Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige // Review

Title: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Rating: ★★★★★

Release Date: 7th May 2015

Dorothy Must Die is Danielle Paige’ debut novel originally released in 2014. The story surrounds Amy Gumm, another girl take to Oz by a tornado in Kansas. However this version of Oz is not the one that is so well known and loved by the world, including Amy.

I must admit when I picked this up I wasn’t sure whether I would like it or not. I love retellings, but this book was even better than I ever imagined! I loved that the original world of Oz still existed in the book and Danielle Paige hadn’t just rewritten the story, but made the original story work into her own.

It was written so well and with so much talent, I loved how the main character Amy, knew about the ‘kind, helpful Dorothy’ and the ‘wonderful Oz’. It made it so much more relatable that she couldn’t come to terms with the changed Dorothy, just like I was when I read it! Her character had such a believable feeling about her, she was written beautifully.

Danielle Paige’s talent at building the new world of Oz was also something entirely brilliant. She took the original world and turned it into such a darker version, and in just a few hundred pages changed the meaning behind Oz! It was so beautifully written, and I really got absorbed into the world with Amy.

The ending was also one of the best parts of the book, it was so well thought out and left me wanting to read the next book as soon as I was done! It was a good ending to keep you wanting, but not one that would be annoying if you had to wait, and I love those kinds of endings.

Overall, I really loved this book and it was 10x better than I expected. It included parts of the original stories, but Danielle Paige made it her own in the best way. It was such a great retelling and extension on the story that is loved by so many, and the character developments were my favourite!