Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This most wonderful, magically inventive novel details everything you could have imagined life in Oz was like before the great tragedy of Dorothy's arrival. We learn about Elphaba (the little green girl who would become the WW of the West), her physically deformed sister, the WW of the East, Nessarose (whose ruby red shoes caused all this trouble in the first place), Elphaba's college roommate (!), Glinda (whose bouncy blonde curls make her unforgettable as the Good Witch of the North), etc... One reviewer says, "Wicked is a punchy allegory that alludes to everything from Nazi Germany to Nixon's America." Another writes, "This book is a glorious frolic, a feast of language, a study of good and evil, and a massive history of the fabulous land of Oz." I loved it and couldn't help wanting more and more detail on every aspect of Maguire's tale. Although I came to admire and understand Elphaba (he does a wonderful job of making her the typically misunderstood villain) I was somewhat disappointed by the chapters leading up to the end (which we all know from watching the movie) only because they seemed rushed where I wanted to luxuriously bathe in more.