Dorothy Must Die Stories

Love the imagination of taking the beloved story and creating something new and different to explore!

Well, this is certainly an unexpected surprise! To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect going into this novella prequel to the upcoming Dorothy Must Die (see my previous post), but if that book is as good as this prequel is, I'm going to thoroughly enjoy it.It's been a couple of years since Dorothy returned from Oz, and life has slowly gone back to normal on the farm. Dorothy was the focus of a bit of celebrity status for a short time, but as all things, interest in her surviving the tornado waned. Aunt Em and Uncle Henry have told Dorothy to keep her stories of Oz to herself, as nobody likes a storyteller, since no one would believe her stories anyway. On the occasion of Dorothy's Sweet Sixteen birthday party, which turns into a disaster, she wishes nothing more than to be able to return to Oz. To her surprise, there is a birthday present waiting for her in her bedroom, a pair of dazzlingly red high heels...Knowing exactly what they are for, she quickly puts them on, just as Aunt Em and Uncle Henry come into her bedroom. As she takes several steps, Aunt Em and Uncle Henry are swept with her and Toto to Oz, realizing now that she wasn't telling a tall tale. However, things aren't as Dorothy left them in Oz. Time works differently in Oz than it does in our world, and many years have passed since she was there last and not everyone remembers her anymore. The Scarecrow isn't King of Oz, as Ozma has taken her rightful place on the thrown. Glinda has gone missing. And what's with the shoes?Seriously, I thoroughly enjoyed Danielle Paige's take on Oz. It's a wonderful place, but is equally dangerous as it is magical. She handles Aunt Em and Uncle Henry's amazement at Oz perfectly, and her version of Ozma is fantastic. Her writing is very visual, as I could clearly picture in my mind every moment of the book. I read this in one sitting (which for me these days says something) and while I vaguely had the ending predicted, it still played out perfectly. I'm highly anticipating the release of Dorothy Must Die and subsequent books in the series. I'm sure Oz purists will have a hard time enjoying this book, but for those that can handle a revisionist version of Oz, I'd highly recommend this series.

Holy Munchkins, Dorothy! I loved this book. Not just a little bit. Like, it's the best prequel. Ever. No two ways about it, this is by far, my absolute favorite novella ever written. I'm a big re-telling fan, but most of Alice In Wonderland and those types of books. But, Wizard Of Oz is one of my favorite all time movies, so, I wanted to try out Ms. Paige's work. I pre-ordered Dorothy Must Die like ages ago, and can't wait for the release. But, I was curious about the whole series so when I saw that there was a prequel I grabbed it. I didn't want it to end! Ms. Paige did a magnificent job of creating this story. Those that have watched Wizard Of Oz, know that there is a sequel to it called Return To Oz, starring Fairuza Balk. Reading Ms. Paige's No Place Like Oz, was like watching a movie of both those combined. There were details to the book that was like reading movie 1, and there were details to the book that was like reading movie 2. But, along the way, Ms. Paige added laughable moments, witty characters that you wouldn't see in the movies and an ending that is leaving me desperate for more. Right now. Not in April. For fans of Wizard Of Oz movies, you'll love this book. It's captivating, twisty, turny and full of Emerald, and witch-y goodness! I mean seriously. I was reading this on my Kindle Fire, I was reading this on my iPhone, I was reading this everywhere. Dorothy is an amazing character and I loved watching this book come to life for me! There is so much that I want to say about this novella but I'm holding back because I know it will turn to spoilers. All I will conclude with is this: Get.This.Book.Now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Now. It's over-the-rainbow incredible, it's beyond Munchkin Land 5 star worthy and highest on my favorites list! Ms. Paige, you are a magnificent story teller and I can't wait for this series to continue, or for my book to arrive in April!! You are now on my favorites list!!! Well done!

I only have 2 words for this book, LOVED IT!!! Now it time for Dorothy must Die. :)

having loved the wizard of oz growing up, this had so many references ands nods to the original in it, it was so fun to spot them! it wasn't my usual style but overall i liked it - i think fairytale retellings are my way forward to get into fantasy!

I have read every Oz book in the series by L. Frank Baum. Danielle Page is spot on with her book. It is almost like her book picks up at the exact spot where his last book ended. There are characters mentioned in this one that make you think "Oh, I remember the Patchwork girl" or 'Oh, Dorothy killed the Wogglebug". Dorothy did come back to Oz to live in the later books and Ozma did make her a princess. I couldn't find fault with any of her facts. I love how she had Dorothy corrupted by her new-found powers. I can't wait to read the next book!!

