Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die Series #1)

by Danielle Paige

Overview

The New York Times bestselling first book in a dark series that reimagines the Oz saga, from debut author Danielle Paige. Start at the beginning and discover your new series to binge!

My name is Amy Gumm—and I'm the other girl from Kansas. I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked. I've been trained to fight. And I have a mission: Remove the Tin Woodman's heart. Steal the Scarecrow's brain. Take the Lion's courage. And—Dorothy must die.

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 a road of yellow brick—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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062280688
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	03/31/2015
Series:	Dorothy Must Die Series , #1
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	28,703
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.08(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Danielle Paige is a graduate of Columbia University and the author of the New York Times bestselling Dorothy Must Die series. Before turning to young adult literature, she worked in the television industry, where she received a Writers Guild of America Award and was nominated for several Daytime Emmys. She currently lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

Paige has spirited readers back to The Wizard of Oz. It’s a classic made more sinister.

ALA Booklist

The Wizard of Oz as you’ve never seen it.

Teen Vogue

For anyone who likes a good story turned on its head, Dorothy Must Die is a must-read.

Huffington Post

Gone are the days of rainbows, Lollipop Guilds and pretty much anything to sing about in a major key. For those willing to go on a quest with a heroine more attuned to our times than the Dust Bowl era, there’s no place like it.

USA Today

[Dorothy Must Die] strikes a similar tone to Marisa Meyer’s Cinder series, with its blend of fantasy, humor, and horror, and it will likely inspire fans of that series to make their way to the Emerald City.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Dorothy Must Die is kind of the ultimate in girl-powered literature. You’ve got empowered heroines, sure, but Paige also conjures a formidable villainess in Dorothy and some manipulative lady revolutionaries. Here, women and girls are allowed to be anything. This really is a woman’s world.

Nerdist.com

Gone are the days of rainbows, Lollipop Guilds and pretty much anything to sing about in a major key. For those willing to go on a quest with a heroine more attuned to our times than the Dust Bowl era, there’s no place like it.

USA Today

[Dorothy Must Die] strikes a similar tone to Marisa Meyer’s Cinder series, with its blend of fantasy, humor, and horror, and it will likely inspire fans of that series to make their way to the Emerald City.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Readers of Baum’s books will take special delight in seeing new twists on the old characters, and they will greet the surprise climactic turnabout with the smugness of insiders.

Stephanie Garber

04/14/2014
A former writer for television, Paige makes her YA debut with this edgy update of Baum's classic series. When Kansas teenager Amy Gumm is carried away by a tornado, she arrives in a nightmarish version of Oz. The Scarecrow is a mad scientist, the Tin Woodman a sadistic military commander, the Cowardly Lion a ravenous beast, and Dorothy a vainglorious tyrant obsessed with stealing the land's magic and enslaving its people. After being thrown in prison for breaking the rules, Amy is rescued by the witches of the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked, who train her in magic and combat, and charge her with a singular mission: kill Dorothy—a near-suicidal task requiring her to go undercover in the Emerald City. While Oz purists may howl with outrage over the subversion of a childhood favorite—with some characters meeting gruesome ends—Paige delivers a solid, intense, and strange narrative that draws deeply on its source material. However, the lengthy buildup and abrupt ending make this installment feel like setup for the planned subsequent novels. A Full Fathom Five property. Ages 14–up. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

“Readers of Baum’s books will take special delight in seeing new twists on the old characters, and they will greet the surprise climactic turnabout with the smugness of insiders.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Dorothy Must Die is kind of the ultimate in girl-powered literature. You’ve got empowered heroines, sure, but Paige also conjures a formidable villainess in Dorothy and some manipulative lady revolutionaries. Here, women and girls are allowed to be anything. This really is a woman’s world.” — Nerdist.com

“Gone are the days of rainbows, Lollipop Guilds and pretty much anything to sing about in a major key. For those willing to go on a quest with a heroine more attuned to our times than the Dust Bowl era, there’s no place like it.” — USA Today

“Debut author Paige doesn’t hold back in this fast-paced action novel. Give this cinematic upper-YA novel to fans of A. G. Howard’s Splintered, Frank Beddor’s Looking Glass Wars, and TV shows such as Once Upon a Time and Grimm.” — School Library Journal

“Paige delivers a solid, intense, and strange narrative that draws deeply on its source material.” — Publishers Weekly

“[Dorothy Must Die] strikes a similar tone to Marisa Meyer’s Cinder series, with its blend of fantasy, humor, and horror, and it will likely inspire fans of that series to make their way to the Emerald City.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“Paige has spirited readers back to The Wizard of Oz. It’s a classic made more sinister.” — ALA Booklist

“For anyone who likes a good story turned on its head, Dorothy Must Die is a must-read.” — Huffington Post

“The Wizard of Oz as you’ve never seen it.” — Teen Vogue

“Paige’s world building is intriguing and effectively augments the original world created by L. Frank Baum.” — ALA Booklist

From the Publisher

04/01/2014
Gr 9 Up—In this edgy update of Frank L. Baum's Wizard of Oz, Kansas teen Amy Gumm gets sucked into a complex assassination plot to dethrone the megalomaniac and magic addict Dorothy. Oz is no longer the cheerful Technicolor world made popular by the Judy Garland—starring film, and it has been drained of its fairy-tale glimmer by the red shoe—wearing despot and her crew of twisted friends. The Scarecrow, the Tin Man, Glinda, and the Lion all make horrific appearances, and characters from Baum's original are also highlighted in this grim and gory take. Roles are reversed as good and evil witches band together in the revolutionary group of the Wicked to train Amy to kill Dorothy. Debut author Paige doesn't hold back in this fast-paced action novel, and the body count mounts as the tale progresses. Leaps of logic distract from the overall story, and choppy language overwhelms at times, but teens will identify with the heroine's insecurities and feelings of abandonment caused by her parents' divorce and her mother's subsequent drug abuse. The tentative relationship that begins with one of her tutors seems a bit tacked on but will hopefully be developed more in future installments. Plot twists will keep readers guessing, and Amy's affinity to her pet mouse Star will garner some chuckles. Give this cinematic upper-YA novel to fans of A. G. Howard's Splintered (Abrams, 2012), Frank Beddor's Looking Glass Wars (Dial, 2006), and TV shows such as Once Upon a Time and Grimm.—Shelley Diaz, School Library Journal

School Library Journal

2014-03-03
When a cyclone deposits a 21st-century Kansas teen in Oz, she and readers discover there've been some changes made. Dirt-poor "Salvation Amy" Gumm lives in a trailer park, effectively parenting her alcoholic mom (her dad ran off years ago), who seems to care more about her pet rat, Star, than her daughter. That doesn't mean Amy is eager to be in Oz, particularly this Oz. Tyrannized by a megalomaniacal Dorothy and mined of its magic, it's a dystopian distortion of the paradise Baum and MGM depicted. In short order, Amy breaks the wholly capricious laws and is thrown into a cell in the Emerald City with only Star for company. There, she's visited first by the mysterious but sympathetic Pete and then by the witch Mombi, who breaks her out and takes her to the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked (among whom is the very hot Nox). Amy may well be the salvation of Oz—only someone from the Other Place can take Dorothy down. Paige has clearly had the time of her life with this reboot, taking a dystopian-romance template and laying it over Oz. Readers of Baum's books will take special delight in seeing new twists on the old characters, and they will greet the surprise climactic turnabout with the smugness of insiders. In the end, it's just another violent dystopian series opener for all its yellow-brick veneer, but it's a whole lot more fun than many of its ilk. (Dystopian fantasy. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews