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A review by daredeviling
Dorothy Must Die: Stories by Danielle Paige
3.0
I enjoyed the first book in the series so much that I couldn't wait to get my hands on this prequel because I wanted to know more about this version of Oz immediately. Unfortunately, I found this set of stories much weaker than the original book. I'm actually not quite sure why I didn't enjoy it as much, but the bottom line was that I ended up feeling incredibly bored by the set of stories.
No Place Must Burn: I liked this story, but then it kind of started dragging a little, so I just wanted it to finish up because it became a cycle of Dorothy being all ~but I want it and then doing shitty things to get what she wanted and then thinking that she should feel bad but eh. And although the story had hints of Dorothy not being a great person throughout, I found her transition to complete psychopath a little sudden (even though the book hints that it happened so quickly because of the magic shoes). I understand it was just a short one-shot prequel, but I just would have liked some more development from sweet Dorothy Gale to psychopathic ruler of Oz. 3.5/5
The Witch Must Burn: This was my favorite story in the group, especially because we find out about Jellia's secret in the actual first book, so it was nice to get some background on her and find out how she got involved with the Order in the first place. I also just love her as a character so much. She's so adorable and yet badass and I love how she tries her best to stay tough for the maids under her care and make sure they're okay. And in this section, we got to find out more about Nox, which was also nice. I liked having all the ties to the story that I already already familiar with. 4.5/5
The Wizard Returns: This one was probably my least favorite out of the set. I found the Wizard pretty annoying with what a dick he was. His interactions with the monkeys just irritated me more than anything. I was hopeful he would end up on a redemption arc, but then at the end, he just backslid all the way back to how he started, so there really was basically no point to the entire story. It was also the only story not in first person, so that was a little jarring, and I definitely prefer Paige's writing when it's in first person. 3/5
It took me a while to finish the book overall. I rated this set of stories as a whole 2.5, but I thought it at least deserved a round up instead of a round down on Goodreads. I'm still pretty excited to read the second book in the series. Hopefully, Paige can do more with a longer, more continuous present-day story instead of writing about things that happened in the ~past from her world.
No Place Must Burn: I liked this story, but then it kind of started dragging a little, so I just wanted it to finish up because it became a cycle of Dorothy being all ~but I want it and then doing shitty things to get what she wanted and then thinking that she should feel bad but eh. And although the story had hints of Dorothy not being a great person throughout, I found her transition to complete psychopath a little sudden (even though the book hints that it happened so quickly because of the magic shoes). I understand it was just a short one-shot prequel, but I just would have liked some more development from sweet Dorothy Gale to psychopathic ruler of Oz. 3.5/5
The Witch Must Burn: This was my favorite story in the group, especially because we find out about Jellia's secret in the actual first book, so it was nice to get some background on her and find out how she got involved with the Order in the first place. I also just love her as a character so much. She's so adorable and yet badass and I love how she tries her best to stay tough for the maids under her care and make sure they're okay. And in this section, we got to find out more about Nox, which was also nice. I liked having all the ties to the story that I already already familiar with. 4.5/5
The Wizard Returns: This one was probably my least favorite out of the set. I found the Wizard pretty annoying with what a dick he was. His interactions with the monkeys just irritated me more than anything. I was hopeful he would end up on a redemption arc, but then at the end, he just backslid all the way back to how he started, so there really was basically no point to the entire story. It was also the only story not in first person, so that was a little jarring, and I definitely prefer Paige's writing when it's in first person. 3/5
It took me a while to finish the book overall. I rated this set of stories as a whole 2.5, but I thought it at least deserved a round up instead of a round down on Goodreads. I'm still pretty excited to read the second book in the series. Hopefully, Paige can do more with a longer, more continuous present-day story instead of writing about things that happened in the ~past from her world.