For anyone who wondered what happened after Dorothy went back to Kansas.....its definitely not what you thought!

* 5 stars for being entertaining (super pre-teen-young-adult, but still entertaining);
* minus one star for complete insensitivity to world-building (a native munchkin calls something "magic 101", and everyone gets it);
* minus one more star for an EXTREME case of plot hole / armor at the very end: one that was clearly added with a singular purpose of spinning the book into a sequel.

But a fun book nevertheless!

In this book, Dorothy is the villain. I thought this was a really cool dystopian book following what happens after the Wizard of Oz. It can get a little creepy and gory, but I really enjoyed it.

DNF. I probably shouldn't give it a rating but the fact that I could not finish it says something about the book. The reader was overwrought at points in the story that didn't need it.

This book is clearly designed to capitalize on the recent interest in the darker side of children's fairy tales. I found it to be a very engaging twist on Baum's original universe and characters. She does an excellent job of casting Glinda and Dorothy as Oz's mean girls and the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion as their twisted sidekicks. I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

I had wanted to read this book for years, and now that I finally did, I must say that I liked it a lot. I liked the protagonist, and I loved all the characters. I hope to get to know them better in the next books. (Translated from Spanish)

It's a leisurely read for a free moment, the story progresses very well and you don't feel like there are filler elements. There's a death that happens so quickly that you don't even have time to get attached to the character, but for some reason it is super important for the protagonist, even though at no point do they present it as if it were the closest relationship in the universe. It's very well told, and the way it explains things makes you feel that hatred for the once good and now evil characters. There’s an empathy that makes you feel like freeing Oz is also part of you, which makes you read it super quickly for that reason. (Translated from Spanish)

I liked this book a lot. It definitely had problems and its wasn't my favorite book ever but I did really enjoy it. I loved the concept of having Dorothy return to OZ and seizing control. I loved the Oz books and the movie as a kid and the characters in this book brought back a lot of those memories. I didn't love the character of Amy at first. I didn't dislike her, but there were things she did and said that bothered me but as I read this book I came to really love her character. I think the author did a really good job of getting me to either love a character or hate a character and all the characters had really strong personalities. The only character I didn't love was Nox. I know some of this was part of his character, but he felt really insincere at times and I didn't care about him as much as the main character did which was a little frustrating. I really liked the world the author portrayed as well. Obviously some parts of the world were already established in the original Oz books but I liked the way the author adapted it. I also liked the way that the author explained the magic in Oz as well. There were some parts of the story where I felt like the pacing was a little off. At the beginning everything seemed to happen really, really fast. I never want too much exposition in stories but I would have liked a little more in this case. I know part of that is because Amy doesn't know any of what is going on so as the reader, we don't know whats going on but I felt like I was thrown into action right away and I could have used a bit of a breather just to figure out what I had just read. The ending had similar weird pacing. It didn't feel really like the ending of a book. The ending made it feel like I needed to read the next book right away. I guess that could be a good thing but I wish that this book had ended a little bit more neatly. I was also really confused by the fact that at the end (and I don't think this is a spoiler) the wizard told Amy that to defeat Dorothy she will need to take the Tin Woodman's heart, the Lion's courage, and the Scarecrow's brain like it was the major plot twist because 1) it is written on the back of the hardcover copy of the book and 2) it felt like to me that that bigger and more plot twisty things happened at the end. I honestly don't understand why they put that on the back of the book. Putting that on the back of the book made it seemed like the courage, brain, and heart stealing would happen in this book but really it wasn't even revealed to the main character that she needed to do those things until like the last 10 pages. I know that probably has nothing to do with the author but it was still very weird to me. besides those few things that are small mistakes in my mind I did really enjoy this book. I am very excited to read the next book in this series and see where Amy goes next and to see what happened to everyone that was in the order of the wicked. I would say if you liked the Oz stories or the concept of the books seemed interesting to you and you think you could ignore some weird pacing, I would recommend this book wholeheartedly.

Such a good book. After reading this I am not able to look at the characters in the original Wizard of Oz the same. I just love how twisted up everything becomes. This is not the Oz that you remember!

