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Books : Wicked (Wicked Years 1)
Rating: 
- Misses the mark
This book has a very interesting premise - is the Wicked Witch of the West truly evil, or just misunderstood?
The first part of the book works well, explaining the birth of the witch and the backstory between her, the witch of the east and the good witch of the north.
However, once the action moves to the Emerald city and beyond it begins to unravel. The basic problem is that it drags on for too long before getting to the part everyone wants to read - what happens when Dorothy appears. Unfortunately the ending is completely unsatisfying, and as the witch's death does not tie in with the original book or the film ultimately the concept is completely undermined - what is the point of writing a backstory to an existing tale when you twist the original to suit your own needs?
Rating:
- 4 Star first half, 2 star second.
What an intriguing premise, an "evil" character for once having a back story, superficially it could all sound a bit David Cameron with his hug a hoodie campaign but under the guts of it there is some real substance here and something we should not ignore.
Elphaba is born to parents Melena and Flex; Melena is a women of some social standing and Flex is a preacher for the Unnamed God but it somewhat taken aback when his daughter arrived. His green daughter. Elphaba is - as you would expect - not all she at first appears to be and unnerves not only her parents but those around her but for all her unusual colouring a bright mind and a compassionate nature are fostered. She takes this onto University at Shiz in the great Emerald City where she comes as close as she ever will to having friends, making as much of an impression on them as they do on her.
This part of the story for me was really well crafted and to get to the point where Elphaba is happy in herself takes around half of the book, unfortunately once you reach this point the best is behind you, if it could have kept on in this vain it would have happily been a strong 4 star book. However...
Elphaba feels the manipulative world she lives in more than most and begins to doubt the very morale fibre of those around her who are charged with her protection. A particularly brutal scene with Doctor Dillamond, the Goat professor and the subsequent meeting with Madam Morrible convince Elphaba that her time at Shiz is limited and that soon it will be time to move on and take a more direct role in the development of Oz.
I struggled with the transition of Elphaba the most in this book. The author has an admirable aim in trying to make us question the morality of life and how good and evil aren't always at opposite ends of the yellow brick road but for all this good intention I found the development of Elphaba hollow and unbelievable. As I alluded to earlier up until she is at university I think he nails it but that crucial moment where she truly forms her beliefs is clumsy and mismanaged. From then on in it is a brick house built on sand, if you cannot accept that part of her change the rest is very tough to empathise with. I am glad that he didn't use her skin colour as a platform for bullying to justify her descent into "evil" but unfortunately I don't feel he gave a suitable motivation in the absence of this.
This isn't a fairy tale in the style of the book it is originally based on so don't expect happy endings and a huge song and dance at the end but as this is what it isn't I found myself looking deeper into the characters and storyline that I would if it was a fairy tale. This - for me - meant it came up painful short.
Rating: - Not as good as I'd hoped...but...
Perhaps my expectations of this book were too high, or perhaps I expected something with a more comedic twist to it?
The problem for me with this book is that it is very dark and at times a little disturbing.
That's not to say that's a bad thing, but rather that you need to be prepared for that, as the perception held by a reader before they open the book shapes your impression of it as you read. Don't (as I did) expect it to be a riotous good laugh because it certainly isn't. It's also more complex than I anticipated.
However!
It's still a good book and it's cleverly woven together; though I struggled with it at times I really wanted to know what happened and so I persevered. And I'm glad I did.
Therefore: I would recommend to those who require a 'retold' story with a slightly darker twist and a lot of depth.
Enjoy!
Rating:
- Enjoyable and interesting but not great literature
There's no denying that I enjoyed reading Wicked immensely. The concept is intriguing, and well executed. I loved the idea that the Wicked Witch of the West was really a counter-revolutionary freedom fighter and the way Maguire weaved the story into the original film was clever. I would have rather it had been tied to the original book but that link was somewhat less neat. Maguire raises some interesting issues regarding the nature and cause of evil but I found these parts of the book laboured and obvious, detracting from rather than enhancing the novel. I really wish that my book club had choosen to read this book because I think it would have provoked a good discussion, as well as being enjoyable for a broad range of people.
Rating: - Book club fodder
Despite a very imaginative premise, one that should have been an author's gift, Maguire proceeds to ruin it all with a combination of a disjointed story and pseudo-philosophic ramblings on the nature of evil. The crimes against story telling are serious - galactic sized plot holes, characters coming and going, hanging story threads and so on.
I know this sounds incredibly snobbish but in parts the novel has the tone and feel of a coffee morning discussion and the whole thing felt like a teenager's first "serious" novel. The book could have been a lot simpler and would have carried its message (whatever that was) with more clarity. However I did like the illustrations by Douglas Smith!
- Misses the markThis book has a very interesting premise - is the Wicked Witch of the West truly evil, or just misunderstood?
The first part of the book works well, explaining the birth of the witch and the backstory between her, the witch of the east and the good witch of the north.
However, once the action moves to the Emerald city and beyond it begins to unravel. The basic problem is that it drags on for too long before getting to the part everyone wants to read - what happens when Dorothy appears. Unfortunately the ending is completely unsatisfying, and as the witch's death does not tie in with the original book or the film ultimately the concept is completely undermined - what is the point of writing a backstory to an existing tale when you twist the original to suit your own needs?
Rating:
- 4 Star first half, 2 star second.What an intriguing premise, an "evil" character for once having a back story, superficially it could all sound a bit David Cameron with his hug a hoodie campaign but under the guts of it there is some real substance here and something we should not ignore.
Elphaba is born to parents Melena and Flex; Melena is a women of some social standing and Flex is a preacher for the Unnamed God but it somewhat taken aback when his daughter arrived. His green daughter. Elphaba is - as you would expect - not all she at first appears to be and unnerves not only her parents but those around her but for all her unusual colouring a bright mind and a compassionate nature are fostered. She takes this onto University at Shiz in the great Emerald City where she comes as close as she ever will to having friends, making as much of an impression on them as they do on her.
This part of the story for me was really well crafted and to get to the point where Elphaba is happy in herself takes around half of the book, unfortunately once you reach this point the best is behind you, if it could have kept on in this vain it would have happily been a strong 4 star book. However...
Elphaba feels the manipulative world she lives in more than most and begins to doubt the very morale fibre of those around her who are charged with her protection. A particularly brutal scene with Doctor Dillamond, the Goat professor and the subsequent meeting with Madam Morrible convince Elphaba that her time at Shiz is limited and that soon it will be time to move on and take a more direct role in the development of Oz.
I struggled with the transition of Elphaba the most in this book. The author has an admirable aim in trying to make us question the morality of life and how good and evil aren't always at opposite ends of the yellow brick road but for all this good intention I found the development of Elphaba hollow and unbelievable. As I alluded to earlier up until she is at university I think he nails it but that crucial moment where she truly forms her beliefs is clumsy and mismanaged. From then on in it is a brick house built on sand, if you cannot accept that part of her change the rest is very tough to empathise with. I am glad that he didn't use her skin colour as a platform for bullying to justify her descent into "evil" but unfortunately I don't feel he gave a suitable motivation in the absence of this.
This isn't a fairy tale in the style of the book it is originally based on so don't expect happy endings and a huge song and dance at the end but as this is what it isn't I found myself looking deeper into the characters and storyline that I would if it was a fairy tale. This - for me - meant it came up painful short.
Rating:
- Not as good as I'd hoped...but...Perhaps my expectations of this book were too high, or perhaps I expected something with a more comedic twist to it?
The problem for me with this book is that it is very dark and at times a little disturbing.
That's not to say that's a bad thing, but rather that you need to be prepared for that, as the perception held by a reader before they open the book shapes your impression of it as you read. Don't (as I did) expect it to be a riotous good laugh because it certainly isn't. It's also more complex than I anticipated.
However!
It's still a good book and it's cleverly woven together; though I struggled with it at times I really wanted to know what happened and so I persevered. And I'm glad I did.
Therefore: I would recommend to those who require a 'retold' story with a slightly darker twist and a lot of depth.
Enjoy!
Rating:
- Enjoyable and interesting but not great literatureThere's no denying that I enjoyed reading Wicked immensely. The concept is intriguing, and well executed. I loved the idea that the Wicked Witch of the West was really a counter-revolutionary freedom fighter and the way Maguire weaved the story into the original film was clever. I would have rather it had been tied to the original book but that link was somewhat less neat. Maguire raises some interesting issues regarding the nature and cause of evil but I found these parts of the book laboured and obvious, detracting from rather than enhancing the novel. I really wish that my book club had choosen to read this book because I think it would have provoked a good discussion, as well as being enjoyable for a broad range of people.
Rating:
- Book club fodderDespite a very imaginative premise, one that should have been an author's gift, Maguire proceeds to ruin it all with a combination of a disjointed story and pseudo-philosophic ramblings on the nature of evil. The crimes against story telling are serious - galactic sized plot holes, characters coming and going, hanging story threads and so on.
I know this sounds incredibly snobbish but in parts the novel has the tone and feel of a coffee morning discussion and the whole thing felt like a teenager's first "serious" novel. The book could have been a lot simpler and would have carried its message (whatever that was) with more clarity. However I did like the illustrations by Douglas Smith!