Wicked-Gregory McGuire

   

     The hit musical! Or, my battered copy of the book, picked up from my local charity shop!
Wicked has had such a song and dance made out of it (no pun intended...) that I was sure it would be worth reading the book! So I picked it up second hand, a little daunted by its size...I mean, how much DID happen before Dorothy appeared? It was definitely worth the read though. McGuire clearly has some imagination on him, although that being said he's stolen the concept of The Wicked Witch of the West from someone else entirely!

     The book follows the "life and times" of the Wicked Witch of the West, a character you're unsure at first that you want to grow fond of. After all, she's one of our great fictional villains! But being written in his subtly humorous manner, McGuire achieves this sense of endearment towards Elphaba. I'll admit the first and the last few chapters I struggled to get through; thinking the book really did go on quite a bit towards the end, but the over all effect of the book was that you really did get to know our protagonist, and cared about her life. Small details such as how the witch, who is deathly allergic to water, cleans herself give, falls in love, and has an agenda like all of us make her a likeable character, and that perhaps this poor character is just misunderstood.

It took a little getting into, but overall enjoyable.

7/10.