Book Review: DOROTHY MUST DIE by Danielle Paige

This is not the Oz you remember. Dorothy has found her way back to Oz and taken over, becoming an evil dictator. She’s no longer the sweet little girl from Kansas – now she has magic, draining Oz of most of its power to fuel her own. The Scarecrow is conducting creepy experiments in his science lab, the Tin Woodman is so enamored with Dorothy that he has become her head of security, and the Lion’s courage has made him the vicious leader of an animal army. And with Glinda on Dorothy’s side, it doesn’t look like there’s much hope left for Oz.

Enter Amy, the other girl from Kansas. The kids at school call her trailer trash, and her mom is a drug addict who cares more about drinking with her friends than being with her daughter. When a tornado drops Amy’s trailer into Oz, she isn’t sure what to think, other than noting how different Oz is from the movie she’s seen. Post-apocalyptic, even. Before too long, she is captured by Dorothy’s forces and thrown into prison, but instead of being executed like she imagines, she is rescued by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked, a group of “wicked” witches who need her help. They want Amy to kill Dorothy and return the magic to Oz.

I read this at the same time the TV show Once Upon a Time tackled the Wizard of Oz storyline, so I was eyeballs deep in witches and hearts and Dorothy. Despite this book being a product of Full Fathom Five, I enjoyed reading it. Amy is a pretty likeable character, although she is set up as the typical loner girl with pink hair being teased by the popular girl at school. Once she gets to Oz (and it happens pretty quickly, the tornado hits in Chapter 2) and begins meeting more colorful characters, I really got into the story.

The characters we know from The Wizard of Oz were developed in super interesting ways. Besides our three main sidekicks, we see the fate of the flying monkeys and the enslavement of the munchkins. Because this is the first book in a series there is a lot of world-building, but it didn’t slow the book down. In fact, learning about this new Oz was one of my favorite parts.

The “relationship” aspect of the story (I won’t say who it involves so I don’t spoil things) seemed a bit forced and unnecessary to me. There wasn’t much of it, and it was touched upon so little that I felt like we didn’t need it at all. I was having plenty of fun reading about Amy training to become Dorothy Assassin Number One that I didn’t need a romance subplot. There’s already enough going on in the not-so-wonderful land of Oz. The only part that really irked me, though, was the back cover:

That sounds SO COOL, right? Well, don’t hold your breath waiting for this plotline…it takes a LONG time to get to it. Like, a LONG time. Because I was waiting and waiting for it to appear, I found the middle of the book kind of slow. I think I’m going to enjoy the next book a lot more, now that it’s focused on what I thought was the plotline of this book. Darn you, James Frey and your false advertising!  

I definitely recommend reading the prequel novella, NO PLACELIKE OZ, before DOROTHY MUST DIE if you have an eReader. There’s a lot of Oz history unpacked in it that was helpful to know when reading the novel.    

If you’re looking for a dark twist on a story you know well, DOROTHY MUST DIE is the book for you! I’m interested to see how this world develops even more in future books.

What's Up Wednesday

My semester is officially over!!! I’ve been home for a week but am actually heading back to Pittsburgh tomorrow. I’m going on the MFA trip to Belize May 3-17, and we’re flying out of Pittsburgh. I’m at the anxious/nervous point of the pre-trip right now, but once I’m in Belize I’m sure I’ll be super happy!
 

What I’m Reading

I’ve spent most of my free time reading lately. Since my last WUW post a few weeks ago, I’ve read 8 books and 3 novellas. My favorites within that list are THE 5^TH WAVE by Rick Yancey, the rest of

Some of the books I've bought since coming home

the Shatter Me series (UNRAVEL ME, IGNITE ME, and the corresponding two novellas), and THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER. Reviews for almost all the books will be coming in the next few weeks (except for the Shatter Me sequels because I don’t want to spoil anything).

 

Right now I’m reading DOROTHY MUST DIE by Danielle Paige. I just reviewed the prequel novella, NO PLACE LIKE OZ, which I really enjoyed.

What I’m Writing

Absolutely nothing. I’ve taken a break since finishing the semester just to let my brain recharge. During my time in Belize, though, I’ll be journaling daily. We each have to write 18-20 pages of travel essays once we get back, so soon I’ll be busy with that.

What Inspires Me Right Now

I’ve really enjoyed all the books I’ve read recently, so I guess they’re inspiring me. They motivate me to read more and more of them, that’s for sure! Within 48 hours of arriving home, I’d somehow managed to acquire 8 books. Not that I have a problem or anything…

What Else Is New?

