Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige is a continuation of the Dorothy's time in Oz.  Dorothy decided she didn't really like it when she returned home, so she went back to Oz and became a dictator who is draining the magic from Oz.  The Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man have turned evil, Oz is dying, the people live in constant fear, and what was once Good is now Wicked and what was once Wicked is now Good. 

Enter Amy Gumm. She's another Kansas girl who finds her way to Oz in a tornado.  She's quickly embraced by a group of revolutionaries and she's tasked with the duty of killing Dorothy in an attempt to save Oz. 

The set up is so good. The premise is really fun!

The execution is flawed. Dorothy doesn't die and the use of the absolute "must" in the title leads to an incredibly disappointing ending.  Part way through the book Amy ends up as a maid at the castle where Dorothy is holed up and the entire plot comes to a screaming halt.  Lots of characters are introduced at the castle, but they are superficially developed and the cast of thousands makes it hard to keep track of who is who.  There are some hints of really interesting ideas and I might have been tempted to read more of the series if the author hadn't let me down with the undelivered promise in the title. Amy's relationships with non-humans like the flying monkeys and her pet rat, are so much fun! Her pseudo-romance with Nox was a tantalizing taste of what relationships in this world might be like.

Unfortunately, the bad outweighed the good. I bet Paige really comes into her own in future books, but I'm not enticed to read any more.