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heymeghan 's review for:
Dorothy Must Die
by Danielle Paige
Throughout the first section of the book, I honestly thought I was going to give the book two stars, for it's vague writing and it's totally horrendous take on the Oz story. Take for example this gem of a passage:
"...a million different liquids, big canisters heaping with I don't know what, and plants and herbs I didn't recognize. The light was dim, but warm and cozy, too."
Really paints a picture, right? Um, no.
Or this one:
"Her walls were covered with some type of white gold, which further intensified the glow."
Huh?
And the plot line - a trailer-park girl from Kansas, Amy, escapes her pill-popping, party-hard mom and deadbeat dad when her trailer is picked up a tornado and is deposited in Oz. But this Oz is different - the place is being sucked dry of magic by the evil Dorothy, who returned from Kansas because she wanted attention, enslaved Princess Ozma, allowed the Scarecrow to start doing human experiments on the good people of Oz, and just generally ruined things for everybody. The "wicked" witches join forces to dethrone the evil Dorothy and train Amy to be their secret weapon because... Dorothy Must Die.
I can't make this stuff up.
There's some really grisly stuff in here, too, which of course turned me off. Amy fights a pregnant teenager in the first chapter. The Cowardly lion tears off people's limbs and rips out someone's eyeball (and then eats it, if I'm remembering correctly - I was skimming at that point). The Scarecrow peels back his stuffing and has Amy, in the guise of a maid, inject his exposed brain with bodily fluids (ewwwwww). Necessary? I don't think so, but only because I've read YA that DOESN'T rely heavily on the violent/gross factor to characterize the antagonists as evil... but that's just me.
And just when I thought you couldn't salvage this train wreck - I became engrossed. The last 50 pages or so were pretty tense with great action, and I thoroughly enjoyed the reveal of who the mysterious "Pete" actually is and the reappearance of the Wizard. It barely elevated this one to a three star read and... dare I say... I really want to know what happens.
Damnit, do I have to read the sequel? Because - spoiler alert - even though the title is Dorothy MUST die... she doesn't.
THREE STARS.
"...a million different liquids, big canisters heaping with I don't know what, and plants and herbs I didn't recognize. The light was dim, but warm and cozy, too."
Really paints a picture, right? Um, no.
Or this one:
"Her walls were covered with some type of white gold, which further intensified the glow."
Huh?
And the plot line - a trailer-park girl from Kansas, Amy, escapes her pill-popping, party-hard mom and deadbeat dad when her trailer is picked up a tornado and is deposited in Oz. But this Oz is different - the place is being sucked dry of magic by the evil Dorothy, who returned from Kansas because she wanted attention, enslaved Princess Ozma, allowed the Scarecrow to start doing human experiments on the good people of Oz, and just generally ruined things for everybody. The "wicked" witches join forces to dethrone the evil Dorothy and train Amy to be their secret weapon because... Dorothy Must Die.
I can't make this stuff up.
There's some really grisly stuff in here, too, which of course turned me off. Amy fights a pregnant teenager in the first chapter. The Cowardly lion tears off people's limbs and rips out someone's eyeball (and then eats it, if I'm remembering correctly - I was skimming at that point). The Scarecrow peels back his stuffing and has Amy, in the guise of a maid, inject his exposed brain with bodily fluids (ewwwwww). Necessary? I don't think so, but only because I've read YA that DOESN'T rely heavily on the violent/gross factor to characterize the antagonists as evil... but that's just me.
And just when I thought you couldn't salvage this train wreck - I became engrossed. The last 50 pages or so were pretty tense with great action, and I thoroughly enjoyed the reveal of who the mysterious "Pete" actually is and the reappearance of the Wizard. It barely elevated this one to a three star read and... dare I say... I really want to know what happens.
Damnit, do I have to read the sequel? Because - spoiler alert - even though the title is Dorothy MUST die... she doesn't.
THREE STARS.