I really liked this book, we're back to the Retelings, in this case it's the story of the Wizard of Oz and Dorothy. The truth is I have never seen the movie because it scares me, and I haven't read the book either because I never had the chance. But since it is well-known, I do have an idea of the characters that appear and the story itself.

I really like Amy, obviously I hate Dorothy. I feel like things happen very quickly; suddenly we're at war, but that's precisely what makes it interesting and not tedious at all. (Translated from Spanish)

I'm giving this book 3 1/2 stars. It took me much longer to "get into" the story than I would prefer. The story itself (once really started) is inventive and intriguing. I was also pleasantly surprised when I guessed the "twist" ending incorrectly.

I was disappointed in the number of grammatical errors within this book. There were also many poorly worded sentences. I had to reread a few passages to be sure I understood the intended meaning.

Overall, I'd give the story 3.75 in rating (parts of the story --mostly of the main character's Kansas background-- irritatingly stereotypical, but the Oz story was enjoyable). I'd give the writing a 3.

I tried to continue the story through the rest of the trilogy, but found myself too bored and reluctant to get past the first chapter.

Technically DNF at 72%. This book started out fun, if unexceptional, but then it was just unexceptional.

Amy, from Kansas, ends up in Oz. Yes – that Oz. Oh, and Dorothy is still there; it seems Kansas didn’t live up to the magic of Oz, so Dorothy came back. But Dorothy hasn’t been good for Oz, at all. The Order of the Wicked wants Amy to kill Dorothy, so things will go back to normal. Wow – what a spin. There are 15 original Oz stories by L. Frank Baum. Some of the characters in Dorothy Must Die are in those original stories. It’s not necessary to know them but it makes for fun Easter egg moments if you recognize the names. I’ve had a couple of students read this and the biggest complaint is they have to wait for a sequel. I agree it is definitely a cliff hanger ending. The next one comes out later this year and there are two novellas to tide you over until then.

I really liked Amy. She finds herself in an Oz that has been turned into a terrible place by a despotic Dorothy.
Amy is in over her head. Everyone tells her - "You shouldn't trust anyone - not even me."
This is the start of a series so of course things are not resolved.
Loved that this includes characters from the books that are not in the classic Judy Garland movie.

Meh. It hasn't convinced me, or maybe I'm not the target audience, but leaving me with such an open plot to force a trilogy doesn't sit well with me. (Translated from Spanish)

It is the first book in English that I read in my life, it has a very good plot, although it felt a bit slow for me, partly because I read it in English. Amy is a frustrated teenager who doesn’t understand how that movie or book she loved so much could become her reality and, worse, a dystopian world. Because after a tornado takes Amy from her home in Kansas, she ends up in Oz, the one from the movies she loves. Only this is not the Oz she remembers; it is ruled by a dictatorship and a fascist named Dorothy. Now Amy must confront her and kill her.

This book lacked depth in its characters; beyond the protagonist, everyone else is one-dimensional, even Dorothy, the villain, whom we never get to know well enough. We can never understand the reason she returned to Oz and became so cruel. The author doesn’t allow us to empathize with the character. Nevertheless, the story continues; I unfortunately found this out on the last page at the end of the book. ? (Translated from Spanish)

"Magic cannot exist without goodness. Goodness cannot exist without evil. And Oz cannot exist without magic." Gert - Danielle Paige.

"Dorothy Must Die!" is the first book in the saga. A book that immerses you once again in the world of Oz, a world of magic and fantasy but with a darker twist than the one we remember from the original story.

The story begins with Amy Gumm, a girl from Kansas who has some issues at school and at home, with a father who abandoned her, a mentally absent mother, and Star, her pet rat, as her only companion. Tired of her situation, all she wants is to disappear from there and erase everything that darkens her life. Around that time, a tornado was announced, which neither she nor her mother paid much attention to. And as expected, the tornado took Amy’s trailer, with her inside. She arrives in a strange place, a place that is not Kansas, where she begins to discover that the stories of Dorothy were not a figment of imagination, but the Oz she witnessed was not exactly the one she remembered. In this new Oz, Dorothy was the villain of the tale, and her task was to kill her.

This book has been very surprising for me; when I started it, I was very intrigued by the synopsis, but I still had my doubts about how the author would turn beloved characters for a generation to the other side. If you were one of the people who loved the story of the Wizard of Oz and Dorothy, you might not be a big fan of this book.
However, I personally wasn't such a fan of the Oz story; I loved seeing the twist that Danielle gave to the narrative. It is no longer an Oz of songs and magic; now it is a dark and deceitful world, where often the good and the bad no longer exist. And the only rule now is to trust no one.

