Review: Dorothy Must Die: Stories by Danielle Paige

Title: Dorothy Must Die: Stories (Dorothy Must Die #0.1 – 0.3)
Author: Danielle Paige
Published: April 9th 2015
Date Read: June 17th – July 3rd 2016
Read In: English

Long before Amy Gumm got swept away from a Kansas trailer park...

Dorothy Gale received a package on the night after her 16th birthday: a pair of red high-heeled shoes. Dear Dorothy, the note read. I thought about silver to match the ones you lost, but in the end I decided that red was more your color. I think you know what to do with them.

And with a knock of her heels, Dorothy returned to the magical land that made her a star – and Oz would never be the same again.

This bind-up of three prequel novellas to the New York Times bestselling Dorothy Must Die series follows Dorothy Gale as she transforms from good girl to Wicked Witch. Kiss the land where troubles melt like lemon drops goodbye. Here there's danger around every corner, and magical shoes won't be able to save you.



This book contains 3 stories:
No Place Like Oz
The Witch Must Burn
The Wizard Returns

No Place Like Oz is about how Dorothy came back to Oz and how she changed. How she found out she could do magic. Great story, but Dorothy changed too fast from nice girl to crazy bitch.

The Witch Must Burn is about Glinda and Jellia, Dorothys maid we already met in Dorothy Must Die. It's writtten in Jellias Point of View, and it's about how she got involved with the Order of the Wicked Witches.

The Wizard Returns is about the Wizard obviously. Glinda once said the Wizard didn't even leave Oz, and this is what really happened.

Review: Yellow Brick War by Danielle Paige

Title: Yellow Brick War (Dorothy Must Die #3)
Author: Danielle Paige
Published: March 15th 2016
Date Read: June 13th – 17th 2016
Read In: English

Once Upon a Time, there was a Girl from Kansas named Dorothy.

You might know her as the Girl Who Rode the Cyclone. She ended up in Oz, where the temptation of magic was too much for her. She let it change her. She turned evil.

The Land of Oz is now a dark and menacing Place.

My name is Amy Gumm. Tornadoes must have a thing about girls from Kansas, because I was swept away on one, too. I landed in Oz, where Good is Wicked, Wicked is Good, and the Wicked Witches clued me in to my true calling:

Assassin.

The way to stop Dorothy from destroying Oz – and Kansas – is to kill her. And I'm the only one who can do it. But I failed. Others died for my mistakes. Because of me, the portal between the worlds has been opened. And if I don't find a way to close it?

Dorothy will make sure I never get to go home again. Now I have to:

Join the witches.

Fight for Oz.

Kill Dorothy.

Stop a Yellow Brick War.

Well, this book took Amy and Dorothy back to Kansas. But it started different than i thought, because Dorothy goes back to Oz immediately. I thought she'd be stuck in Kansas too, like Amy. She didn't, so Amy had to find a way back to Oz herself. She's not alone, but i don't want to spoil too much.

This book was nice to read and i really liked it. If you've enjoyed Dorothy Must Die and The Wicked Will Rise, you shouldn't miss Yellow Brick War.

June Book Haul.

I bought only 3 books in June. Which isn't so bad, because i didn't read so much either. But i don't want to talk much, i just want to show you what i've bought.



 Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
 All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
 Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Review: The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige

Title: The Wicked Will Rise (Dorothy Must Die #2)
Author: Danielle Paige
Published: March 31st 2015
Date Read: June 3rd - 13th 2016
Read In: English 

My name is Amy Gumm –

and I'm the Other Girl from Kansas.

After a tornado swept through my trailer park, I ended up in Oz. But it wasn't like the Oz I knew from books and movies. Dorothy had returned, and she was stealing magic from the land. The Wizard was back, too. Even Glinda could no longer be called the Good Witch. And the Wicked Witches who were left? They had joined forces as the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked. They gave me a mission:

Kill Dorothy.

Except my job as assassin didn't work out as planned. Dorothy is still alive. The Order has vanished. And the home I couldn't wait to leave behind might be in danger.

Now, I have to:

Find Dorothy.

