Synopsis:

The author attempts to tell the story of how the Wicked Witch of the West became such.

Review:

The author failed. Miserably. I give this book ½ a star. The author did however, present a challenge…I could never figure out what he was trying to accomplish in this raunchy love story (was it a love story?) and wannabe political thriller.

It was really, really bad. Don’t read it EVER, your life will be better if you read NOTHING. This book tells another side of a classic story and sucks all of the fun out of what Oz was. I’ve always had a problem when an author tries to fill in the work of another. In fact I really don’t even like it when the original author writes his own sequel.

Now, as you may have noticed from other reviews, I try to learn something from each book I read (even the fluff and terrible). There was one idea that presented itself early in the book. Had I been in tune with what was written, I would have immediately put the book down and found something else. 

In a conversation Elphaba was having with Galinda in regard to which courses they would take at school. Elphaba was telling Galinda that one of the subjects she was interested in was, in essence, beneath anyone with a functioning brain.  Galinda responded by telling her she was wrong and that like learning to read or to write or to “spell” it matters little that you know how to any of those things, it matters what you read, write or “spell”. I loved the idea. I should have listened to Galinda and put the book down because I was wasting my ability to read and my precious time to do so with this garbage. How this book was adapted to a hit Broadway show, I may never know. I read this book because I didn’t have the money to go see the production. Now that I’ve read it, I have lost almost all desire to see the show. The idea was good; tell the story of the wicked witch of the west, but it fell apart after conception. I can’t believe someone published this. It gives me hope that maybe someday, I could be published too. My work can’t possibly be as bad as this.