Dorothy Must Die

Dorothy Must Die
by Danielle Paige
New York: Harper
2014
452 pages



For all of you Oz fans out there, how about a dypstopian story about Dorothy, the Wizard, and all of the strange inhabitants we have met in the Emerald City?

Amy Gumm lives in a trailer in Kansas with her mother, an alcoholic who doesn't pay much attention to what is going on in Amy's life. Then along comes a tornado. Amy is left to hold the fort, as her mother has left her and Star, the family's pet rat, to take care of themselves in the upcoming disaster. Amy has nowhere to hide and she is taken up in the storm, twirling around in the trailer.

Immediately upon landing with a thud, Amy finds herself at the top of a precipice. Handily, a beautiful and strange young man is there to help her out of the trailer before it falls crashing to the bottom of the cliff. The mysterious young man welcomes her to Oz, but this isn't the Oz of the stories Amy has heard. The countryside is devoid of crops and color. Where did the lovely Munchkin blue go?

The strange young man explains to Amy that Dorothy, once she became Princess of Oz, became addicted to magic and now mines it from the land and people of Oz. Her laws are strict, even fierce, and her helpers--the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion--frighten, imprison, and punish the Oz population if they do not happily cooperate. And the Oz citizens must be happy, or else the Scarecrow, a nightmarish mad scientist figure in this story, will give them an "Attitude Adjustment."

The witches of Oz are divided. Glinda, the Good Witch, is key in the mining operations and is instrumental in making Dorothy's whims a reality. The other witches, however, those that we have always thought of as "Wicked," are united in The Order of the Wicked and are excited to find a girl from the Other Place who is their only hope to defeat Dorothy in her conquest of Oz. In this Oz, the roles of Wicked and Good are reversed, although the witches are not entirely Good, either. They are longing for the old days, when they were free to terrorize the land. They trap Amy into helping with their cause, convincing her that she is the only one who can set Oz to rights again. And the only way to do that is to kill Dorothy and end her reign of terror.

There is a lot of action in this story, and Amy's fumbling to spy on Dorothy and her household, makes the story interesting. Amy is a smart, capable, and strong female character, but she would be the first to say that she doesn't know what she is doing. I can appreciate that in a book character. I also enjoyed meeting other personalities along the way, including Nox, another Order member who teaches Amy about magic; Star, the amazing rodent; Ollie, the wingless monkey who helps Amy along the way; Jellia, the head maid in the palace; and Pete, the mysterious young man who is not who Amy thought he was.

I even experienced a furtive enjoyment in meeting the Wizard, who can't be trusted to be on either side, and the crazy, evil Scarecrow, who eats the brains of smart, magical creatures so that he can be smarter.

Surprisingly, this book is only the beginning of the story. Dorothy gets away and Amy gains surprising allies. But what comes next? We will have to wait for the next installment from Danielle Paige. I know I can't wait for it!