Yellow Brick War by Danielle Paige

Published: March 15, 2016 

# of Pages: 270

Source: Purchased Copy 

You might know her as the Girl Who Rode the Cyclone. She ended up in Oz, where she became friends with the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion. But the temptation of magic was too much for her. She let it change her. Her friends became twisted versions of their former selves.

The magical land of Oz is now a dark and menacing place.

My name is Amy Gumm. Tornadoes must have a thing about girls from Kansas, because I got swept away on one too. I also landed in Oz, where Good is Wicked, Wicked is Good, and the Wicked Witches clued me in to my true calling:

Assassin.

The only way to stop Dorothy from destroying Oz—and Kansas—is to kill her. And I’m the only one who can do it.

But I failed. Others died for my mistakes. Because of me, the portal between the worlds has been opened and Kansas and Oz are both in danger. And if I don’t find a way to close it?

Dorothy will make sure I never get to go home again.

Please keep in mind that this is the third in a series so it may contain spoilers. 

Okay so I can say that I'm a huge fan of the Dorothy Must Die series. I originally loved the first and the second book. The idea and concept behind an alternate Wizard of Oz land just made my skin tingle; however, my real issues with the series began when I found out that the series which originally started as a trilogy was being developed into a four part series. For me, this meant that there would be a high possibility of a filler book. And this third book definitely gave me that feeling. 

While I enjoyed the plot and characters of the first two books, I had a really difficult time adjusting to them in this third installment. They just didn't really cut it for me to be honest. In this novel, we as readers are introduced to another villain that goes by the name of the Nome King. He had no relevance to the novels before the story; however, for some reason he was thrown into this plot to make it more interesting. In adding this new character, I felt like the plot was stretched thin and that the creation of a four book series was primarily for the sake of monetary gain which I found disappointing. Without the addition of this character, I genuinely feel as though the third and fourth book could have been combined into one. 

In addition to the stretching of the plot, I didn't enjoy the characters as much as the first two novels. Amy didn't have the strength and level of interest that I originally enjoyed. She seemed quite passive, unable to do the simplest of tasks. I just missed the old Amy that had so much fire and passion in her soul and ability to do what she needed to do in order to save Oz and her home. Unfortunately, she gets lost in the mess of a plot and doesn't really define herself as a strong character. At this point, Amy should be well-developed with goals and expectations of what she's looking for in terms of saving Oz. That simply doesn't occur.

Honestly if you can't tell, I was greatly disappointed by this book. I was so into the first two books that I expected this one to be just as fascinating, intriguing, and captivating; yet, it fell completely short of my expectations. I hope that the next and final installment of this series gives me what I need to conclude my journey with Amy and the other characters on a high note. It's simply disheartening to see the series turn into something I don't really enjoy.