Wicked / Son of a Witch

I've listed WICKED separately as "Read but unowned" in order to rate it with 4 stars. The actual copy that I have, though, is this Barnes & Noble "luxury" edition that includes WICKED and SON OF A WITCH, and this particular edition I rate with a half-star. It is poorly printed with defaced typography on three or four pages, where the upper halves of some letters/words are glitched so that they do not properly align with the lower halves.

Watch out about buying this B&N edition. ( )

I just finished reading Wicked for the second time and loved it even more than I did back in high school. It was an exciting, interesting, genius reworking of the tale of Oz from the "witches" point of view, exploring the beginnings of The Wicked Witch Of The East, The Wicked Witch Of The West, and Glinda The Good Witch, and while it is a novel that may have begun from a work already in existence, it has truly created a whole new entity in itself. Elphaba was a believable female heroine, surprisingly well written from a male point of view. The writing itself was mysterious to read, in a way that didn't talk down to it's readers but gave them something to chew on without being a mess of confusion. This is a grown up "fairy tale" enjoyed by anyone who loves to explore the well known to discover layers and layers of story underneath. A great fantasy world of love, sex, politics, family, friendship, and philosophies of good, evil, and what constitutes a soul (animal? Animal? Human? Witch?). I hate to label something as a "book club book" because I feel it always makes a work sound cheesy, but if you have friends cool enough to read this with you, it is a great book to discuss and theorize about. Maguire is a wonder of a writer, greatly crafted in intelligent sly wit mixed with great imagination, and I am excited to begin reading Son Of A Witch for the first time as soon as I have time to crack open the second half of this enchanting green tome. ( )

Wicked was an interesting read, and I can see why it's so popular, but I wouldn't give it the highest praises and marks it has received. It struck me as a very popular fan-fiction more than anything else. It also felt a little too simplistic for me. All you need to know is that all the main characters who were "good" in 'The Wizard of Oz' are now rather pretentious, and all the "evil" characters are simply "misunderstood". Maguire really cherry-picks through his references, sometimes drawing from the 1939 movie, sometimes drawing from the original Wizard of Oz series. Often enough, the conclusions he draws will greatly conflict with the Oz series, so I wouldn't make it a solid prequel for Baum's Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Despite my feelings on "Wicked" I gave "Son of a Witch" a try. Why not? They're in the same volume. "Wicked" was incredibly depressing and crude, and its sequel was even more so.

Again, it was an interesting read, but I don't plan on picking the book up again. ( )