Rating: 
Summary: An interesting idea for a book, but too drawn out
Review: I hadn't heard of the play that was inspired by this book when I picked it up recently. While I would still like to see the play after reading this book, I was disappointed in what I read. At first, I was very drawn to the detail of Elphaba's life, but about half way through the book the detail started to detract from the story line. I like the references to the "Wizard of Oz" movie (not having read the book) and enjoyed the change in perspective, but the politics got to be too much after a while.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Interesting plot, Waaaaay Too Much Detail
Review: This book was an excellent idea, and MacGuire does a very good job making us sympathize with the characters, and giving them all their own personalities. However, despite these two important good aspects, the book really does dwell on some kind of disgusting things. There's plenty of violence, a lot of sex, and even some just old-fashioned unappetizing details about urninating etc. It's not that these things just pop up from time to time either, he spends pages talking about them throughout the whole thing. I wanted to know what happened, but the book was getting so nauseating that I just didn't want to put up with it anymore. Also, it becomes a little bit hard to take it seriously sometimes as the tone gets more and more tragic even thought it's taking place in MUNCHKINLAND. Again, Elphaba is a very likable and interesting character, the idea was inspired, I really want to see the musical, but the book just goes too far, and takes itself too seriously.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Novel!
Review: This book was an incredible story behind The Wizard of Oz. It made me understand Elphie so much better and the reasons for what she did.The descriptions of Oz through the years where very colorful and vivid. But I will admit at times it was a hard read but well worth plugging through to the end. I can't wait to read "Confessions of and Ugly Stepsister"!
Rating:
Summary: a dense read but absolutely satisfying
Review: This would have to be my favorite book of 2004! Maguire takes Baum's original characters and gives them a thoroughly contemporary yet timeless spin that's attractive to any age reader. As a lover of L. Frank Baum's original stories I was happy to see another dimension of the land of Oz, one whose politics and even religions are completely developed, if slightly different from Baum's original presentation.
Elphaba becomes a person to be admired for her revolt against the norm, and as a social perriah rather than a doer of evil. Of course the Wicked Witch of the West must have had a back story, and this book provides ample explanation.
The spin with which Maguire presents these beloved characters is equally exciting. From Glinda's snobbery to the "Wonderful Wizard's" manipulation of Oz, Maguire transforms Baum's land into a place of depravity and general upheaval. By the end of the book I was convinced that the original story was merely one of propaganda (which it was) and that "Wicked" was the true retelling.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loved the original Oz stories and to all who love fantasy. Although the book is quite long (and it does take a bit to get into it) Maguire's story is a refreshingly modern backstory of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz".
Rating:
Summary: Read it only if you are seeing the Broadway Show.
Review: The concept is unique, creative and I was so excited to read this book. Also, I was seeing the show on Broadway. But the book was slow and even the brilliant sections (and they were there) were minimized because of the frustration I felt awaiting those jewels. If you aren't seeing the show I don't recommend the book. If you are seeing the show then I think it is worth the investment of time (this is not an easy read and will take your valuable time!). The show takes the very best parts of the book and runs with it. But reading Wicked was painful. No doubt about that.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun With Fiction
Review: Suppose the "Wizard Of Oz" movie presented in 1939 was actually the result of the propaganda machine of a Joseph-Stalin-like regime, where all the significant facts (Dorothy, sibling witches, house falling on one witch, etc) were spun in a manner most sympathetic to the Wizard. Then, as it actually happened with Joseph Stalin's regime, the truth eventually came to light. This story is that "truth". Very, very interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Re-leaves Winter Depression
Review: No doubt this is a thick and indepth read.. i fly through books usually and this one took me sometime. However, it was well worth it!It gives you a hole nother perspective of the Witch of the West.. notice I did not use Wicked. It's light harded but also questions the characters morals..hence it cause you to think if you want otherwise you can be absorb in the fantasy story. I liked it so much that I am actually on Amazon to order another of his books!
Rating:
Summary: Very Slow Read
Review: Ok. i had seen the play "wicked" and fell in love with the story. It was one of the best plays i've seen. So after seeing it, i ran out to get the book. Yes, i know its never quite the same. Well after finally getting through the book, i was very disappointed. Obviously, they had to change the story for stage, but I found that the book was just slow and very detailed. There were some funny parts and I did get through it (even though at times I wanted to throw the book across the room). There were parts I had to read over and over just to try to comprehend it (i'm not really dumb).
Basically, i would skip the book and go see the play! The play brings all the familiar characters from the movie together in a way the book didn't.
Rating:
Summary: Great idea gets bogged down
Review: I had heard all about the musical from a friend and had really high hopes for a good read. And, it was a good read for the first half of the book - I couldn't put it down. Then the plot slows way down and the character development ceases. The main difference is in the main character... Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West). In the first half she is humanized - she has friends and feelings and struggles just like any other person and you can empathize with the character. But halfway through the character loses herself, and unfortunately, the reasons are not completely flushed out. She has no feelings, she is cruel, she neglects her son, and becomes semi-deranged (but not completely). And the readers are left to wonder why, because the transformation happened somewhere in the 7 years that the author skips between sections. I kept hoping that the book would right itself and it never did. In addition the author throws in so many half-story lines that are supposed to add mystery, but instead just muddle the flow and don't do anything for the plot. However, the concept of the book, the characters and the set-up are very intriguing and if you are interested in the concept it is worth checking out. If nothing else, you can do like I am and think of how great the book could have been.
Rating:
Summary: What is evil?
Review: What is evil? Elfalpha is the anti-hero and the precursor of the "slack generation". Maguire re- creates the Land of Oz as world as real or surreal as ours. Elphie is a college-dropout, adulteress, friend, shrew and clearly a mad scientist. It just so happens, that despite all good intentions, our green-skinned, hydrophobic heroine is also the Wicked Witch of the West. I am a fan of Baum's books going way back. I have every one of his children's novels on my shelves and love them in all their splendid silliness. Baum gave me a heroine and animal heroes and a land where no one dies. However, like most fantasy, Baum relied on a rigid social order to support his beautiful world. Workers, aristocracy, heroine, heroine's friends. Aside from those on quest, the ones I am supposed to care about, everyone is in his allotted place. My idea of a perfect world has something to do with justice. I don't find it in Middle Earth or Green. Imagine Shangrila--all those workers slogging up and down hill to support utopia! Is this my egalitarian fantasy? Maguire provides a character in Elphaba who is troubled by the essential injustice of her world, a character seeking goodness and thus inevitably misunderstood, feared, and persecuted. Baum's stories become the child's version of Maguire's true political and social history of OZ. This is not a book for children or anyone unwilling to stare into sexual thunder and the violent conflict of body and conscience. The language is rich and the imagery lively and lush. I believe these people and salute the vision which moves this story. Thank you for "Wicked," which is really about faith in, and the terrible power of, good. (...)
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