Book Review: Yellow Brick War (Dorothy Must Die #3)

Release Date: March 15, 2016
Author: Danielle Paige
Publisher: HarperCollins
Length: 270 pages
Source: Purchased Book

Once upon a time, there was a girl from Kansas named Dorothy.

You might know her as the Girl Who Rode the Cyclone. She ended up in Oz, where she became friends with the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion. But the temptation of magic was too much for her. She let it change her. Her friends became twisted versions of their former selves.

The magical land of Oz is now a dark and menacing place.

My name is Amy Gumm. Tornadoes must have a thing about girls from Kansas, because I got swept away on one too. I also landed in Oz, where Good is Wicked, Wicked is Good, and the Wicked Witches clued me in to my true calling:

Assassin.

The only way to stop Dorothy from destroying Oz—and Kansas—is to kill her. And I’m the only one who can do it.

But I failed. Others died for my mistakes. Because of me, the portal between the worlds has been opened and Kansas and Oz are both in danger. And if I don’t find a way to close it?

Dorothy will make sure I never get to go home again.

    

Review:

Protagonist: At the end of The Wicked Will Rise Amy Gumm finds herself and Dorothy transported back to Kansas and a group of witches welcoming her into the fold... or so it all seems. Amy is truly back in Kansas but it's not too long before things get hairy and Amy, Nox, and the witches are all stuck in Kansas and need a very special item to find their way back to Oz, but until then Amy needs to insert herself back into her old life and do her best to help with the search for the way back to Oz. This book gives readers a wonderful opportunity to see that while Dorothy and Amy are similar in where they come from and that they both wind up in Oz, they're very different deep down. Dorothy led a bit of an idyllic life while Amy was an outcast, upon arriving in Oz Dorothy wanted to go home, but Amy wants to stay, and best of all, upon returning home Dorothy saw her idyllic life as stale and wanted to return to the wonder of Oz while Amy sees what her time away from Kansas has changed in her life and she may not be too willing to head back to Oz and leave her new old life behind.

Romance: While this story seems to be the most romantic of the books in this series so far, I have to say the romance never really appealed to me in this book. Honestly, though, I don't think it's because the romance is handled badly, I think it's more because it's been so long since I've read a main installment in this series and I've forgotten most of the romance that's happened between Nox and Amy. It's not that I don't want them together, the romance doesn't seem problematic in any way, but the author introduces a forbidden love aspect to the romance that was extremely unnecessary and just gave me an overall meh feeling in relation to the romance.

World Building: One of the things that always bothered me about the first installment in this series is that we never really got to see a good chunk of Amy's life before Oz, we saw enough to know what she was going through, but I still felt like the book jumped to Oz too quickly. In this book, we get to see more of Amy's world and her day to day life, though it's nowhere near the same as before she left, it's the touch of normalcy and the effect of her disappearance that lead to a very interesting adventure in Kansas before she has to go back to Oz and finish the job assigned to her. I do have to say one thing though, this story has too many villains. I mean, Glinda and Dorothy are one thing, we go into this story knowing that they are villains, but between the Wizard in the previous book and a new "mega" villain introduced in this book things have gone from complex to complicated in the villain department. This world is getting more and more complex in ways that I do enjoy, but there are spin-off feeling aspects that seem to be leaking into the flagship series.

Predictability: So after this book got off to a rip roaring start, I thought I knew exactly where things were going to go. I knew the formula for this type of a book and saw where the end point should have been. Boy, was I wrong though. Not too far into this book, there's a shift and things only get crazier from there. There were a few twists that I was quickly able to pick up on, things that felt way too predictable to be true, but were anyway. There's a lot that goes down in this short book, but much like the fact that there were things I could easily predict there were things that I could have never even dreamed about predicting. This book is a wild ride and crazy twists are to be expected.

Ending: With a few tweaks this could have easily been the final book in this series. I mean, this series doesn't NEED to be more than three books, but things were introduced in this book that extended it by one more book. That being said though the final climax of this book was pretty awesome, and while I do feel that the series is being stretched a bit thin, I am really excited to see where things will go from here and how everything will be tied up by the end of the series. The story does end on a bit of a cliffhanger, but not as crazy a cliffhanger as the previous book did.

