Rating: 
Summary: In a word..... Amazing
Review: As an Oz fan from a very young age, I knew I had to read this book when I read about it in a magazine. It was advertised as "the Oz story told from the Witch's point of view" so I thought it would be a parody of sorts. When I read it, however, I found that nothing could have been further from the truth. The Wizard of Oz story sets the background (a very distant background), but this book goes far deeper in setting and character development than a green woman who is chasing after Dorothy and Toto. The book examines political structures, class systems, good vs. evil, and definitions of intelligence. In fact, the "Oz" story is something that is happening, but is almost a minor subplot - it is not the emphasis of the book. Wicked is amazing. I can't wait to read Confessions of an Ugly Step-Sister.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing & unforgettable story--but get large-print edition
Review: Lots of others here have extolled the virtues of this story--I'll just add a practical detail:The font size of the standard large-paperback edition is just absurdly small--maybe a 9-font--and has prevented several able-eyed people I know from buying it when I show it to them at bookstores. Maybe Mr. Maguire raised a stink about it, because his second novel, I notice, has comparatively giant type. So I would advise buying the large-print if it's still available...and that's the only gripe I have about this wonderful, amazing story.
Rating:
Summary: Captivating
Review: If you think this is kiddie fare or a regurgitation of the Wizard of Oz, think again. Maguire has created a fascinating and often dark Oz with characters that do not break out into song and are even more interesting as a result. The Wicked Witch of the West's background is gripping, and--gasp--actually even makes this most-hated of cultural icons a sympathetic character. Well written, entertaining, and imaginative. I can't wait to read Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister!
Rating:
Summary: Wicked: Wickedly Funny
Review: This book was great! It was wonderful to hear the witch's side of the story. Gregory Maguire has a beautiful writing style. He is easy to understand and is very witty.
Rating:
Summary: This is "Balthazar" to "Justine" (for you Durrell fans)
Review: While much attention is paid in many reviews of this book to Maguire's exploration of "evil" (what is "Evil"?, and what isn't it?), the most thrilling thing about this novel for me was the way it managed to contain a familiar story and simultaneously stand it on its head. While reading "Wicked" I felt much as I did the first time I read "Balthazar" (Book 2) from the Alexandria Quartet, where the flowing, impressionistic images of "Justine" (Book 1) are turned and shifted in such a way that you realize the narrator of "Justine" had only a two-dimensional take on the real story. Maguire does the same thing here: Oz blossoms into three- and four-dimensionality, a place of intense political tension, terrorism, racism and an oppressive puritanicism that gives rise to a raunchy sex-club underground. The prose, especially the dialog, also has a Durrellesque archness, and is just as beautiful (without being quite so difficult ;). The character of Elphaba (the "Wicked" Witch of the West) is one of the most fascinatingly complicated and sympathetic characters I've come across in a work of fiction. Read it!
Rating: 
Summary: Raises disturbing questions about nature of evil
Review: If you can find a better bang for the buck than Wicked, please let me know. I picked up Wicked, knowing nothing except that its subject matter was the Wicked Witch of the West, to be drawn immediately into Maguire's splendidly imagined world of sentient animals, multiple societies, and unique physical laws. Wicked is an enthralling, great read, hugely entertaining. On top of all this, Maguire has Bradbury's gift for creating atmosphere. The pages are heavy with dark, mysterious magic; its moral laws are ultimately incomprehensible. Apparently doomed at conception, Elphaba is a truly terrifying infant. Razor-toothed and preternaturally intelligent, she is shunned from birth as a freak and a curse. She is nonetheless the tale's most complex, human, and compelling character, possessed of high moral sense and great courage. But neither of these qualities enables a single one of her brave, ethical actions to succeed. What are we to conclude from this? How is it that Dorothy, the sturdy little nobody from nowhere who committed manslaughter as she landed in Oz, skips down the Yellow Brick Road impervious to danger while Elphaba strives and plots to reap only negative results? Why is one protected while the other is doomed? Read Wicked and you will learn how the witch's monkeys became winged, where the rubies for those slippers came from, and, indeed, why the witch's skin was green. But you will wrestle, long afterward, with Maguire's moral pessimism and the snarl of grace and doom that underlies this novel. I know I will.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT!
Review: This book is wonderful, amazing, and excellent. I can't say enough good things about it. It is the life story of the Wicked Witch of the West, from birth to death, and it is not a kid's book. For anyone who likes the movie, anyone who likes fantasy, or anyone whose ever asked themselves, "Why shouldn't she have HER SISTER'S shoes?" Read this one, you won't be dissapointed!
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic tale of the good side of wickedness.
Review: Ah the misunderstood life of a "witch". If you are like me and always thought that there was more than met the eye with witch of the west, then this book is for you. Or even if you are looking for a study of how percieved evil and true evil are truely different. Believe me you won't be dissapointed. This book is in my opinion one of the greatest books I've read in a loooong time. Enjoy..
Rating: 
Summary: highly entertaining read
Review: Looking for something light to read after a long semester of Shakespeare, I quenched my overwrought mind with WICKED. It's entertaining, innovative, and better than one might expect-- I could not believe the premise could be fleshed out so feasibly. On a scale of one to five, five being William Faulkner, this is a three. Well written and entertaining, but it's not destined for canonization or anything.
Rating:
Summary: This is the single most fabulous book I have ever read!
Review: Absolutly dazzling cleverness and unspeakable prose. I am amazed at Maguire's skill, and he has become my new literary God. Read it; it will take you to another world that you have never seen even a glimmer of!
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