I know I didn't do a post last week. I've felt like such a flake recently, and I'm so sorry. But with exams coming up, this is a VERY busy time of year for me at school. But I can assure you I am trying my best to provide you with the content all of you lovely people deserve!
So today I have a review for you guys, and I hope you enjoy!
Stats
Title: Dorothy Must Die
Author: Danielle Paige
Version: Paperback
Published by Harper Collins on 31st March 2015
Length: 480 pages
ISBN: 0062280686
Average rating (Goodreads): 3.86 stars
Synopsis (Goodreads)
The New York Times bestselling first book in a dark new series that reimagines the Oz saga, from debut author Danielle Paige.
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.
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.
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.
My Review
As always, I am going to be completely and utterly honest with you guys. Even if it is brutal honesty, because quite frankly you guys deserve to know the truth about each and every novel I review.
I was very, very let down by this novel.
Even if it is a New York Times best seller, I think it's 480 pages of utter rubbish. I know this is a strong opinion for me to take, but I don't feel like I'm being too harsh at all.
First of all, the synopsis is completely misleading. It makes it sound like she had already been recruited into the order, that she already knows her mission and that she already knows she has to remove the Tin Woodman's heart, etc.
The reader thinks it's going to be an epic novel in which Amy Gumm, the main character, kills off the characters one by one until she gets to Dorothy as the final boss.
This is not the case.
Amy only gets recruited into the Order halfway through the novel and she only finds out that she has to kill the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow and the Lion five pages before the novel ends.
There is very little plot movement in the whole book at all. In fact, Danielle Paige, the author, seems to have stretched out what could be one book into two for the first two novels. Perhaps the third could have constituted a sequel, but my point is that the first two novels could have been just one.
In fact, most of the novel is filler, where Amy repeats that she has to kill Dorothy about every five lines, and where the pace is so completely slow.
I also think it's an absolute tragedy, the way Paige handled the setting. There was such an opportunity in describing Oz when it is being destroyed, but there is very little actual detailed description of it at all, which I think is a complete waste of what could be an extremely atmospheric setting.
The novel has no atmosphere at all, actually. There is little emotion in the air. In my opinion, when there is little description and little emotion in a novel, you know the novel is mostly filler and not really worth reading.
There is a poorly developed romance in the novel between Amy and a young man called Nox. There is no physical description of Nox beyond basic things like hair and eye colour, and he has absolutely no depth or personality. There is no dynamic between Nox and Amy and the whole romance seems forced, like Paige figured the only way to make the long areas of the novel where there is no plot move faster is by throwing in a romance, only she forgot to actually add chemistry.
Amy also seems to maintain an interest in another young man named Pete, although again there is little to none physical description, although his description is slightly better and afforded about a paragraph. It is very confusing because it is not evident whether or not Amy is attracted to Pete, as she states she finds him attractive, but she never seems to actually have feelings, never mind act on them. I would take this as a sign that she does not love him, but in this novel Amy seems to have no described feelings towards Nox and yet still loves him, so really, who knows?
In fact, the novel is so poorly-described that we don't know any more about Amy Gumm than her hair is dyed pink and her eyes are chocolate brown, and she is flat-chested. The description for the protagonist of the novel gets no more detailed than that.
In conclusion, I just feel that this novel is slow-paced and non-descriptive, with characters that have little personality and little description to their appearances. There are also practically no plot events and a very misleading synopsis.
All things considered, I'm going to award this novel:
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