Rating:

This book was pretty amazing. Like I said, I do feel like things were stretched a bit thin and things are getting more complicated than complex, but this is still a very addicting and enjoyable series and I can't wait to see how it all wraps up.

Novella Review: Ruler of Beasts (Dorothy Must Die #0.6)

Release Date: February 16, 2016
Author: Danielle Paige
Publisher: HarperCollins
Length: 84 pages
Source: Library Audio Book

Danielle Paige delivers a dark and compelling reimagining of a beloved classic, perfect for fans of Cinder by Marissa Meyer, Beastly by Alex Flinn, and Wicked by Gregory Maguire.

When the Cowardly Lion set off for the Emerald City in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with Dorothy and the others, he sought courage above all else. This digital original novella is the sixth installment in the prequel arc to the edgy and thrilling New York Times bestsellers Dorothy Must Die and The Wicked Will Rise, and is the Lion’s story after he got what he’s always wanted.

The Lion’s wish has finally come true—he is the courageous ruler of the forest and all of its beasts. But the Lion is bored—he misses the days of his adventures with Dorothy, the Tin Woodman, and the Scarecrow. When Glinda the Good Witch shows up unexpectedly and tasks him with a mission back in the Emerald City, he jumps at the chance to do something exciting, even though he knows she’s not telling him the entire truth.

    

SPOILER WARNING: So I wrote this while very tired, still a little tired, and there are mild/medium level spoilers in this review. I'll try and come back and edit this review later so there are as few spoilers as possible, but I'm kind of going to pass out right now.

Review:

Protagonist: Lion is bored, after the excitement of confronting General Ginger, all Lion wants is something to do and a purpose in his life. Enter the puppet master, Glinda, who asks Lion to watch over Ozma and try and find a long lost necklace capable of helping bring back an old friend. I can't believe I'm saying this since Lion seemed to have the most "red flags" when it came to turning to the dark side, but he's sort of the most sympathetic of Dorothy's friends. I was surprised to find that underneath his rough exterior, is a soft little kitty cat, well sort of. This is still a story of his turn to the dark side, but there's a large part of me that really wanted him to be forced into it, or it really wasn't him we saw in the main series because a large part of me bleeds for this character we see in this book. Lion wants to be good, but since he's not as shrewd and cunning as Scare, or as ambivalent as Tin, his perception of what is truly "Good" is off.

World Building: So, I've said before that the world building for these novellas isn't that big, especially these ones that deal with how Dorothy's friends turned evil, but if I'm not mistaken, and I sincerely hope I'm not, it seems that this story does hold a good amount of world building that will hopefully serve as foreshadowing to what might happen next in the main series. Also, after six prequel novellas, it's interesting to look back and put everything in chronological order to see how some of these carefully laid plans fell into place. I said Glinda's a puppet master and this story shows just how much she is.

Predictability: Going into this book I had so many expectations on how this story would unfold, especially after reading the previous two novellas, but I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Not only did it sort of break the streak of interesting yet unnecessary novellas, at least presumably, but even after finishing it, I still felt sympathetic towards this character, which the only other time that happened in one of these novellas is in The Witch Must Burn. There are a few twists this book holds as well, some things that are hopefully foreshadowing for the future and some things that show more of how everything ties together.

Ending: I was really surprised and excited by how this story ended. Again, I still felt the Lion is a sympathetic character, and I almost wish we had seen more of how he turned evil, but I liked seeing that there was still a little bit of humanity in him, however much of an oxymoron that is, by the end of this story. The final climaxes, yes there are two, were really interesting and show not only how the Lion has come a good way since the beginning, but also set the stage for more in this world.

Rating:

I was not expecting to give this book five stars, I thought the Lion would be the least sympathetic of the bunch but there's a part of me that wants to just give him a hug, and the story was actually really fun and hopefully foreshadows what the future holds.

Novella Review: The Straw King (Dorothy Must Die #0.5)

Release Date: November 10, 2015
Author: Danielle Paige
Publisher: HarperCollins
Length: 97 pages
Source: Library Audio Book

Once upon a time, the Scarecrow's only wish was to have a brain. This digital original novella is the fifth installment in the prequel arc to the edgy and thrilling New York Times bestsellers Dorothy Must Die and The Wicked Will Rise and follows the Scarecrow after he finally gets his wish.