A highly recommended book and a saga that promises. (Translated from Spanish)

I don’t know what I was expecting, but this was a surprise. YA in a world most of us think we already know. At least, those of us who used to watch The Wizard of Oz every Thanksgiving.

I do recommend for anybody who would like to read this 2-book series, go stream the movie before you read the book, if you haven’t seen it either recently or a lot.

I would have given it 5 stars, but it’s just a bit bloody. Definitely NOT for younger kids. I think maybe teens and older. Characters die. But, the story is very good. Life lessons abound, but are well incorporated into the story.

Well-written and good character development. Strongly recommend that you get BOTH books (The Wicked Will Rise.) it’s less a sequel than the completion of the story. I started the second book immediately after closing the first.

Recommended!

A fantastic twist on the Wizard of Oz.
After ousting the Wizard, Dorothy became a magic addicted dictator. Using munchkin slave labor to strip Oz of it's magic, she and her malevolent trio turned the land of Oz into something nightmares are made of. Now there's a new girl in town and, under the guidance of the remaining wicked witches, she has to kill Dorothy.
Masterfully written, this novel swept me into the sinister and treacherous land of Oz alongside Amy Gumm. And I was completely immersed as each character came to life in this dark twisted world of secrets.
This novel is very fast paced, I didn't realize it was 452 pages long. I devoured this book in two days! Although, I was a bit disappointed to find that it's the first in a series, and not a stand alone - it's still a five star read.

I finished reading this book to see if the story improved, but the truth is that it didn't; I didn't like the way the protagonist acted, many of her actions didn't make sense, and most of the book was her being confused and not knowing what to do. (Translated from Spanish)

“Don’t trust anyone. Don’t even trust me, trust yourself and you’ll know what you have to do.”

Wow, returning to Oz with this different concept is incredible, a whole world turned upside down, darker, more eerie, a concept that captivated me from the beginning.

A story that keeps you hooked all the time because you know what has to happen, Dorothy must die.

Besides, this book teaches you not to trust anyone but yourself and your abilities, and it plays a lot with what is good and what is bad, what might be good for one may be bad for another, and it practically takes those two concepts and manipulates them in such an original way that it works completely.

And although I really loved the novel and will definitely continue with the other books, I have to say that the protagonist (who grows quite a bit throughout the story) doesn’t sit well with me; I don’t think she is the right one to kill Dorothy, but we’ll see what happens in the next books.

For now, it was a great read that left me with a terrible fear after reading this line:

“With all the magic the witches had taught me, there was one trick I still hadn’t understood: the one that makes people stay.” (Translated from Spanish)

I can only say that I liked it but didn't love it (mainly Todd frustrates me a lot), and I was super intrigued by the story the whole time while also being left with a "don't mess with me!" look on my face! Haha. (Translated from Spanish)

When I started this book, I thought it would be about something completely different, and to be honest, I would have liked it to be as I imagined. The story was well-crafted, and I loved the fact that the roles were reversed, but despite its few pages, the story was very slow and tedious for me.

I couldn't connect with any character, and the setting felt a bit lacking. The protagonist, Amy, wasn't able to define her personality, and that stressed me out. One day she was a rough girl who fought with everyone, and the next, she was a delicate princess who didn't understand anything that was happening. The one who trains the protagonist is Gert, someone you can't know much about, as he is a complete mystery. At no point did I manage to "feel him," nor consider that he could be real; he was a very flat character.

No element of the original story is preserved in this book, and I didn't like that. I expected to return to Kansas even though things might be a bit darker, but no, it seemed like a completely different place.

And you might wonder: Why do you give it a rating of 3 if it seems like a 1? Easy, because I neither hated it nor liked it. It was irrelevant in my life. It felt like something I had to read because of school. It didn't evoke any strong feelings in me, and I'm sure that if someone asks me about it in a while, I will have already forgotten it.

Still, I think I will read the other books (3 remaining in the main saga and 7 prequels) in order to have a review of the complete saga and see if it's worth continuing with it. (Translated from Spanish)

Wow, with this book, it undoubtedly shows you a side of the land of Oz and its characters that you never would have imagined they had or could see. For the first book, it was incredible, and I will definitely keep reading the rest of the series. (Translated from Spanish)