Read of the Town: Dorothy Must Die

Okay, so you haven't heard of Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige until right now as I'm telling you about it. So that would mean it's not exactly the "Read of the Town" as I claim right? Wrong! I'm just ahead of the game with this one. I predict by February/March 2014 this book will indeed be the Read of the Town. If not within the literary community as a whole, definitely within the Young Adult readers world. I came across it by chance from a tweet and from the title alone I HAD to discover more. And discover more I did. For starters lets take a look at this cover shall we...

Release Date: April 1st, 2014

Now if that doesn't scream "pick me up and read me now" I don't know what does. Killer title and even more killer cover artwork. I'm sold! It takes very little to get me interested in books you might be saying to yourself? Uhm, not even a little bit. There are bestsellers and Nobel Prize winners I'll probably never read. There are even classic novels I'll never read either. But whenever a classic (like The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum) is taken and expanded (like The Wicked Series by Gregory Maguire) then attention must be paid. And although I've only read the first of the 15 book series of the world of Oz (yes, there are 15 books in total, look it up if you don't believe me) I do plan on reading them.

But who doesn't know the story of Dorothy and the yellow brick road? I'd be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn't heard of it let alone seen the famous Judy Garland in the starring role? I know I've seen it enough times that I don't ever need to see it again. So, besides the cover and the title is there any other reason this book will quickly and easily become the Read of the Town before it's impending release on none other than April Fools Day? What a great day for a book release by the way. Well, have a look at the synopsis below. And while you're at it, go here to "Like" their Facebook Fan Page.

Synopsis:

I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.
But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado—taking you with it—you have no choice but to go along, you know?
Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little blue birds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still the yellow brick road, though—but even that's crumbling.
What happened?
Dorothy. They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.
My name is Amy Gumm—and I'm the other girl from Kansas.
I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.
I've been trained to fight.
And I have a mission:
Remove the Tin Woodman's heart.
Steal the Scarecrow's brain.
Take the Lion's courage.
Then and only then—Dorothy must die!