Definitely not for children

Not at all what I expected, but a detailed, shocking story of Oz.
I haven’t seen the musical but I imagine there’s not a lot of this book in a family show.

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2 people found this helpful

Not as expected - which is a good thing!

Surprisingly darker, different to what the musical shows and makes me want to explore the rest of the series, at least the sequel.

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Great listen

Puts a totally different light on the original story, just begs the question" who was really Wicked ?????? " it's up to you to decide !!!!!!

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A fascinating insight into Elphaba’s history

Wonderful story, well performed. Creates a better understanding of what makes one wicked. Highly recommend a listen

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Weird & indulgent

I stuck with this, thinking it might improve. Alas, no… it was so self indulgent at times and pompous. Certain elements were obscure and disjointed and so difficult to follow the narrative. Also it was almost impossible to feel any connection with the characters. I think it may have helped to have been narrated by a female voice rather than the ponderous way this was delivered.

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8 people found this helpful

Enjoyed

I’m a huge fan of the musical and now film. Have read one before but some details weren’t retained. Happy to have heard listened and liked the performance throughout. Will definitely listen to the other 3 in the Wicked series.

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Wickedness has a reason

This was a reread for me. I wanted to read it again after the recent Wicked movie popularity. It’s still such an amazing book. I love how the author manages to fit everything in, to give everything a reason of being.

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Still one of my absolute faves.

I've listened more times than I can remember now and each time I spot something I've missed. the narration is fab. the storyline speaks to my soul. Just brilliant 👏

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Wicked wonderful

Great story. I had forgotten how cruel and nasty it is but how exciting and different too. I love it.

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Pleasantly Suprised

As a fan of the film and musical, I didn't expect much from Wicked (the book) when I first began reading it, because I had only seen negative reviews, so pretty much just started reading it so I could criticise it.

However, I found that I actually enjoyed the book. There are certain parts in the book that can be very off putting and difficult to listen to but that's the nature of the world the characters live in. The musical is great but it doesn't manage to maintain the tone or messages that the book does. The book is primarily a discussion about what makes a person wicked and if anyone is truly wicked. I think the characters are well developed and I enjoyed the overall plot.

In places it reads like a fanfiction but that's because it is, and I feel like people going into reading it should already be aware of that. I don't necessarily think thats a bad thing though (other than one grammatical error that made it through editing and really bothered me).

The musical also doesn't have the time to go into as much detail as the book (regarding the characters and overall world building), and I feel it is definitely noticeable, whereas the book is paced differently (due to it being a book) and fills in all the gaps the musical has. I feel like despite them being so different, the book and musical go hand in hand and neither would be as good without the other imo.

Overall, I would definitely reccommend Wicked.

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