In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Scarecrow received the gift of a brain from the Wizard and was appointed the new ruler of Oz. In The Straw King, the Scarecrow's tale takes a crooked turn when his reign is threatened. With faith in his newfound wisdom shaken, the Scarecrow will turn to anyone who can help—even if others have their own interests at heart.

The Straw King by Danielle Paige is a dark and compelling reimagining of a beloved classic and is perfect for fans of Cinderby Marissa Meyer, Beastly by Alex Flinn, and Wicked by Gregory Maguire.

    

Review:

Protagonist: When I went into this novella, I expected it to largely take place around the same time as Heart of Tin, and show how the Scarecrow, here nicknamed Scare, became twisted by the gift the Wizard imparted upon him at the end of The Wizard of Oz. Let's just say I was partially right. Scare starts out as a very sympathetic character, he just wants to be the best ruler that he can be. This, Scare thinks, involves a lot of reading. However, when a rag tag group threatens his rule and marches to overthrow the Emerald Palace, slaughtering whoever gets in their way, Scare needs to figure out how to be a good leader and fair ruler. That sounds like a nice, semi-typical, story, but what this character goes through is a bit different. The darkness in Scare comes out softer than with Tin in the previous novella. With Tin, he pretty much started out with his heart being twisted by obsession, with Scare, he more begins to doubt whether his gift even works. With a little push from a particular "Not-So-Good" witch, he'll find just how cunning he can be and what he needs to do to get what he wants. I really liked the development of Scare, don't get me wrong he's in no way a hero, but I liked seeing how knowledge and cunning slowly corrupted him. There were a couple key moments from his development from Straw King to Mad Scientist, but the bits we did see and the development that was shown was very intriguing and compelling.

World Building: This story takes place only a couple years after what I'm just going to call the source material from now on. Anyway, this story does expand Baum's world with Paige's vision as we learn more about the history of Oz, as well as a certain group of all female soldiers who believe that their leader would make a better leader than Scare and use brutal tactics to find a way to take over Oz. While we do see this world expanded a bit, it's honestly not much. This is a very character driven story, but we do get a glimpse into Glinda's master plan and see that she's been working at it for a while.

Predictability: I have to say, while I knew this story would be about the corruption of the Scarecrow, I was not prepared for the surprises and twists that this story holds. Granted they aren't game changing twists that will have lasting consequences in the main series, they're bits in pieces of the story that fit together in ways I wasn't expecting them to.

Ending: As for the ending of this story, well, it wasn't quite the ending I was expecting. I loved seeing how this story came together and how smaller storylines in this series entangle into an amazingly complex web. As this story winds down we learn more about Glinda's master plan, as well as Scare's. Scare has a lot of thoughts in his head, and his thirst for knowledge could lead him down a much darker path, but we already knew that.

Rating:

So I'm giving this story five stars because by itself it's a great and intriguing story of how the Scarecrow became the twisted mad scientist we see in Dorothy Must Die, but honestly other than providing minor context it doesn't seem to have any major significance to the main series. I mean, I know that novellas are essentially supposed to be filler, aspects of the story that aren't vital to the main plot, but I just wished there was some foreshadowing for the main series in these stories or something.

Book Review: The Wicked Will Rise (Dorothy Must Die #2)

Release Date: March 31, 2015
Author: Danielle Paige
Publisher: HarperCollins
Length: 293 pages
Source: Purchased Book/Library Audio Book

In this dark, high-octane sequel to the New York Times bestselling Dorothy Must Die, Amy Gumm must do everything in her power to kill Dorothy and free Oz.

To make Oz a free land again, Amy Gumm was given a mission: remove the Tin Woodman’s heart, steal the Scarecrow’s brain, take the Lion’s courage, and then Dorothy must die...

But Dorothy still lives. Now the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked has vanished, and mysterious Princess Ozma might be Amy’s only ally. As Amy learns the truth about her mission, she realizes that she’s only just scratched the surface of Oz’s past—and that Kansas, the home she couldn't wait to leave behind, may also be in danger. In a place where the line between good and evil shifts with just a strong gust of wind, who can Amy trust—and who is really Wicked?

