Alright, I knew this wasn’t going to be like the movie or the musical but I hadn’t expected how political or dark this was going to be.

Split into four parts, Maguire adds nythos and sin to the origin of the Witch of the West, starting with her sinful beginnings, spawn of a religious fanatic and flighty wife who can barely remember her affair. They thought the green skin Elphaba was born with was a result of their own failings and thus little parental affection ensued.

Nonetheless, Elphaba was of their blood and part 2 begins with Galinda meeting her unfortunate roommate at Shiz and the exploits of their Charmed Circle of friends, Boq, Fieyero, Avaric, Miffa etc. as Galinda, and the like aim to amass power and prestige while Elphaba fights for the rights of Animals and untangles the origins of the Kumbic witch and its relation to Oz’s power struggles. Galinda, Elphaba and her sister, Nessarose also get drawn into the headmistress, Madam Morrible’s spell, literally, as potential pawns for the Wizard which Elphaba resists and makes a daring escape.

Which leads to part 3 where 10 years later, Elphaba becomes an underground activist or terrorist depending who you ask. We catch up with the Charmed Circle’s exploits now and the bittersweet remembrances of schoolfriends, youthful idealism and how everyone has changed to their most cynical and powerful selves, turning back on change and become part of the systems of oppressed.

Oh, and Elphaba and Fieyero get it on in a barn which eventually leads to his death sparking part 4 where she Elphaba journeys to Winkie lands to plead forgiveness of Fieyero’s wife with their son, Lir (not that anyway acknowledges the bastard’s origins). Plus more political push and pull of the Wizard’s machinations to take over Munchkinland, consolidate power in the Emerald City, expell Animals and so on.

Part 6 is the most familiar taking the events of the Wizard of Oz as Elphaba descends to madness, bitterness and regret over her life choices, dovetailing wildly between conspiracies that Dorothy is sent by the Wizard to kill her as part of a bigger plan from Oz annd trying to put aside her feelings to welcome the innocent girl, so like herself onceupon a time.

Yeah, we all know how that ends.

As for what I thought, I admired how Maguire is so immersive in his writing that you can feel the history and mythos of Oz like a real world empire. It has conflicting tales, superstitions, magic system and politics that it would take ages to detail it all. It felt like a real world one could visit and I’m just amazed how Maguire was able to compile all of that information that just came from his head.
Okay, with the help of Baum but still. He made it feel less like a fantastical other world but a grounded place with a complex history and culture that one can’t understand much like one from the U.S. trying to understand the history of Burma or Uruguay.

I liked the themes he wove with the characters of Oz where friendships fade and change as we age, what we become often is what one tried to fight against or friends fail to stand by their ideals or worse, look away, complacent as if the fact they can’t change things means they should ignore it like it doesn’t affect their lives when it does.

It also delves deeply into Elphaba’s psyche as it should as she contemplates whether her goals are as noble as she believes or all driven by her own selfish desires and childhood wounds. Maybe she is as wicked as her parents believed her to be, as the people believe her to be after Oz’s smear campaign, why not embrace it?

Also, one must enjoy the way Maguire sneaks in the origins of everyone else like the Tin Woodsman or Chester, the Lion as one of the first abused Animals Elphaba saw and rose to fight for, Galinda, Boq, so on.

Since this is a Maguire book, it can get longwinded. You can tell Maguire enjoys world-building and damn he’s going to exposit and tell you everything about the world that you feel like you’re in the lecture hall with him. And thus feel a bit zoned out too. Also the usual elements of twisted sexiness are present and still feel out there as ever.

Good book but I will leave others to decide which is better, book or musical?

4 stars.