If you’re only a chapter or two into Wicked, don’t give up. This book makes a comeback if you can hold out just a little longer. When I first began reading, I had to wonder what all the hype was about. Why was everyone salivating over this book? I didn’t understand it. It just didn’t grab me the way I thought it would, and in retrospect, I think that’s because it took a few chapters for me to really be invested in the characters. It starts out with an obscure story about the parents of Elphaba, the eventual Wicked Witch of the West, before she is even born. Even when she was a child, I didn’t care much about her or her family. But just as I was wondering if this thing would ever get rolling, Elphaba suddenly grew up in a matter of pages. Elphaba as a young adult is much more interesting!

It wasn’t long before I was introduced to Galinda (later known as Glinda) and Nessarose (the future Wicked Witch of the East). What surprised me most about this story were the personalities and relationships that these three had. I expected both “witches” to be naturally evil and twisted, but Maguire caught me off guard when he gave them each a heart and a multitude of thoughts and feelings. Most of what we were previously lead to believe as intentionally evil was actually, according to Maguire, purely circumstantial. The story is so well developed, that it’s hard to doubt that Maguire’s isn’t the true story.

As I followed Elphaba through college, a career in the militia, a stay at an Oz-like convent, and her journey west, I came to appreciate her as more than a green-skinned evil creature. In the end, I was even rooting for her, hoping that the tornado would never bring Dorothy to Oz, or that somehow the fateful bucket of water might never be lifted.

Even though it took more pages than I would have liked, Maguire eventually won me over with this delightful tale that treats Dorothy as a secondary character, and finally gives the Wicked Witch a story of her own. If you don’t wish to have your ideas of Oz questioned, maybe skip this book and rewatch the film. But if you crave a new perspective, Maguire does this story justice.