    

Review: 

Protagonist: Amy Gumm has failed in her task to kill Dorothy, instead she is flown away by monkeys while the Emerald City falls into ruin and the true ruler of Oz, Ozma, is joining her on her journey. Amy needs to remove the gifts that Dorothy's friends the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, and the Lion were given by the Wizard before she can kill Dorothy. She already has the Heart of Tin, and soon hopes to reunite with the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked and figure out their next move, but there's more to Oz than Amy knows and on this journey, she'll find more than what she's looking for. I really like the character of Amy and in this book, we get a deeper look into who she is than just the other girl from Kansas who has a chip on her shoulder. One of the things I was really drawn to was that she's not a heroine of pure innocence and goodness, in fact, there are a few times when her morality is called into question, but she's doing what she does for the good of Oz. She walks the road of an anti-hero and it's her imperfect morality that is relatable, she's not a perfect person who always does the right thing, she blurs lines to get what needs to get done, done.

Romance: Honestly, I'm contemplating not even having this section, but we'll see how it goes. There isn't all that much romance in this book. I mean, there are some great scenes with Nox and Amy, and you can tell that there are definite feelings there, but Amy's not about to get all goo-goo eyed and distracted from her goal of killing off Dorothy. There are also some great moments with Pete, and for a bit there I actually thought the author would introduce a love triangle, and for a second there I was actually okay if that was the path the author wanted to take with the story. However, it becomes very apparent that what's going on between Pete and Amy is strictly platonic. I was surprised at the lack of romance and was even hoping for a bit more than we got, but the author did a fantastic job showing a character who is feeling romantic feelings but is also on a mission and can't let those feelings get in her way.

World Building: There's actually quite a bit of world building to this story. Since the events at the end of the first installment, magic is coming back to Oz, and with it, the landscape is changing, it's a bit less dystopian and a bit more fantasy, but don't get me wrong it's still dark. The biggest enigma to this world is Ozma, specifically how she is both Pete and Ozma, and who Pete is, is he just another form of Ozma, or is he his own person? That' s a question that will not only be answered but explored quite a bit in this book. I really like the Ozma/Pete dynamic as it adds a bit of a wrinkle into the Oz lore, and shakes things up a bit. There's still so much left of Oz to explore, in this book we arrive, or return depending on if you read the Wizard Returns novella, to the kingdom of the wingless ones and learn more about the winged monkeys and specifically more about their queen, Lulu. We also see Amy making her way through some odd Oz locales and to one place in particular. I don't think it'd be a spoiler to say it, at least not a very big one, but there's something inside holding me back from gushing about it. Then there's the stuff we find out toward the end. I'm not going to give it away, obviously, but it makes me look at Oz in a whole new way.

Predictability: Something I noticed about this book was that even though the author does a fantastic job of weaving the foreshadowing of this book to both tease future twists and mislead the reader, one thing stood out and that was that if I hadn't read the prequel novellas, things wouldn't have made as much sense as they do when I did. Granted, while the second installment was enjoyable, it doesn't really tie into this book but the first and third installments add a level of understanding to this world that without it might have made the ending of this book confusing, or should I say more confusing. On the whole, I was surprised by a great many things, but there were a few twists in this book that I'm hoping will be further explored in either the next installment or another prequel novella.

Ending: The ending of this book is a bit weird. Ironically, I ended up mostly listening to this book so imagine my surprise when I thought that the final climax already commenced and things were ramping up into a cliffhanger, only for there to still be nearly an entire hour left in the book. That's of course where the real final climax begins, more or less. Things heat up towards the end of this book and there are some shocking revelations made and just when things can't get crazy enough, well then they just get confusing. I mean, for the most part, things made sense but the final chapter of this story really leaves you hanging and I can't fully comprehend what happens so hopefully when I get to the next book there'll be some sort of explanation to what I just read/listened to.

Rating:

For the most part, I really loved this installment. The anti-heroine was fantastic and the world building is phenomenal, but the ending was a bit on the intense and confusing side, and if I hadn't read the prequel novellas I wouldn't have had as much of an understanding of this story as I did and probably would have been even more confused.

