Review: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
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Synopsis: Amy Gumm, who has been called "trash" her whole life, used to live in a trailer park (Dusty Acres) with her drug-addict mother, until she was "tornadoed" to the Oz. Behold, this Oz is f*cked up and twisted. It's where everything went downhill.
"This wasn't the Oz that I had read about or seen in the movie. It was as if someone had drained out some of the Technicolour and introduced some serious darkness."
--- Danielle Paige, Dorothy Must Die
In Oz, Amy met the original characters from the Wicked series (Dorothy, Tin Man, the Lion, the Scarecrow and Glinda). However, in this book, they are the 'bad guys'.
" 'Oz has changed,' Gert said. 'The trees don't talk. The Pond of Truth tells 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.' "
--- Danielle Paige, Dorothy Must Die
On the other hand, Amy also met a bunch of 'good guys' which was created by Paige. She was recruited by the good ones to plot an attack against Dorothy because, apparently, Dorothy is dictating and ruining Oz.
If you've read the original Wicked series, you would have known that, initially, Dorothy was just another nice girl when she first came to Oz from Kansas. However, in this book, Paige twisted the character. After Dorothy left Oz for Kansas for the first time, Dorothy realised she wasn't being valued in the read world as much as how she was cherished in Oz. Therefore, she travelled back to Oz for the second time. She was then appointed as the Princess of Oz, with her power and authority, she started haunting every creature in Oz with her greed. That is why, justice must be brought and the Oz civilians thought, Dorothy, who also was from Kansas, shall be the one to accomplish such mission...Dorothy must die.
I like Amy; she is real-life and flawed. She has a tough life; her father left her when she was 9, she wasn't on good terms with her mother and she was a bully victim in her high school.
I sympathise her, but she isn't the kind of character that whines about her fate or fishes for compliment every time she does something useful to the situation.
P/s: Amy has pink hair.
Before she was supposed to assassinate Dorothy, she underwent a series of training, for example, combat training, spell-casting, magic-performing and having tea parties (lol). Out of all the good guys in this book, I like Amy best because, when she was recruited to kill Dorothy, she knew she wasn't ready, she wanted to give up and be like a coward, just like any other human. She understood well her stupidity and weakness. Yet, she tried, though she wasn't close to perfect or skilful. She's mean but she shows her kinds in the right place and time. Overall, she's a very genuine character.
The Yellow Brick Road in Oz
To be honest, the story started off strong but I hate to admit that, things turned slow after Amy landed in Oz. However, there is always something happening throughout the book. In other words, it's a lengthy but exciting read. Since this is the first instalment of the series, I think its lengthiness is tolerable because it involves a lot of world-building and character development.
The story has a fantastic setting. I mean, who doesn't like a dark version of Oz, where everything appears to be fine but deep in the core, it's rotting.
*See Gallery by clicking left or right.
The Lion is all screwed up too, with his bunch of rabid animals. The Lion literally sucked everyone's soul to become stronger. The funniest thing is, the Tin Man has a crush on Dorothy LOLOL. Of course, Dorothy doesn't reciprocate Tin Man's affection.
I'd always liked the scenes of the Scarecrow. It's a YA Oz retelling and nothing too terrible or gory would have happened but I was still scared when I was reading about the Scarecrow. He's creepy af, disgusting with his sick ideas and distorted! He even chopped off a flying's monkey's wings without giving the creature any anaesthetic!
When I was reading the book, I had a feeling that, Amy will fail her mission in killing Dorothy. Do you know why? BECAUSE THAT BITCH DOESN'T FREAKING DIE.
In this book, Dorothy is a whole new different person. She is vain, sinister and mad. Most importantly, she is very powerful, that is why she never dies. She has people supporting her. She found ecstasy in torturing animals. Once, she instructed her maid to squeeze the living out of a rat and ordered her maid to carry the dead rat for two weeks in her pocket!
Plus, the used-to-be innocent Dorothy looked nothing like how she used to look in this story.
"Instead of farm-girl cotton it was silk and cotton. The cut was somewhere between haute couture and French hooker. The bodice nipped, tucked, and lifted. There was cleavage. Lots of cleavage."
--- Danielle Paige, Dorothy Must Die
Not forgetting her bright-red high heels. Something has got to do with those heels and I can't wait to read the sequel to find out about her heels.
I enjoy reading this book very much because it is an easy read and most importantly, it has an interesting plot. I couldn't stop thinking about the book even after weeks I finished reading it. I think, the biggest reason that I like this book is, apart from the book has good main character, there isn't much romance in the book. Not that I don't enjoy romance. It's just that, in my opinion, a story about adventures shouldn't have too much romance to distract the plot.
I haven't read any Oz retellings so I couldn't say this book is the best revisitation of Oz but it may be one of the best. The setting and the twisted version of the original characters really thrilled me. I very much hope to get my hands on its sequel soon!
Rating: ★★★★★
