by Gregory Maguire

I’ve been meaning to read this book for sometime.  I’ve always been a fan of The Wizard of Oz, and I thought the idea of digging into the past of the Wicked Witch of The West was a fun premise.  After being completely disappointed by the last read though, I approached this with a sense of caution.  I was wary of being disappointed.

Lucky me, I was not disappointed.  It was a fun fantasy through and through.  It was very fun to see glimpses of the Oz I’m familiar with within this new land of Oz which the author created. I was enchanted by all the characters, and I especially enjoyed the friendship and its complexity of Galinda and Elphaba.

I’m not going to spoil this book by going into much detail, but I will say that if you are a fan of the musical, this is a different story apparently, so keep that in mind before curling up with the book.  I also should mention that there is one scene in the book which is pretty disturbing.  It takes place in “The Philosophy Club” and I most certainly will not go into details, but I will say that I didn’t find the scene necessary to the story at all, and I thought it could easily have been done without.

Overall though, this was an enchanting read and a fantastic choice to take me away to another world for a few hours.  I definitely recommend this book, and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel, Son of A Witch.