Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

As someone who came to the book only having heard the musical CD (yeah, i actually still bought that one on CD), I was positively surprised at the adult tone that Maguire has. This is not a children's book and it has little in common with the colorfull, cute version of Oz we know from our childhood movie/literature classics.
I preferred this dark, political version of the land and I enjoyed every page of gritty, sinister intrigue as well as the sexual undertones. If you've only seen the musical: Prepare for something very different, less comic but no less enjoyable.
Fully review here: http://sffbookreview.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/gregory-maguire-wicked/

Slow and boring writing/plot. The first chapters describes the life of a pastor and his wife, as a new religion threatens to take over his flock. His religion is very strict, and the new one very liberal, encouraging the pursuit of pleasure.

Their daughter is the baby that will in the future be known as the Wicked Witch of the West. For some reason, her skin is green, and her teeth are very sharp.

The pastor looses the battle and is forced to flee, because his old congregation is told by the new priests that he must die.

Rating: 2.5/5

This book is much too boring to me, however, I think it was supposed to be that way since it's kind of written like a biography. I didn't care enough about Elphaba to care about her Life and Times. The characters are not explored at all and are kept at a distance from the reader. I thought some of the themes and questions that the author asked were incredibly interesting (hence the 2.5 star rating). The author asks the reader to consider the subjects of relative truths and subjective worlds, through the concepts of moral goodness. What is evil? What makes someone evil? Are they truly evil or is it just they stand in the way of something that the other person wants? Who gets to tell the stories and determine who is good and who is evil?

These questions are fascinating, but I really don't think Maguire does a good job exploring them. I wish he had taken the time to explain the world more and sit and explore more moments in detail instead of covering the Elphaba's entire life.