I just finished Wicked. Wow! It was such a long, painful go for such a short book. It took me most of the summer because I just couldn’t bring myself to give up on it entirely. I hear that the musical is divine and I expected more from the book.

The length of the book was about 450 pages but this book certainly seemed much longer. It was somewhat interesting to get a backstory for the Wicked Witch of the West and I really empathized with her as the protagonist but the story never quite managed to grab me. I found myself turning the pages waiting to see how it somehow all came together at the end. Rather than create a tie-in to Oz (or maybe he did and I don’t know because I never read the Wizard of Oz), the world Maguire created never really helped me imagine what it was like. Do you suppose the movie’s to blame? Would have been easier if I hadn’t had the picture of the movie witches in my mind?

I don’t know. I don’t really know how many stars I’d attach either. I guess I’d go about three out of five. It was okay – not fantastic. It’s a book I don’t expect to read again. The burning question is what do I do with Son of a Witch? Is it okay to give a way a book you’ve never read because you didn’t like the prequel?