Review For Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
I really enjoyed the book! It was a bit startling at first, with all the adult content, but it wasn't THAT bad... Okay, the Philosophy club was pretty awful. XD;;
There was a lot of grotesque stuff, but it was sad Fiyero had to die. And I didn't like Sarima and the sisters at first, but I really warmed up to them. :<
WHY DID THEY PORTRAY BOQ AS EVIL IN THE PLAY?! HE WAS A RICH MUNCKIN IN THE ORIGINAL WIZARD OF OZ BOOK!!! And in the book, there was no tricking Nessa, who was a stir-crazy religious freak. I didn't like her at all. But I really enjoyed Glinda when she was Galinda, and Elphaba when she was young. And of COURSE I loved the "inverted boys", Crope and Tibbett. Poor, poor Tibbett. ,_,
I liked the parts taking place in Shiz U the most. The characterization there was much cleaner, as was the story... it was just plain old enjoyable to read! XD
Yes, the ending was awful. In the original Oz books, there was a Golden cap thingy, and other green people, and a city of people made of China Glass in the Quadlings, and the monkeys could speak perfect English! I can't remember, though, if there really was a poppy field... Not to mention there was no Liir or Nanny, AND Maguire conviently left out how Elphaba kidnapped Dorothy and enslaved her for simply MONTHS, or that there was an old, wrinkly hag who called herself the Good Witch of the North. Glinda was of the South, and saved the gang after they traveled into the Dainty Little China Country...
Also, the musical relied too heavily on the relationship between Elhpie and Glinda, which isn't what the book was about at all, but then again I found the musical much more moving... That that I've seen it, but I have the CD, and my friends (and the Wikipedia, for that matter) told me about it...