Novella Review: The Witch Must Burn (Dorothy Must Die #0.2)

Release Date: November 11, 2014
Author: Danielle Paige
Publisher: HarperCollins
Length: 100 pages
Source: Library Audiobook

There’s a new Wicked Witch in Oz—and her name is Dorothy. This digital original novella is the second installment in the prequel arc to the edgy and exciting New York Times bestseller Dorothy Must Die.

Dorothy Gale is back . . . and she’s not the sweet little heroine of Oz anymore. She’s power-hungry and vicious, and she leaves a trail of destruction beneath her spike-heeled, magical shoes. But behind the scenes, there’s someone else pulling the strings. Someone who doesn’t want fame or glory—just control.

Glinda of the North brought Dorothy back to Oz for a reason. And in The Witch Must Burn, a young maid is about to discover that a witch who says she’s Good might be the most dangerous kind of Wicked.

The Witch Must Burn, by debut author Danielle Paige, is a dark and compelling reimagining of a beloved classic and is perfect for fans of Cinder by Marissa Meyer, Beastly by Alex Flinn, and Wicked by Gregory Maguire.

    

Review:

Protagonist: Jellia, Dorothy's head maid, doesn't like that Dorothy barged her way into the Emerald City and deposed Ozma as the rightful ruler of Oz. Technically, for all intents and purposes, Ozma was still the ruler but she hadn't been the same Ozma Jellia had known for a long time. After a chance meeting with the "Good" witch of the South, Glinda, Jellia finds her services loaned to Glinda for the summer. As she stays in Glinda's palace she meets strange characters and learns that while Dorothy may be the figurehead, Glinda's the one with all the real power. With Glinda conducting dangerous experiments, Jellia needs to find a way back to the Emerald City before it's too late. It's interesting, seeing as I just reread No Place Like Oz, where Dorothy was the sympathetic narrator turned bratty tyrant, to read a story in this prequel arc from someone very levelheaded. While Jellia does have a great deal of character development and the character she is in the beginning, isn't the character she is in the end, her development makes her a stronger force for the good of Oz and in many ways mirrors the journey Amy takes in the first full installment of this series.

World Building: In this story, there's a lot that we learn, and depending on when you read this novella, there will be different amounts of world building. Personally. I read it after reading the first full installment in this series, Dorothy Must Die, and while there were definitely things I knew or at the very least could infer from reading that installment, there was still a great deal to figure out in this story. Since this story focuses on Jellia, we learn so much more about her than we do in DMD, and one of the great parts about it is that there are things that we learn about her that, at the beginning of the book, she doesn't even know. Then there's Glinda, while we don't really learn about her past from this story, we do get to understand her character better. We saw her as a maternal figure to Dorothy in No Place Like Oz, and other than being a warden to the munchkins mining for magic in DMD, I don't think we saw her much at all, in this story we get to see just how ambitious and power hungry she can be. I haven't continued the main series, so I'll be interested to see just where she falls in the final hierarchy of villains. We do see, or meet depending on how you read this series, familiar characters from the main series and while nothing is really expanded upon them, I did enjoy how they mixed into the overall story and Jellia's journey.

Predictability: Since this is such a short adventure, there aren't a whole bunch of twists and turns, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were moments that truly caught me off guard. There were quite a few times actually that I let my mind and imagination go wild and came up with the craziest theories to try and figure out how this story might end while not retconning the series canon. It's not as though there weren't things I didn't see coming, in fact, I had a good idea where things might end up, but it was the journey to getting there that truly added a level of unpredictability to this story.

Ending: This story doesn't have a traditional final climax like most YA tales, even novellas, have, however, this story does have a fantastic ending. I'm not going to give anything away, but there are some fantastic moments at the end of this story that almost had me on the edge of my seat, well they would if I was sitting down, but still the sentiment holds. After what I would call the final climax there's still some things that need to be taken care of before the ending and when this story does end, what I liked is that it felt like an actual ending, there's no cliffhanger, and yet still you want to know what's going to happen next.

Rating:

I actually debated with this rating for a bit, which normally means I wouldn't give a story five stars if I have to think about it, but this story was really well built. It had a fantastic narrator, intriguing premise, fantastic world building, and an end that stayed true to the function of this novella, a small part of a larger prequel.

