Gregory Maguire is best known as an author who writes books that follow characters from well known fairy tales and stories. He puts a spin on what we know already of a story. For example he has written about Snow White in a book called 'Mirror Mirror', he has also written a book called 'Confession of an Ugly Step-Sister' based on the story of Cinderella, from the perspective of an ugly step-sister. I was never interested in these, until I came across one based on one of my all time favourite stories, 'The Wizard of Oz'. I was very intrigued by this book from the outset...in the smallest of nutshell's - it is exactly what it says on the book: 'The Life and ...  Read the complete review

Last christmas concert at my school, two girls sang a song from the musical wicked. I was instantly captivated, and loved the idea of looking into the life of a "baddie" so i read the book. I have not seen the musical, so i cannot compare them. As it suggests it is the life and background of the familiar figure of the Wicked witch of the west, from when she was born, green and ugly, to the wife of a minister, much to his embarasment, to when she is killed by Dorethy as we see in the film. Inbetween this we see her life as a student at "Shiz" the university, and her political campain againt dicrimination of Animals (who are just as inteligent as ...  Read the complete review

"Wicked" by Gregory Maguire is the story of the Wicked Witch of the West from that well loved story/film The Wizard of Oz. It is also now a hit musical and is currently showing in the West End. The Wizard of Oz was one of my favourite films as a child and I still enjoy it now with all the musical numbers and the funny characters so was quite intrigued to read the book. However Wicked is no fairy tale and is certainly not for children. The story is based on the life of "Elphaba" the girl who grows up to become the Wicked Witch of the West. We discover that when Elphaba was born her green skin came as quite a shock to her family and ...  Read the complete review

Wicked - Gregory Maguire I have heard a lot of amazing things about the West End show 'Wicked' which is taken from Maguire's book, though unfortunately, I have not been able to go and see it yet, so instead, I took up the next best thing; I picked up the book! The book's RRP is set at £7.99, though it can be picked up for a lot less online. Unbeknown to me, 'Wicked' is actually Maguire's first book in a four part series which includes; 'Son of a Witch', 'A Lion Among Men' and 'Out of Oz'. Even though I haven't read the other books in this series yet, from reading the synopsis', it is obvious that these books definitely do need to ...  Read the complete review

If you've seen and enjoyed Wicked! the musical, then you'll probably enjoy Wicked, the book. However, that is most definitely not to say that they are the same thing. When I first started reading, I kept waiting for all the things that happened in the musical to happen in this book, but it just didn't happen. Once I'd realised that they were two entirely different things, I was able to relax a bit more and enjoy the book in its own right. The story follows Elphaba, a young girl born in Munchkinland with green skin, a mouthful of teeth and oodles of attitude. We watch her grow up, go to school, and slowly become entangled in the dark, underground world of ...  Read the complete review