Rambling Reads | Dorothy Must Die

It's been awhile since I've done a Rambling Reads review because I haven't been able to actually finish my book in so long. Life, man.

However, I managed to finish my latest read, Dorothy Must Die, this past weekend and here are my thoughts.

Dorothy Must Die tells a much different story than the traditional Wizard of Oz tale. While I'm usually a huge fan of fairytale retellings, this one wasn't my favorite. It's almost like Danielle Paige, the author of the novel, did too good a job writing the book in the perspective of a teenage girl because I wanted to pull my hair out like 80% of the time while reading.

The tone of the book is immature and Amy, the main protagonist, isn't a character you are rooting for. By the end of the story, I could have cared less if she defeated Dorothy or the Cowardly Lion bit her head off. Too much of the story was centered around Amy's all-too-quick infatuation with Nox, one of the witches in The Order, a mysterious group of Wicked witches trying to revolt against Dorothy. More adventure, less googly eyes. A young adult series that does a fantastic job of creating an empowering, young female protagonist is Cinder. This story is a twist of several different fairytales, and takes you on a journey of action, adventure, and the appropriate amount of romance.

Now, don't get me wrong, there were a few redeeming qualities of Dorothy Must Die. I did somewhat enjoy the twist of the traditional story. The book goes that Amy, a lonely girl from Kansas, is swept up in her motor home to the land of Oz. Upon her arrival, she finds that Oz is nothing like the storybooks say. The reason for this sad, depressing version of Oz is Dorothy. She isn't the sweet, innocent girl everyone talks about apparently. In this tale, Dorothy returns to Oz because she can't handle the boring, non-magical world of Kansas. Oz makes her a princess when she returns, and everything goes downhill from there.

She takes over Oz and magic consumes her. She sucks all the magic dry, making Oz a wasteland. Enter Amy. This annoying, immature, and relatively selfish young girl will be your hero for the next 500 pages. Enjoy. I would have to say that the only scene in the book I genuinely connected to was when Amy uses a magic mirror to see her mother in Kansas. She finds her attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and telling a friend she wished her daughter were here to see her now. Amy then goes on to think how much she misses her mother and how proud she is of the change she has made. However, she also is angered by the fact that it took her leaving for her mother to get help, and I found that reaction to be extremely real.

There are so, so many young adult books that revolve around retelling traditional folklore and fairytales that sometimes you can find a dud. This is the case with Dorothy Must Die. I can't say I'll run to the bookstore and look for the next book in this series. Sorry Danielle Paige.

Well, that's my take on Dorothy Must Die, what was yours? Did you enjoy the book? Let me know in the comments.