Destroy the Road of Yellow Brick.

Save my Home.

The Wicked Will Rise.

This book was rather short. I didn't expect much to happen, and it didn't. It's more like a short story. Amy's alone, the Order of the Wicked gone. She's still fighting Dorothy. It was great to read, even though it took me some days to finish it.

Amy is still trying to kill Dorothy, but before she has to find and kill Dorothys little helpers. This book doesn't contain much of the other witches, but more of Ozma. She's kinda cute, actually. When you liked Dorothy Must Die, you shouldn't miss this one.

Review: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Title: Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die #1)
Author: Danielle Paige
Published: April 1st 2014
Date Read: May 26th – June 3rd 2016
Read In: English

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. But I never expected Oz to look like this. A place where Good Witches can't be trusted and Wicked Witches just might be the good guys. A place where even the yellow brick road is crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

My name is Amy Gumm – and I'm the other girl from Kansas. I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked, and I've been given a mission:

Remove the Tin Woodman's heart.

Steal the Scarecrow's Brain.

Take the Lion's courage.

And then – Dorothy Must Die.

I really liked how the book took Amy to Oz within the first chapter. It would have been quite boring to read chapter for chapter before she finally came to Oz, so i really liked how the author did that in only one chapter. Danielle Paige made Oz a kinda creepy place, but Amy didn't know why. For the reader it was quite obvious Dorothy is her enemy, but Amy figured it out eventually.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I've read lots of fairytale retellings, but i still like them. Sure, it was kind of disappointing when Dorothy didn't die in this book (since its title is Dorothy Must Die), but since it grew into a series, it was quite obvious. But Dorothy really is a character you can hate.

Review: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Title: An Abundance of Katherines
Author: John Green
Published: September 21st 2006
Date Read: May 21st - 25th 2016
Read In: English

19 Katherines and counting...

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type is girls named Katherine.

And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.

On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Jody-loving best friend riding shotgun – but no Katherines.

Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship and avenge Dumpees everywhere, and may finally win him the girl.  



I really loved The Fault In Our Stars, but some of John Green's other books gave me quite a hard time. They're easy to read, but some just didn't have a real plot, at least not for me. An Abundance of Katherines was ok, the characters were alright. I don't understand much about mathematics and such, so i didn't try to make sense out of Colin's theorem. Colin was ok, his best friend was ok, all those Katherines were not such much ok.

What bothered me are all those footnotes. When you write a story, you shouldn't need footnotes on every single page to explain something. Your story should explain itself. This short book has more than 80 footnotes.
Another thing is, how can you count a 2-minute-relationship a relationship at all? I know Colin was very young when he met Katherine I, but WHAT? That's not dating. So he definitely didn't date nineteen Katherines.
And third, John Green couldn't quite make up his mind if he should call her Katherine XIX, K XIX or K-19? I don't think it would have been too hard to just choose one of those.

May Book Haul.

I didn't buy any books in all of May, except at the end of it. I ordered some books on Amazon, and some time later i bought lots of second-hand books. Some of those second-hand books look still great, and one of them was still wrapped, so it's completely new. 




 The Marble Collector by Cecelia Ahern
 A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab
 The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige
 Yellow Brick War by Danielle Paige
 Dorothy Must Die Stories by Danielle Paige
 Dorothy Must Die Stories Volume 2 by Danielle Paige





 Autumn #1 by David Moody
 Autumn #4 by David Moody
 World War Z by Max Brooks
 Das große Tier by Veit Etzold
 Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
 My Take by Gary Barlow
 The Leap by Jonathan Stroud
 Die Alchemie der Unsterblichkeit by Kerstin Pflieger
 The Fledgling Handbook 101 by P. C. Cast
 Breed by Chase Novak
 Das Joshua-Profil by Sebastian Fitzek
 Out of Orange by Cleary Wolters

Most of them are in german language, but i've listed them in order of the picture. Das Joshua-Profil is new, and Out of Orange looks a lot like it's new too. And this second-hand edition of Das große Tier is even signed by the Author, Veit Etzold. I really hope it's real, haha.