Yellow Brick War (Dorothy Must Die)

Okay, let us see this magnificent cover lure us in. This was a nice installment for the third book in which I think it's a, 4 book series. I liked this book overall, but the main protagonist, Amy, annoyed me a bit some by her actions with Nox.
Other than that I could enjoy this book, the ending came out of nowhere, but I liked it. This book has a lot of events you don't expect. I'm excited for the 4th book already.

I loved DOROTHY MUST DIE, the original book in Danielle Paige's series. I'm a sucker for retellings, and was excited to revisit this twisted version of Oz. In the third installment of the series, Amy Gumm and her companions return to take another shot at thwarting Dorothy Gale's attempts to destroy both Oz and The Other Place (the one in which Dorothy's and Amy's Kansas can be found).

Dorothy's companions have already been destroyed, all except for little Toto. Although weakened, Dorothy is still extremely powerful. As the magic of Oz destroys her mind, Dorothy becomes a threat, not only to Oz, but to her Kansas home as well.

After Dorothy kills the wizard, she and Amy get sucked back to Flat Hills, Kansas. The Wicked witches follow, attempting to trap Dorothy in Kansas for good. But Dorothy still has the ruby slippers, and pops back to Oz before they can stop her. That leaves Amy and the witches trapped in Kansas and Dorothy unopposed in Oz.

The responsibility to stop Dorothy once again falls on Amy Gumm. You see, once upon a time, Dorothy had a second pair of magical shoes, and that pair is supposedly still in Kansas. Finding the shoes is a long shot, but it's Amy's only ticket back to Oz. There's just a few problems. One: Amy has been missing for a month and will have to move back in with her mother while she's in Kansas. Two: Amy has no magic in Kansas, and the witches are mere shadows of their former selves. The shoes will have to be found without magical assistance. Three: The last known location of the shoes was at the site of Amy's old high school, which means she has to face all of the classmates she thought she'd left behind forever. And four: Her vice principal is The Nome King. You know, the one from Ev who has been trying to take over Oz for hundreds of years. Yeah, that one. And he's not a very nice guy.

There were many thing I didn't love about this book. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, because I did, but I wasn't as crazy about it as I was the first two books. I don't know if Paige is running out of steam, or if she's rushing to meet deadlines, but this book felt more forced than the others. The plot is rushed, details spared for action. Amy is reduced to a whiny, love-sick teenager instead of the badass warrior she had become. The poverty and dinginess of Flat Hills, Kansas is so over the top that it reaches ridiculous levels. The cliffhanger ending could have been just the end of a chapter and the while Oz business could have been wrapped up in this book. Instead, we're left with the threat of the Nome King still lingering in the Emerald City while Amy, Nox, and a very confused and terrified Madison are carried away by the yellow brick road. I'm too invested in the series to not read another book at this point, but I feel like this one was so rushed and short, that whatever story remains could just have been tacked onto the end.

I hope Amy finds the steely reserve that melted away in this book and brings it back in the next installment. I also hope that her and Nox get their relationship straightened out so she doesn't whine about it as much. Given how great the first book in this series was, I feel like there's still potential for it to end on a high note, and this book will just be a stepping stone to a great finish.

With regards to Yellow Brick War by Danielle Paige, I’ll be perfectly honest and say that my opinion and rating is heavily influenced by my – mistaken – impression that this was the final book in the Dorothy Must Die series. This is a series involving an updating and reimagining of the world of L Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz. I had been expecting, and looking forward to, resolution to the plot points introduced in Dorothy Must Die and The Wicked Will Rise. So coming towards the end of the book when I realised there were no resolutions coming, I felt annoyed and frustrated. My own fault, I freely admit it. Had I known there was one more book to come, I could have better appreciated the continued excellent worldbuilding and character development in Yellow Brick War. I will certainly read the conclusion when it comes out. I look forward to reading the conclusion of Amy’s story.

I gave Yellow Brick War three stars out of five.

This is the third volume of the four volume Dorothy Must Die series. It picks up where the second volume, The Wicked Will Rise, left off, with both Dorothy Gale and the Alliance of the Wicked, along with Amy Gumm, back in Amy's home town in Kansas. While Dorothy escapes back to Oz, the Wicked are marooned. Their only hope to get back to Oz is for Amy to find the silver slippers that Dorothy originally used to return to Kansas. Amy has no magic in Kansas, and has been presumed dead since the tornado blew her to Oz. While the witches hide, Amy returns to her mother's home and her high school. She searches for the shoes that will allow them to return to Oz and defeat Dorothy.

As with the previous two novels in the series Danielle Paige shows a good grasp of the Baumian characters of Oz, and has a clever way of modernizing them to make them of interest to a modern Young Adult audience. Each book introduces more of Baum's characters, and brutally murders others. Like the first two, Yellow Brick War is best read as part of the series, as the story picks up and ends abruptly. I gave the book four stars instead of five because I feel the author is, at times, too free in her adaptation of Baum's characters, revisioning them for a modern audience in a way that is jarring and discordant to people who know them well from reading Baum's books. Also the violent treatment of the battle scenes is not to my taste.

I had heard about the first book, "Dorothy Must Die," quite awhile ago. When I finally got around to reading it, I had NO idea that a YA book would draw me in to such a degree that I would read until 3 a.m. or skip time when I usually listen to books while knitting. That describes my reaction to the entire Dorothy series.

I acknowledge a that I have been drawn into Oz since childhood. Like Narnia, it has always been a place I wanted to visit in real life. Like Narnia, Oz has parallels to our world; to our lives. My biggest disappointment with "Wicked" (the novel, not the musical... the musical is my favorite) was that it was unreal and overwritten. Oz and Narnia have the same characters as one finds on Earth. And then came "Dorothy Must Die."

I love twisted fairy tales -- Once Upon a Time is up there in my ten favorites tv shows ever -- so I approached this series from a not-of-this-world perspective. And yet, Dorothy IS of this world. Our world and Oz are blended. The people react as any normal person (who can suddenly perform dark magic) might respond.

My only regret is that my youngest daughter (age 10) needs to wait a few years to read this series. There's a little too much gore and a bit of bad language. Other than that warning to parents, I cannot recommend this series highly enough.

I’m not even sure if I can objectively review “Yellow Brick War”, and since this one isn’t for a publisher, I’m not even going to try to be dignified.

*flail* Ilovethemsomuch. *flail*

Ahem.

If you can’t tell, I liked the book. It may be my favorite of the series.

The best plot twist isn’t even in the book.

Is it next year yet?

Amy irritated me throughout the book, as did the 'romance'. Putting that aside, I'm interested in how this will go. I really want to see more of Amy's mother and Ozma. The book had flat pacing and little development, but the plot and concept kept me hooked, and I do love the series, so I'm rooting for some kind of drastic character arc!!

I really enjoy the character Amy and the plot line. Where in the third novel it would be easy to keep the same plot line, the reader keeps uncovering new layers to the plot! I am looking forward to reading the next story in the series!