Oh Book Sanity

PUBLICATION: April 1st 2014 by HarperCollins

GOODREADS SUMMARY:

I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado—taking you with it—you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little blue birds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still the yellow brick road, though—but even that's crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm—and I'm the other girl from Kansas.

I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked, and I've been given a mission:

REMOVE
The Tin Woodman's heart,

STEAL
The Scarecrow's brain,

TAKE
The Lion's courage,

And then—

DOROTHY MUST DIE

REVIEW:

Fantastic story! I was ecstatic when I heard about the premise of this book because come on, one of the sweetest and most innocent character known to a lot of us MUST die? Without a doubt, I’m in.  The idea of Oz, being known to us as a magical and a colorful place, becoming dark and pure evil really fascinated me. Good witches are wicked and wicked witches are good. It was a completely messed up place but in a very intriguing way. The Dorothy here is the complete opposite of the girl we knew. She’s so sinister, she’s violent, and just pure evil.

The protagonist, Amy Gumm, was introduced to be in this cliché situation. She was nobody, bullied by a lot even by a pregnant girl, neglected by her mom and her dad left them.  But I loved the fact that even though that’s the situation she’s in, she’s headstrong and her development throughout the story was on point. I really like her strong personality.

The other characters Mombi, Glamora, Gert, Nox, etc. were great. Another thing I loved about this book is that it made you trust no one. There were instances in the story wherein it is super clear that they were trying to conceal something and made you doubtful about everything that comes out of their mouths.  Some characters would do something really nice but at the same time you’d be like “uhuh what’s the catch, bitch?”.

This book is awesome and Danielle Paige made an amazing job bringing Oz back to life and in a very different way. This is not your typical YA book; it has violence and gore in it. Although it has some romance between Amy and a certain character, I loved the fact that it didn’t happen until later in the book and that it is not the focus of the book at all. I’m really excited for the second book. I highly recommend this if you love a great retelling of a story but in a very different and interesting way.