Rating: 
Summary: i can't beleive these other reviews!
Review: forget the stinking play and review the gosh darn book! the play and the book are two seperate items and rarely ever does a live production and text line up! tell us about the book and how great it was, don't complain to us about how much you thought the play was better! and if you don't like mcguire's opinions and works don't share them!
Rating: 
Summary: Too Much Information
Review: I realize that the author is trying to get the point across that Elphie's mother was not faithful, but way too much information about her love life. And I must say that I find that I liked Elphie more in the play. See, I thought she was a good girl who was hurt because she did good, then she turned evil. Then the author goes into description about her seing Fiyero every night for "classified business" The book REALLY DID NOT NEED THE SEXUAL CONTENT. I realize that things like that happen, but he really went into too much detail, I'm not even finished with the book yet!!!
MOST DEFINATELY see the play and listen to the music. Don't read the book it is NOT WORTH IT. The play is SOOOO much better!!! I wish I had never bought it.
Rating: 
Summary: poor
Review: i direct this to those who saw the musical and am planning to buy this book because of how great they thought the musical was. well i recommend you save your money to watch the musical again and not waste it on this book. i, like some, bought this book after falling in love with the play and found myself gravely disappointed. this book lacks good editing and has many unneccessary plots [urinating, sex, rape, etc.] let's just say, the producers and writers of the musical cleaned this book up. they took out the tasteless plots and added enjoyable events. don't dim your experience with the show by wasting your money on this book. the musical did what what this book couldn't: make this story great.
Rating:
Summary: amazing
Review: ok, well i have to admit that i've never read the book. but im going to buy it! my friend read it and said it was amazing. i actually saw the broadway, and i was blown away. it's incredible and i think everyone should see it! (i suggest reading the book after...musicals are always more fun when you dont know the plot OR the songs)
Rating: 
Summary: Tough to read, but worth it
Review: I'd have to agree with some of the other reviewers: this book needed a better editor. There's some really great stuff in here, lot's of interesting new ways to look at Dorothy and the rest of her gang. But getting to the gems (emeralds?) is hard going, and I found myself dropping the book and picking up something else more than once while I tried to read this one. Read the book if you're an Oz fan, or if somebody loans you a copy.
Rating:
Summary: Failed Potential
Review: What an exciting concept! The backstory of the Wicked Witch of the West. It takes a really inept writer, however, to squander such gold on a tirelessly unappealing novel. Instead of fleshing out the narrative of one of literature's all-time greatest villains, Macguire bogs down his plot with inconsequential details. Sixty pages into the Elphaba story, Macguire apparently grows weary of his main character and inserts uninteresting, lackluster characters and plotlines. Had he focused on his main character instead and trimmed the useless fat (including plastic characters like Boq), he could have created a fantasy novel for all time. What he has produced instead is a book with more power to induce sleep than Oz's poppy fields. Sadly, this idea fell into the hands of a writer lacking the imaginative vitality to pull it off. But who really cares? He's published AND his book is now the inspiration of a new Broadway play. Bad writing apparently does pay off in the end.
Rating:
Summary: falls way short of its potential
Review: This book is a great idea, but instead it gets bogged down in preaching about good and evil and loses track of the story.
Rating:
Summary: Wicked
Review: I have just one word for "Wicked" --- BORING!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Great idea, not so great writing
Review: I love the movie the Wizard of Oz, and I really like the idea of the book. However, the book lacks focus, and I was a little disappointed. The plot seems to focus on unnecessary details, while glossing over the important ones. For example, the book covers with great detail the the infancy of Elphaba, and then quickly summarizes how Elphaba's sister (Nessarose--aka the Wicked Witch of the East) is born, and they also have a brother Shell and move into the wilderness. The book touches on how Elphaba had to care for Nessarose, because her sister was born without arms, and how Elphaba always felt jealous because she sensed that everyone liked Nessarose more. But the time line of the story jumps from when Elphaba is three to when she's entering college. I thought this part of Elphaba's life was an interesting part of the story that was ignored, and the author kept repeating this mistake in each section of the book. It was like each section kept starting out really dull and very thorough, and painstakingly describe everything, and then it would lead up to a climax and go....no where. Then at the beginning of the next section it would quickly summarize how the last section came to be resolved. It's hard to explain, but I felt like the important details were ignored, and other insignificant points of the story were left out. This may have been part of Maguire's writing tecnique, but it didn't work for me. But, I must stress, that I did enjoy this book, and I loved the idea of telling the story from the Witch's point of view. However, I had a hard time keeping myself involved with the book.
Rating:
Summary: More political propaganda than character development
Review: This book could have been so good, but it isn't. If it really would have told the "true" story of the Wicked Witch of the West, it would have been a wonderful story, but it focuses way more on the political atmosphere of Oz, in a preachy way, than on the life of Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West).
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