Claiming to tell the Wicked Witch's side of the story, this story takes on a multitude of topics, including nature vs. nurture, political corruption, sexuality, the 'crazy' land of Oz, etc, etc, the list goes on. The author follows Elphaba (the Witch) from birth to her demise at the hands of this minor character named Dorothy. However, it does not tell the story from Elphaba's POV, as Maguire completely ignores every meeting between Dorothy and the Witch until the end when the girl kills her.

People who like to read with a dictionary close at hand.

It's passably interesting to see how you react to the characters you know in a different light. Elphaba was at times (stress AT TIMES) sympathetic, though I do feel Maguire missed his mark in making her an indentifiable, empathetic character. Glinda was one of the most interesting aspects of the story, with her vapidness and completely materialistic views.

There were so many ideas in this book that every single one of them got lost. The best thing about the book was the setting.

Sleep. I was exhausted by trying to learn so many ten-dollar words in such a short time-span.

A little on the dumb side, as there was at least one word in every chapter that I had never heard of before.

Maguire seems to be brilliant in current events and political stratego, but is unoriginal when it comes to telling an entertaining story.

I love fairy tales & fairy-tale-like stories, and it is an interesting perspective on a "grown up" telling of the characters.

The style is over-exaggerated with the enormous words and ill-placed sexual explicitness. I would have said this story had charm except for the in-your-face, crude sexual referrences in places.

The plot went in so many different directions that it was hard to follow. It didn't read as Elphaba's story, rather the story of the whole land of Oz, with Elphaba as a secondary character and Dorothy a blip on the radar. I didn't find many sympathetic characters, and if every character is basically unlikeably, I have a tough time getting into the story.

It seems as though this book was written for "smart" people who will feel smart for saying they liked it.

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Created Oct 03, 2006 at 2:41pm • Submit your own review...