The classic story with a twist

Loved this book many years ago and reading it as an adult, has been a trip, talks of philosophy and spirituality that completely flew over my head blew my mind this second time around. Brace yourself for it is triggering and explicit.

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Never gets old

I read this book years ago before it was adapted into a musical. It's brilliant. You can't compare this to the musical as many characters die in this version that are kept alive in the musical. Many parts of this book leave you gasping or shocked. The characters are well developed and the narration is done very well. You really get a sense of OZ, it's denizens and its history. There are many questions left unanswered which has me excited to read the rest of the series.
I love both the musical and the book equally, but they are not the same and should be treated as such. Once you've read this book you will emphasise with the wicked witch of the West and want to kill the wizard yourself. Totally recommend this book as it's become a classic in my opinion. You probably don't need to read the rest of the series to enjoy it. It stands on its own very well.

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2 people found this helpful

Aunty Witch

Well this completely turned the wizard of OZ story on its head for me. I’ll admit, I had never read any books, only watched the movie. But this was a fantastical storey from a different viewpoint. I’m glad I read this before watching the new movie wicked to see what that has to offer.

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Wickard by Gregory Maguire 💜🖤

To start with I thought this was about Rain but think it's about her wiccan family iam enjoying Gregory's books this is my third one thank you Gregory Maguire and thank you John McDonough for reading to me 💖💖💖

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Originality of writing

I love the world in this book, the creatures, the uncertainty of magic throughout. I did find it a bit long, but once you're over halfway there's no going back. Would read again.

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Not for fans of the cheerful, uplifting musical

Gloomy long story with no redeeming features. The narator did a good job. Was hoping it would get better and then it ended.

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Fantastic, dark and gritty.

Far darker than anything I expected, I was absolutely gripped by Wicked right from the very beginning.

I have never seen the theatrical version, but cultural osmosis had given me some preconceived ideas about the contents of the book. I was surprised to find that my expectations were immediately contradicted by a surprising amount of grittiness within the first few chapters. For a revisionist story based on a fairy tale, Wicked is incredibly ‘adult’; covering topics like adultery, racism and radicalisation.

The book explores the question of whether evil is inherent or learnt, and blurs the lines between good and bad. I was glad to discover that Maguire doesn’t simply make The Wicked Witch a victim and Dorothy a menace. Maguire could have easily garnered readers sympathy by simply making the witch a helpless victim, but instead he makes her powerfully independent and smart. She is certainly not devoid of all blame, but when viewed with the perspective of her lived experiences, the Wicked Witch’s actions seem reasonable.

The novel is long, but the words are not wasted. Characters continue to grow and evolve through the entire book and despite knowing the outcome of the tale, one never experiences predictability. A very enjoyable read if you are open to its dark tone.

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Fantastic

Wicked is a wonderful book. Very well written and I enjoyed listening to the audio book just as much as I enjoyed reading it several years ago. I would have preferred a female narrator though, considering this is from the Witches pov!

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4 people found this helpful

Great story

The voice was a bit dull but the story was great, interesting from a different perspective

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I think I got trauma from this…🤷‍♀️

I’m not sure what to feel with this book - it was interesting and had amazing world building elements to it. I much prefer the musical adaptation storyline and as such I wasn’t really satisfied/happy with the overall ending of the book - I don’t need a HEA in this instance but I felt unfulfilled with this ending. I think this book gave me trauma in an oddly weird way that I’m not quite sure how to describe, glad I read it but I’m not doing it again or any other books in the series.

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