Dorothy, Dorothy, Dorothy.
Please don't.

A classic thoroughly butchered. My only consolation was the reminder of a vague memory of a classroom lit by sunlight, my second grade teacher reading The Wizard Of Oz 'loud and clear' and us with our gaping mouths and widened eyes. For a while I figured the effect of the book was dampened only due to comparing it to the original but then I thought isn't this how it is supposed to be? It has been, after all, written as an homage, a modified shadow? The question I'm asking is 'modified or distorted?'
Maybe in another life, where I hadn't befriended the Dorothy of my childhood, I would have liked this.

DNF. I love retellings. They are one of my favorites to read. However, this one fell flat for me. This retelling was like reading the original with a few changes and some zombies and other monsters thrown in.

Avoid avoid avoid. Unless you are some sort of color enthusiast who loves to read the names of every single color ever identified, using the more formal names (can't just say blood red.... NOOOOO you have to say sanguine), then you should avoid this book.
It feels like this was written by either an art professor with a huge ego or someone who REALLY loves a thesaurus.
The writing just does NOT flow well. I gave up at 2% because it just wasn't worth trying to slog through the poor writing.
The description sounds great. The book is just not.

This book was not good. The word gray was used way too often and I couldn't connect with this version of Dorothy even though I did appreciate the bloodhound mix Toto.

This book was received as an ARC from Garten Gevedon in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I am a lover of the Wizard of Oz, The Wiz, and Wicked and all of its adaptations but I have read nothing of this nature and I must say I am a fan. I could not put this book down with a new modern gothic take on a classic tale and family favorite. I know a lot of people will be interested in this book and there will be a line out the door in checking out this book. I am a huge fan of classic tales and all of its adaptations and I know this one will be a keeper for our collection for sure.

We will consider adding this title to our YFiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

I love a retelling of a good story when vampire, shifters, and zombies are added. It always gives a different take on a classic. It's been so long since I've read or seen the movie, but I recalled the movie alot when the author described the differences between the landscapes of Kansas and Oz.

Overall. I enjoyed this take on Dorothy's journey.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

I wanted to like this book because I really liked the premise but I was disappointed. The storyline is interesting enough but come on...Dorothy keeps telling how average she is, how boring she is, how gorgeous Nick is blah blah blah...boring. I couldn’t even finish it.

The Wizard of Oz and I always have had a complicated relationship. I really loved the world and the main characters and yet the story never connected with me like for example Alice in Wonderland does. But, this book was totally everything I had hoped it would be and didn't disappoint at all. It was a really amusing and entertaining read and I read it in two sittings, despite the amount of pages.

The world Gevedon created is amazing. In a way it's the familiar Oz we all know from our childhoods or from the adaptations we've seen or read. The people are familiar. The area's are familiar and the witches ruling are familiar. What Gevedon added is a lovely layer of mythology, complicating the politics and magic system even further. Not only does it enrich the original story, it's also serving as a wonderful foundation for the sequel that I'm dying (pun intended) to read.

And the same can be said about the characters. In a way they are the characters we all love so much. The Lion without courage, the Zombie who craves a brain, the slayer who lacks a heart and Dorothy, who mostly wants to go home. But all of them have gotten more depth and more layers. They got touching background stories, more complicated personalities and fitting fights and encounters to help them grow as persons.

The plot follows, mostly, the original tale of the story, but it are all the added parts that steal the show. Sometimes it feels that things are repeated a little too often, mostly inner monologues and discussions about staying or leaving and loving or not loving, but that's a very minor detail that didn't lessen my joy while reading this book and falling in love with these characters.

I can't wait to return to this world!

I hated the writing style for this and DNF'd halfway through chapter 2. It reads like someone is sitting there with a thesaurus and looking up fancier words for EVERY. SINGLE. ADJECTIVE. Oh, except in Chapter 1 where the word "gray" is used no less than 41 times.

"Pretty birds with rare and brilliant plumage caw and dive amongst the puce limned trees, and off in the distance is a small vermilion brook rushing along between sanguine soaked banks. It's an explosion of color so vivid and ominous by eyes need more than a moment to adjust."

Excuse me, my brain needs more than a moment to adjust to all these superlative adjectives.

A sample of the dialogue:
"Hello, and welcome, most noble Sorceress, to the land of the Munchkins. We are indebted to you for slaying the Vampire Witch of the East and for saving our unbitten."
also
"I was engaged in battle with the Vampire Witch of the East when your vehicle came down and landed on her. We all thank you for ending a long struggle. I am Gayelette the Slayer Witch of the North."

Ahhhh, nope. Thanks, but nope. *clicks DNF*

I am a big fan of retelling and when I saw this book I said this will be a good reading. I never been so wrong. I really love the idea of vampires , zombies and werebeasts. I love how she changed the Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Lion for her story. But that's it. I understand that Dorothy hates Kansas, that it is gray and boring, but she doesn't need to remind me this in every page. The discussion between Dorothy and Nick was awful that I skipped a few pages and I didn't lose anything important.
I am so disappointed about this book because I expected too much.

I am so crazy disappointed with this book I'm actually a little upset. The premise is amazing it's like pride and prejudice and zombies but in Oz. As a librarian I love the idea of re-writing classic children's fiction as it's a wonderful way to engage kids with texts from the past. However when I hold this up to other books of the same concept such as Heartless (Alice in wonderland), Valiant (beauty and the beast) or Dorothy must Die another Oz reboot this one just doesn't cut it.
The idea is solid! I love the vampire witches and 'saving a zombie' instead of a scarecrow. There are some really well nuanced nods to both the original book AND film here. But the writing really let's it down. It needs an incredibly heavy handed editor to attack it with a red pen.
E. G in the opening chapter I understand why the author mentions gray so often but it really IS overkill, and ends up just being almost irritating to read.
Additionally, there were some stellar moments of comedy in here but I feel some just missed the mark, it's almost as if the author sat down in completely different moods and it shows chapter by chapter.
Overall, it's not like this book is a lost cause, I really would love to see this idea come to fruition... just not like this.

P. S LOVE the front cover

When I received an ARC of this book from the publishers I was incredibly thrilled. It sounded like the kind of book that I would love and I anticipated that it would be a 4 or 5 star read. just from the synopsis. I'm a lover of horror and especially zombies so a book with a synopsis that starts with 'Shifters, Zombies and Vampires? Oh my! got me all excited. In fact, I was so excited to read it that I put all other books on hold whilst I got stuck in to this one. BIG mistake! This book slowly and painfully killed me off!
Many times I almost gave up on the book but decided to keep going in the hope that it would get better. It DIDN'T!
In attempting to describe Dorothy's world as grey, dull and boring the author actually succeeds in making the story grey, dull and boring. I'm not sure if the book was purposely written in an old English style like classics are written or not but it just didn't work. I spotted several errors that I assume were typos but may have been the author using the wrong word, and there were also numerous oddly worded phrases. The book reads as if a non native English speaker has written it, in that stilted and formal way someone like that would write / speak.
I found it very difficult to get to know the characters as none of their personalities and ages came through due to the formal language used. I assume Dorothy is a young teenager as she mentions attending school yet she speaks like an adult.
I would have thought that this book would be aimed at a YA audience but unfortunately I just don't think that they would be able to connect with the book.
Overall I couldn't find any flaws with the plot. The premise sounded amazing. It was just incredibly poorly executed.

Received an eArc from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is a wild and wacky retalling of the Oz stories involving vampires, werewolves, and zombies.

The humor is spot on and it's just gory enough!