Here's an actual review by my blog partner, who was able to force herself to finish this, and not a moment too soon because I've been putting it off all day and I just can't. Here's what I have to briefly say: at first the writing was so perfect for me that I likened it to none other than Stacia Kane and I was wrong. What made me think of the similarity was that the opening was completely amazing, the relationship Amy has with her mother was heart breaking, and the way Amy was treated at school

4.5 stars

Think about everything you know about the Wizard of Oz, turn it upside down, right is wrong, up is down, wicked is nice, Dorothy is evil, and the witches are good. I love the imagination, wit, and brilliance of the plot. It is not your typical retelling of an oldie; it is the same world of Oz, but full of surprises. I enjoyed it; it was a fun read. 3.5 stars.

"I realized, looking around for the first time, that we weren’t in Dusty Acres anymore." Disappointment #1: This book was extremely boring for about 80% of the 432 pages. I was tempted to call it slow at first because it certainly felt like it, but I guess stuff was constantly happening - I just didn't care about any of it. Occasionally I would perk up because I read an interesting page and then I would go back to forcing myself to absorb the words properly. It was a lengthy and difficult slo

I think "Dorothy Must Die" was one of the titles I initially thought had the most potential among some of the newer releases in YA for this year. I find the quirk in the title rather humorous and have seen variations of it before (a.k.a. "Hello Kitty Must Die," etc.) But sadly, Danielle Paige's debut really didn't impress me all that much.It's the very definition of what I call "great premise, lacking execution." But that's not to say that I disliked it collectively. No, it left me quite disappo...

The rating would have been 2 stars higher if it had been a stand-alone with a proper conclusion instead of a rushed cliff-hanger and a confused protagonist. I don't feel like writing a proper review. Let's settle on why I did not rate it with 3 stars like I had expected around the first half of the book. 1. The protagonist did not work for me. Like, at all. I get that she had a shitty life, I get that she is full of doubts and fears and repressed emotions, but usually when thrown into a challeng...

Welcome to Oz. Take a look at the Yellow Brick Road. Like it? Good. Now run away, run faaaaaaaaaaar away. Pray for a tornado to take you back to Kansas, because man, Oz is fucked up as shit. “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.” But let's get back to the beginning, what the fuck happened?! How did Oz get to...this?Th...

The CW is developing this book and it's time to get excited!!! Not only does this book sound awesome but it's going to (maybe-potentially) be on TV! And I just really want to see Dorothy die. Is that too much? ;) ----UPDATE: 4/1/14So good!!! Lots of action and twists that I didn't see coming. One of the most brutal and violent YA books I've ever read, which just makes it that much more epic since it's set in Oz. And Danielle Paige knows her L. Frank Baum. I've read probably 10+ books about Oz an...

SOMEONE'S MESSING WITH HIS STORY.WHAT WOULD MR. BAUM SAY ABOUT IT?Well, I DON'T CARE. Because I LOVE this book SO MUCH!!! No joking! Even Dorothy will be dumbfounded that I'm against her now. Yes! That's how great the story is. How the author made me believe that Dorothy was no longer Dorothy I used to know. She's an EVIL now. A magic-hoarding fascist. Even her friends and Glinda had all changed. Screw them! “Down is up, up is down. Good is Wicked, Wicked is Good. The times are changing. This

I feel like I just read a first draft of a book: poorly written, a rushed plot, and not thoroughly planned at all. The story and writing are juvenile, which would be fine if the author didn't also attempt to be dark and serious (constant cussing, drug-abusive mother, attempts at blood and gore, etc.). The book tries too hard to be gritty when its main character is the embodiment of an angsty Hot Topic teenager. The rest of the characters are just as one-dimensional as her, which makes any affect...

So, Dorothy must die, huh? Well, perhaps. But if this book is any indication, the cause of this cardiopulmonary arrest would be little else but frustrated boredom.How do you make the flip-one-of-the-most-known-and-beloved-stories-onto-its-head book uninteresting? Good question. Let me give you some pointers:-- 1) Make the beginning relatively strong, to draw the readers in and to remind them as the story drags along that this story had potential , that it could have had a strong narrative vo...

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4.5 stars Well, color me surprised--this was excellent! Such a great reimagining of a skewed Oz, with interesting characters, awesome and imaginative use of magic, lots of humor and gore, and genuine emotion. And it's just plain fun. Abrupt ending, and a couple of other little quibbles, but it's really exciting to have a debut author burst into the scene with such a confident, smart debut. Easily followed if you aren't so familiar with the original books or films, but also so many layers to appr...

Well, I had wanted to be gone. I’d wanted it for as long as I’d known there was anywhere to go. I wanted other places, other people. Another me. I wanted to leave everything and everyone behind. But not like this. We’re off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz….Is he, though? Is he really wonderful? And what about the rest of our beloved WOZ cast? Who’s good, who’s evil….and how do you interpret that little gray area in between? I loved this story and all the mayhem it represented. I

Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Amazon || Pinterest I grew up with the Oz books. As a child, I would revisit them periodically, curling up under the covers with a flashlight to read about Tik-Tok and the Wheelers, or Polychrome and the Nome King, or Mombi and Jack. Even now, I still occasionally read them because they're so fantastically creative and the imaginative world-building continues to hold up, even now. It's one of my favorite fantasy series ever, probably more so than Harry Pot

I want to start off by saying that when I started this book I what I would think if it. My twisted sense of curiosity is what got the best of me on this one and I am glad it did. Lots of twisted and backwards adventure to be found here!Amy Gunn is your average girl who has been dealt a bad hadn at life. She has no friends (thanks to nasty Ms. Madison), her father left when she was young and her mom is is a druggie. She wants nothing more than to get away from her crappy trailer life. Well she ge...

there are many things i say that i like while, in execution, very rarely liking them. you could say that;s my experience with books in general, but that would cause an emotional crisis i'm not prepared for, so let's narrow that down to retellings.i love them. in theory. i think they're cool. in theory. some of our greatest stories, modernized or magic-ized or otherwise changed! but usually they end up either being too much or too little. this was way too much.but it was fun.part of a series i'm

I like this story better than the original one! I give it 4-4.5 starsDanielle Paige’s version of Oz is a version where Dorothy went back home, realised she didn’t particularly care for it, came back to Oz, gathered magic, and became the most barbaric ruler in the history of Oz. In this version Dorothy isn’t the only girl who went to Oz there is now another and she has seen that the Dorothy she thought she heard about let the magic get to her head and wants nothing more than to be the sole bearer...

3.5 Stars REMOVE THE TIN WOODMAN'S HEART STEAL THE SCARECROW'S BRAIN TAKE THE LION'S COURAGE AND THEN DOROTHY MUST DIEOnce upon a time, There was a pink-haired girl named Amy Gumm. She lived in a trailer park with her mother. Her father left her and her mother behind to live with a woman named Crystal. When Amy turned 13 years old her mother had a car accident and started taking pills and this was the time her life was changed completely. Her mother wasn't a sweet mother anymore, she did not ma...

3.5 stars! ⭐️ REMOVE THE TIN WOODMAN’S HEART,STEAL THE SCARECROW’S BRAIN,TAKE THE LIONS COURAGE,AND THEN- DOROTHY MUST DIE. Fairy tale retellings almost always intrigue me; I used to love this one to pieces. While Dorothy Must Die was still a fun and entertaining read, it wasn’t all that I’d remembered. ~★~ What is this book about? ~★~ Alone in her trailer park, Amy Gumm is unable to avoid the tornado passing through her town. She is swept away to Oz, but things aren’t like in they were in t...