Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

This is not the first book to flesh out the backstory of a less-detailed predecessor, and the description of how the characters reached their familiar personalities was certainly a key part. Even more interesting to me though was the detailed reimagining of Oz as a world gripped by the rule of the increasingly authoritarian Wizard. Wicked is a darker and more mature book than I anticipated, with adultery, oppression and the nature of evil all being central elements.

The narrative does drag occasionally; the stretches at Kiamo Ko in particular took a long time to go anywhere, although I'm not sure if the lack of action is supposed to reinforce Elphaba's irresolute self-doubt during this period. Also, I felt several plot threads, such as the Grimmerie and Yackle, produced less than they promised, although these might return in the sequels.

On the whole, however, it's well worth a read and I look forward to checking out some of Maguire's other books in the same vein.

Apart from the last 100 pages I found this novel quite difficult to get through - I think I was looking for more connections to the story of Oz we know and I wasn't entirely excited by Elphaba's life until Dorothy arrives in Oz. Disappointing, but it won't deter me from seeing the stage adaption!

I wasn't wild about this and I was happily anticipating a really dark retelling. There were a couple of scenes full of symbolism that just ruined it for me, as if this guy was trying too hard to make an intellectual story out of a children's fairytale.

If you saw the musical and then decided to read the book, you're in for a surprise! Two TOTALLY different things! The book was twisted but in a way that made me want to read it.

I thought the fact that it was not like you would expect in "Oz" and the delving into the back-story behind some characters central to the movie that we are so familiar with, The Wizard of Oz, made it incredibly interesting!! I couldn't put it down!!

I really liked having a new perspective on the old story. The world is also explained a little more than the original book would have done. It's another insight to a world far from our own, with people that are like us, but still differ in a quite unique way. It's a twist on the Wicked Witch, sort of explaining why she did the things she did, and for some reason I can relate with her on what she was feeling, especially toward the end.

The first three quarters was fantastic but then the house fell and Elphaba turned into another character, the one from the original story.

there's so much more to the wicked than what you see on stage, the book's full of big themes and is written with a power and imagination which is hard to beat. a great example of the power of history and what it can do in the wrong hands

I thought once it got closer to the end and Dorthy showed up and everything was so different...but very interesting.

Absolutely fantatstic! i had no interest in the wizard of oz before this but don't go and see the stage production!!! It is pants!! It's just like a teenage cheerleader film, you know where the geeky girl loves the jock and in the end the jock loves her too...rubbish.