Review--The End of Oz by Danielle Paige

Ding dong—Dorothy is dead.

I watched as the Emerald Palace crumbled to the ground, burying Dorothy, the Girl Who Rode the Cyclone, under the rubble. And now that the rightful ruler, Ozma, has been restored to the throne…

Oz is finally free.

My name is Amy Gumm. You might remember me as the other girl from Kansas. When a tornado whisked me away to the magical land of Oz, I was given a mission: Dorothy must die.

But it turns out girls from Kansas are harder to kill than we look.

Now the Road of Yellow Brick is leading me away from Oz to the dark world of Ev, where I have a new, powerful enemy to deal with: the Nome King. And—surprise—he has a gingham-clad bride.

With my magical shoes and a shrinking group of allies, I have one final chance to fulfill my mission, and save not only what’s left of Oz, but Kansas, too. As the line between Good and Wicked blurs even further, I have to find a way to get rid of Dorothy once and for all—without turning into a monster myself.

Dorothy once said there’s no place like home. Can I stop her from destroying mine? 

The End of Oz is the epic series finale of Danielle Paige’s Dorothy Must Die series and it was quitter literally one of the most shocking series finales I’ve ever read! Things ended in a totally surprising ways and not just on the normal front! I can’t remember which edition I bought, but it’s the one that has a bonus epilogue that made it all the more worthwhile, of course, I am left reeling with all that’s been said and done!

Just when Amy and Nox think things might finally be going their way, they are proven dead wrong. Firstly, Glinda may not be as defeated as they thought, Dorothy might just in fact be alive, the Nome King is now public enemy number 1! Though Dorothy is still pretty high on that list too, maybe 1.5, just don’t tell her that! Lol. There’s lots to do and very little time to do it all. Factor in that Madison, Amy’s long time bully now turned ally is also stuck in Oz and wants nothing more than to go home and see her child again. Things are pretty crazy n this one, but it was nothing short of epic and amazing.

What surprised me right off the bat was that Dorothy actually get point of view time in quite a few chapters! It was amazing to finally be inside her head for a change! I mean, we’ve seen her be a bit whackadoodle this entire series and now to finally be in her head, you’d think she’d be nothing but crazy talk, and while there is some of that, you also notice a bit of sanity and loneliness. She’s not the villain we all knew back from book one.

Dorothy actually gets “rescued” by the Nome King who wants to make her his queen, yet Dorothy knows she can’t trust this old goat, for he is rather older than her, and she bows to no one. She’s wise to what his real plans are and naturally, starts making plans of her own. Ones that will have to include Amy Gumm.

This book was pretty exciting! For a while I almost wondered if Amy and her friends would be joining with Dorothy, however temporary, in order to defeat the Nome King. But that’s not how things go at all. Amy and Nox still have plans to kill her and free Oz. Madison tagging along was quite the trip though! She wasn’t magically inclined and seeing her truly be a friend to Amy was kind of mind-blowing!

I was also surprised to see other new characters make an appearance that were from Oz lore, that I was aware of this time! Lol. And that would be Langwidere. While her name didn’t really ring any bells, it was really learning that she was the character who constantly changed her head whenever she felt like it! I remember being terrified of this when I saw the movie Return to Oz. Though I liked the spin that Danielle took with this particular character.

Things were pretty intense with this one but one thing I really enjoyed was watching Amy and Nox grow closer together. While I can’t remember much about the first half of the series, I just remember being swept away with their budding romance. As things progress, you start to wonder what their fate will be as Amy is starting to decide where she feels the most home at.

The ending is one I will likely never get over! And I can’t figure out how I mean that! Lol. I was reading the special edition version that included a bonus epilogue and I am now wondering if that was a good idea or a bad one because whoa! Where the ordinary ending leaves off leaves things nice and open-ended in a happy way, the epilogue gives you things to think about and ponder and wonder and oh wait! There’s not another book to see answers with! This is the aggravating part, and yet, in some ways, it was kind of exciting and almost happy-like. I can’t describe how I feel about it being so open-ended and at the height of a new adventure ready and waiting, but it feels right to see these characters live on…I just wish I could get a sneak peek at it! Lol.

One thing that bothered me, outside the ending which was really just a mix of emotions, was the thing with Glinda and Glamora. As things ended kind of off with Yellow Brick War I sort of expected there to be something more to them in this one, but there really wasn’t. And that leaves me baffled and wondering what the what?! You know? Oh well, just something that I wanted to mention as I felt like it needed addressing in the book to help make things feel more complete.

All in all, The End of Oz was exactly what I was hoping for in a series finale. There’s conclusion, resolution, and the hope for more adventures…even if we can live them out with the characters. I always like knowing that their stories won’t be over, even if they are in the written format. That’s just the weird part of being an avid reader I guess! Lol. The Dorothy Must Die series was a unique and engaging series that kept me on the edge of my seat the entire way and I am sad to see that it’s over, but the adventure is one I will not forget!


Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars