Rating: 
Summary: Missed Opportunity
Review: After seeing the new Broadway musical version (loosely stated), I was excited to read Maguire's book...which came highly recommended by several friends. I couldn't have been more disappointed. The musical's script is a vast improvement over this aimless sprawl of a novel by bestowing the characters with MOTIVATION. In the novel, I found the characters poorly defined and the plot ill-focused. It's a shame, because Maguire's prose isn't without merit...he's just given us a real, real mess of a book. He starts so many threads without direction, and without wrapping them up. It is not a page-turner, and has no narrative sweep. If this is the "prequil" to The Wizard of Oz, it certainly wouldn't make anyone want to read Baum's classic.Anyone who wants to see a GOOD story inspired by Maguire's characters and a few of his ideas would do well to credit Winnie Holzman, who wrote the script to the new Broadway musical Wicked.
Rating: 
Summary: What is evil?
Review: "Wicked" is not just a re-telling of the Wizard of Oz from the perspective of the Witch, but is also a philosophical study of what is evil. Is evil inherent? Is the act of being evil when you restrain from abhorent acts, or when you give in?
By the end of this book you will have developed a sense of compassion for the Witch. She was misunderstood in so many ways. The green skin? A birth defect. A severe allergy to water makes it feel like acid when it touches her. Flying monkeys? Witch/Elphaba is an Animal activist. You'll never be able to watch "Wizard of Oz" in the same way again..in fact you might find yourself rooting for the one person you never had before.
Rating: 
Summary: loose ends
Review: also, what ever happened with the spell that was put on glinda and elphie? it seemed to be left unresolved.
Rating: 
Summary: Difficult Reading
Review: Although the concept of this book is genius and the story is intricately weaved to set the pace of "The Wizard of Oz", it is difficult to read. The author does not develop his concepts thoroughly. I found myself frequently re-reading areas to better understand why certain events were taking place. It reads in certainparts like Shakespeare and requires assumption of facts in others. Although the author came up with a brilliant idea that uses concepts that twist what we have always assumed about "The Wizard of Oz", he would have done better to let someone else write his ideas so that thea reader could etter follow his storyline and understand it.
Rating:
Summary: A richly detailed story that only gets better.
Review: I must start this review by saying that it is certainly not a book you can take lightly. It takes some serious effort to stick with it, particularly once you get about half way through and the more light-hearted experiences of Elphaba, the wicked witch, at Shiz fade into her darker, secretive experiences at the Emerald City. After two failed attempts to tackle to book, fascinated by the subject matter both times, I finally got through it, inspired to read it because of the Broadway musical based on the book that I found myself mesmerized by (go see it, despite how different it is). The book is a richly textured account of the life of the Wicked Witch of the West, here given an actual name, Elphaba, as she moves from student at Shiz University, an outcast and roommate to G(a)linda, to secretive activist in the Emerald City, to maunt (nun), to Auntie Witch, later to become The Wicked Witch of the West. Throughout, the detailed religion, culture, and government of Oz supplement the narrative beautifully, adding depth to what could have been simply an unfounded story of what could happen to some flatly portrayed green girl from Oz. This story really makes you care for the witch and understand that even the most evil of people could simply be the victims of chance. I thought the book began and ended very strongly, but the narrative sagged a bit in the middle, particularly as Elphaba becomes a nun and travels rather boringly across the desert to the Winkie stronghold of Kiamo Ko. The story stays rather low-key for a while, but picks up when some more familiar characters, such as Nessarose, Elphaba's sister, Elphaba's father, Frexspar, and Glinda, reenter the novel. From this point out, the novel receives its well-deserved finale, in which it goes out with a bold glory rarely seen in novels. Of course, no life is without its dull moments, and even these are not completely flat. The prose is witty and never becomes to boorish. What really mesmerized me was fitting together the story in this novel into the context of the original Oz book and movie of the same (revised) name. I would reccomend this to someone who has quite a bit of undistracted time. It's important not to take very long breaks in reading this novel, as the details become more important toward the end, when the witch begins looking back upon her life. The novel should be a very interesting read for anyone familiar with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum or the movie from MGM. Its richly detailed characters and interesting plot choices make for a wonderful read that you're surely not soon to forget. Tough it out through the middle so you can finish this great book.
Rating: 
Summary: Wicked is Torture For Its Readers
Review: This is an awful book. It starts out interestingly enough, explaining the origin of the Wicked Wich, green skin and all, but then gets mired in a ridiculous and unbelievable plot about religion versus naturalism and the rights of talking animals. In the process, Maguire goes off on pointless tangents about bestiality, class consciousness and consipracy theorists. When you finish it, you'll be singing "Ding, dong, the book is done!" It's an overly long exercise in nonsense.
Rating:
Summary: Warning - a good but ADULT book
Review: I have just barely started this book - and I'm already hooked. However, I wanted to post a comment that I think is important for potential buyers: THIS IS NOT A CHILDREN'S BOOK. In today's age of Harry Potter, lots of parents are looking for more ways to engage their middle school-age kids with additional fantasy reading. Looking at the reviews of this book, it would be easy to think that this is simply an imaginative retelling of the original tale - and you might assume it to be written for a similar age group. Absolutely not! Like I said, I am really hooked, and expect it to live up to its acclaim, but by page 15 I was already calling my Mom and warning her NOT to give it to her friend's 13-year-old as a gift - the sexual content is both explicit and mature, right off the bat. It serves the story well - but I would not want someone handing it over to an unsuspecting teenager of mine. So now that you've been warned - adults, enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Great reading of a GREAT BOOK !
Review: It's fantastic to find such a wonderful reading of this interesting and innovative book available on cassette. It's so often that books are 'squashed up' for cassette format and, consequently, don't seem to have the same rhythm and flow as the original stories. This is an unabridged version, the full, complete fantastic story ! This cassette edition is great, the voices are well done and it does justice to Gregory Maguire's wonderful tale of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch. One of my very favourite novels has now become one of my favourite audio books. I highly recommend it !
Rating:
Summary: A Tale from the Flip (Dark) Side...
Review: This is an adult version of the children's classic. In addition to being a well-told story, it is thought provoking about real-world issues in a completely fantastical context. For example, the entire concept for the story--the Wizard of Oz from the witch's point of view, highlights the importance of getting information from different sources, that things are not always what they seem. This is a far cry from the simple, light, good vs. evil children's story written by Frank Baum. Complex issues such as discrimination, genocide, religion and fanatacism are all addressed (and not with positive outcomes) in this well-written story. The book loses its way in the desert while working up to the "Dorothy" conclusion, but is nevertheless a great read. And for those who love the Oz stories, this version adds a new dimension, and makes you think about the old stories in new ways. One of my favorite books!
Rating:
Summary: Wicked?
Review: An amazing novel by Gregory Maguire, a little wordy, I'll admit. But, I loved it. I was always a fan of the Wizard of Oz, especially of the Wicked Witch. What a great book. Loss of one star because of how ornate it was. Great idea though, Gregory.
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