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Amy Gumm thought life was tough in the trailer park with her druggie, depressed mother and the mean girls in school. But that was before fore she was carried to Oz by a tornado, before she was rescued by a series of strange individuals, and before she was instructed, Dorothy must die. Sweet Dorothy returned to Oz only to rule it with an evil, greedy hand, gradually stealing all its magic for herself. Amy, also from Kansas and arriving on a tornado, has to reverse the earthling's power by killing her. Paige has spirited readers back to The Wizard of Oz, fracturing the already strange classic by having good and wicked witches exchange places, amputating the flying monkeys' wings, and creating a fear-eating lion, a nefarious Dr. Jekyll scarecrow, and a vicious tin soldier. Amy's assignment? Navigate through magical defenses, while struggling with her own values of good and evil, to get to Dorothy. It's a classic made more sinister and will be continued in a subsequent volume.

Kirkus Reviews

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)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

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.)

School Library Journal

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 Garlandstarring film, and it has been drained of its fairy-tale glimmer by the red shoewearing 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

Horn Book

A tornado deposits misfit teen Amy Gumm's Kansas trailer home in Oz, but this is not the storybook Oz. Dorothy has become a power-hungry, magic-stealing evil princess, and, according to the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked, only Amy can stop her. Amy's believable character development and the inventive spin on Baum's famous world propel this entertaining first series installment.

Voice of Youth Advocates

Forced to take care of her alcoholic mother, Amy Gumm skips childhood and immediately becomes an adult. At school, no one accepts her, referring to her as Salvation Amy, the girl who lives in the trailer park. Just when she thinks she cannot take any more ridicule, her life completely changes. A tornado twists through her small Kansas town and whisks her trailer off to Oz. Amy quickly learns the real Oz is a dark place, full of greed and corruption. Dorothy controls all of Oz, using all the beloved characters as her evil enforcers. Amy's arrival to Oz is not an accident; someone chose her to rid the country of Dorothy and, in turn, save Oz from certain destruction.Paige's dystopian Land of Oz is devoid of essential elements needed in a successful fantasy world. Magic in Oz seems limitless, causing the reader to question several plot decisions. Amy meets new characters in Oz that do not quite fit into the overall story. Even the reimagined characters appear to be missing something. This new Oz represents a shell of the original. Strewn throughout the story, profanity is used with the intention to better develop some characters. However, its overuse deters the reader from forming any type of bond with the characters. There are far more engaging stories to spend an afternoon with than Dorothy Must Die.Richard Vigdor.