Reviews - Wicked: [Movie Tie-In]: the Inspiration for the Smash-hit Musical and the Upcoming Major Motion Picture

11.2k reviews for:

Wicked: [Movie Tie-In]: the Inspiration for the Smash-hit Musical and the Upcoming Major Motion Picture

Gregory Maguire

3.4 AVERAGE

tenkarasmart's review against another edition

4.0

Good book with interesting themes and characters and political undertones.

canadiancat's review against another edition

2.0

2/5 stars

This is such an interesting premise that the author does not execute well.

atalante42's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

doestoriread's review against another edition

4.0

elphaba i can fix you pls dm me

aurorhex's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

an0987's review against another edition

4.0

funny reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I haven't seen the Wicked movie or the musical, so reading this book was my first introduction to the story. I found it well-written with a tongue-in-cheek style humour. The world building was wonderful with vivid descriptions and a colourful cast of characters. Overall, I found it easy to read and Maguire did a fantastic job of creating morally ambiguous complex characters that overwhelmingly felt real and sympathetic. That being said, I think this book is best suited for teenagers and young adults since some of the themes here (e.g. coming of age, good vs evil, young love) were handled in a way that I think would be more illuminating to a younger audience. In terms of storytelling, it felt a bit lopsided at times with the story arcs and inner machinations of certain characters, such as Glinda, not really being fleshed out.

My 4 out of 5 star rating is for this as a YA novel. For older adults, I'd put this at around 3.5 out of 5. I think you'll enjoy this if you enjoy coming of age stories based around magic, though be prepared for a hefty dose of darkness and realism.