Novella Review: No Place Like Oz (Dorothy Must Die #0.1)

Release Date: November 12, 2013
Author: Danielle Paige
Publisher: HarperCollins
Length: 132 pages

In this digital original novella, Dorothy travels back to Oz to reunite with old friends, but her story may not have a happy ending. No Place Like Oz is a prequel to the forthcoming novel Dorothy Must Die.

After returning to Kansas, Dorothy Gale has realized that the dreary fields of Kansas don’t compare to the vibrant landscapes of Oz. And although she’s happy to be reunited with Aunt Em, she misses her friends from the yellow brick road. But most of all, Dorothy misses the fame and the adventure. In Kansas she’s just another prairie girl, but in Oz she was a hero. So Dorothy is willing to do anything to get back, because there really is no place like Oz. But returning to the land she left comes at a price, and after Dorothy is through with it, Oz will never be the same.

Perfect for fans of Alex Flinn, Marissa Meyer, and Gregory Maguire, No Place Like Oz is a dark reimagining of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Building off of its rich mythology, Danielle Paige creates an edgy, thrilling story for teens that chronicles the rise and fall of one of the literature’s most beloved characters. This digital original novella is a prequel that sets the stage for the forthcoming novel Dorothy Must Die.

       

Review:

Protagonist?: The sweet innocent girl from Kansas who defeated evil witches and found her way back home is now regretting her choices. Ever since she returned from Oz, Dorothy has only wanted to leave her dull dreary life and return to the magical land of Oz. Now sixteen, Dorothy finally has her chance and as an added bonus she takes her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry with her, proving to them that her story was more real than they believed. Now I was wondering, why would anyone want to kill Dorothy, but by the end of this story it became very clear why Dorothy Must Die. At the beginning of the story Dorothy seems innocent enough, maybe a little selfish and spoiled, but it's still easy to sympathize with her, but as she returns to Oz to find things flourishing, yet different than she remembers, her sweet innocence becomes twisted as she feels a god complex coming on and becomes probably the most irritating narrator I've ever read. If I had no knowledge of what's to come in this world I might think that having an annoying and selfish narrator was a bad thing but in this story, it just shows how even the most unlikely people can become corrupt.

World-Building: Oz, one simple word and yet it brings up so many images, most notably a road made from yellow bricks. Now before we get too much into the fantastical and magical Oz, let's talk about boring and dreary Kansas. Danielle Paige paints a very monochromatic picture of life in the prairie from gray skies to dull days its detail is in its lack of excitement. In a direct contrast, Oz is described in so many colors, the blue-green grass, the golden yellow road, and the brilliant blue sky. The imagery of this world really sets it apart and enhances the story in many ways. As for what pertains to the original source material, well there isn't much past what many people know, which is only the story of Dorothy's first adventure in Oz, and in fact, this story takes place two years and no adventures after Dorothy left via the silver slippers. That isn't to say that there aren't references to the other works in L. Frank Baum's magnificent series, in fact. one of my favorite characters in this story is Ozma, the true princess of Oz.

Predictability: I'm still not sure if knowing that Dorothy is going turn rotten spoiled me or if it lent a higher perspective of what was going on. There were many things that I was able to figure out from knowing that the "good guys" might not be the ones to really trust and the "bad guys" might actually have Dorothy's best interests at heart. It's that switch-a-roo that made some things easier to guess than others. However, there are many moments that completely threw me off, including one catastrophic event that firmly cemented Dorothy's morality shift. Going into this, just know that things may still surprise you.

Ending: As cliche as it is to say the end of this story is merely the beginning of a much bigger story yet to be told, or shall I say released to the public. While it's cheesy and cliche to say, it's still very much true, the end not only parallels the beginning of this story but sheds light on what to expect when the first full-length installment is released. It's not quite a cliffhanger, but more of a send off that leaves the reader wanting to know more yet feeling like they got a great taste of what's to come.

Rating:

This novella is fantastic! It's long enough to feel like a fully fleshed out story, while small enough to only give a good taste of the author's spectacular writing style as well as her impeccable world-building. For any fan of Oz retellings and anyone wanting to know more about the world of Dorothy Must Die I highly recommend giving this story a go as soon as possible!