I’ve decided to do a Harry Potter reread this summer! I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read the books. I’m currently listening to the Sorcerer’s Stone on audiobook (it’s my companion when I drive from school to home and back) and I caught Deathly Hallows part 2 on ABC Family yesterday. I guess listening to the beginning of Harry’s journey and watching the end of it made me emotional, because now rereading the books is all I can think about. I’m going to take my time with it and still read other books simultaneously, but I’ve missed Harry recently. Time for another trip to Hogwarts!

I have now seen Divergent twice! I think I enjoyed myself more the second time because I spent the entire first time stressed, just waiting for them to completely ruin something in the story. But I don’t think they did. Sure, there are a few things they changed that I wished they hadn’t, but overall I had so much fun watching the movie. Aaaaand I want to reread the book too! (Even though I just reread it in the fall, pre-Allegiant.)

Most of my time right now is being spent getting everything together for my Belize trip. We aren’t allowed to check a bag (it will slow the group down, plus we won’t have much room on the buses) so I need to squash everything into a carry-on. Wish me luck! I’ve scheduled some posts over the next two weeks, but this will be my last post until I get back. I’ll be sure to post pictures once I’m home!

 

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Book Review: NO PLACE LIKE OZ (novella) by Danielle Paige

The book DOROTHY MUST DIE was just released at the beginning of the month, and it’s been getting all sorts of buzz. Before reading it, though, I downloaded the prequel novella, NO PLACE LIKE OZ, onto my Kindle. So many authors of series have jumped on the novella/short story bandwagon lately, releasing eBook stories of what happens before or in between the books. Since DOROTHY MUST DIE is a Full Fathom Five book (part of James Frey’s book/movie/tv packaging company), I’m not surprised it did this. Gotta be as commercial as possible! (I’ll talk more about Full Fathom Five in a minute.)

In DOROTHY MUST DIE, our girl from Kansas has somehow found her way back to Oz and taken over, becoming an evil dictator of sorts. This prequel novella explains how she got there. The story picks up two years after that fateful tornado that brought Dorothy to Oz. Now Dorothy is sixteen and wholly unsatisfied with her life in Kansas. She’d wanted to return home so badly, but now she struggles to remember why. Farm life isn’t exciting or magical, and Kansas life seems gray and boring compared to Oz. Not to mention, no one believes her story about the Emerald City and the Scarecrow and the Wicked Witch of the West. In Oz she was a hero. In Kansas she’s just a girl.

When a pair of bright red shoes appear under her bed on her birthday (with a note signed “G”), Dorothy knows what to do. Three heel clicks, and she finds herself transported back to Oz, Aunt Em and Uncle Henry in tow. But Oz is not how she left it. A young princess named Ozma has taken over, claiming she is the rightful heir to rule Oz. And Glinda is missing. Suspecting this new princess might know Glinda’s whereabouts, Dorothy sets off to find her, dragging her reluctant aunt and uncle along.

At approximately 200 pages, this novella a pretty good deal ($1.99 on Amazon). The story arc is pretty complete, and we are able to see Dorothy’s transformation. I was able to empathize with her throughout. Even though I did not always agree with her choices, I understood her motivation. We also get to see some Oz lore, like how the land was created. I’m interested to see how the small pieces we see in NO PLACE LIKE OZ will tie into DOROTHY MUST DIE. I’m pretty sure there is a decent time gap between the end of the novella and the beginning of DOROTHY MUST DIE, so there are still plenty of secrets to discover.

I’m not sure how crucial the novella is to the central plot of the novel (you could probably get by without reading it), but I enjoyed it as a standalone story as well.

Now, onto the Full Fathom Five debate. I recently found out that this series (there are going to be at least two more books) is the brainchild of James Frey’s Full Fathom Five corporation (click here for an in depth article about his “writer sweatshop”) No doubt, the idea is slimy and makes me cringe. Lists of FFF have cropped up on book blogs, urging readers to boycott these books, as most of the money goes right into Frey’s pocket, even though he didn’t do much of the actual writing. I AM NUMBER FOUR is probably the most well-known FFF book (I’ve never read it), but DOROTHY is generating some buzz. Many book bloggers and BookTubers are boycotting it, refusing to give Frey any extra money or publicity.

You can probably figure out I’ve bought the book. And part of me does feel really icky when I look at the copyright page and see it copyrighted to Full Fathom Five instead of Danielle Paige. But honestly, it sounds like a good story. And the person who wrote it (whether her name is actually Danielle Paige or not) deserves some credit for that, because writing is HARD, especially when Frey only pays you $250 up front. So I’m going to read DOROTHY MUST DIE for the story, and I’m going to try reeeeally hard not to think about how the story came into existence.

Thoughts on the Full Fathom Five debate? Will you read DOROTHY? Any opinions on this new novella/short story craze?