Dorothy Must Die
by Danielle Paige, Devon Sorvari (Narrator)
Series: Dorothy Must Die, #1Unabridged Audiobook, 14 hours and 12 minutes
HarperAudio, 2016
Read: May 25 – 27, 2016
So, imagine a world where Baum’s books (and that movie) are present and beloved — but also, are non-fiction (not that anyone who isn’t from our world gets that). I think that made sense. Anyway…in modern-day Kansas, there’s a girl, Amy Gumm, who isn’t having the best time. Her mother lives (well, exists) in a drug and alcohol-induced stupor. She has a pet rat (who she hates), and not much else in her life, other than a dream of getting out.
This being a story about Oz that starts in Kansas, a tornado hits. And, lo and behold, it transports Amy, her trailer house and the rat to Oz. But it’s not the Oz Dorothy landed in anymore.
There’s a new ruler — Ozma and the Wizard are out (well, Ozma’s technically in charge, but she’s not). Magic is being changed — corrupted, stolen. The realm is in ruins — Oz is a dystopia, and the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow are mutated, monstrous versions of themselves and Dorothy is behind it all. Amy is recruited — as an otherworlder, it has to be her — by a group of rebels to kill Dorothy.
It’s got all the makings of something interesting, and just isn’t. It’s not bad, it’s just dull. The excesses that Dorothy and her friends indulge in are predictable and unimpressive. The last chapter or so really only existed to push things into a sequel.
Actually, I’m just going to stop at this point — I don’t care enough to carry on. And if I did, I’m afraid this would come across as a critique or a tearing-down of the book. And I don’t want it to be, because I wasn’t provoked enough to do that. I was generally (not wholly) unmoved.
As far as the audio performance goes — I just didn’t appreciate whatever Sorvari was doing. The narration seemed angry, clipped. And yes, that matches Amy (especially early on) — fine. But I don’t need to hear 14 hours of ticked off descriptions of scenery, character appearances, etc.
I may, if the Library has a copy, get around to the next volume — but I’m not going to worry too much about it. It wasn’t a waste of time, I liked bits of it, but on the whole — it just didn’t do anything for me. The story was okay; the narrator was frequently annoying, but otherwise was okay. With such a promising premise, it’s disappointing that nothing much was done with it.
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