Amy on some part of the story, but that's just all, the boy got his own issues too so I guess we just have to be more patient in this part.. Wink**

Additional Note:
I seriously thought I wouldn't like this book mainly because I haven't really read or watch any Oz's book and movies, even the one released last 2013. However, I do know the basic plot of the story, where a sweet girl from a farm house was swept away in a fantasy world, which apparently was Oz, with her dog, which I just recalled the name was Toto. She then helped Oz by getting rid of wicked witches, all the while meeting new friends along the way, a tin woodman, a lion and a scarecrow and even the wizard.

She was brought home with the help of a silver shoes, which was why I also knew that the phrase "There's No Place Like Home" was popularized in this story.

So it really surprised me when I enjoyed every part of this book. It is very readable even though you only have a vague idea on what the Oz is about. The character building was believable, even the Tin Woodman, the scarecrow and even the lion that was described as something that came out straight from our nightmare was commendable, why? mostly because it made things more believable for me as a reader.

I really do recommend this book to everyone. Looking forward for the next books.


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Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige