My review of The WIcked Years

I've been missing the weekly prompts over at Mamakatslosinit for the last few weeks. Not because it isn't awesome over there, but I've just felt so busy for the last month. (Not that I can see anything I've actually accomplished though).  I picked prompt #1:

A book Review:
Wicked: The Life and Times of  Wicked Witch of the West.
by Gregory Maguire

For as long as I can remember I've had a love for The Wizard of Oz. I think it must have  started with some old Christmas ornaments my grandmother has that we hung on our tree every year. The anticipation of fall coming around so I could watch it was almost as bad as waiting for Christmas. (These were the days before we had countless channels and anything to watch 24 hours a day. This was the time before VCR's....yes I said VCR's, So the one time it came on TV each year was IT for me.

Over the years my favorites have always been the Wicked WItch  of the West and her flying monkeys. When I was little I imagined my wedding dress would look like Glenda's dress. Munchkinland was the MOST beautiful place on earth.

For some reason, I've never been one to collect things, so I don't have a room (or even a box or shelf) dedicated to Wizard of Oz things. I'm not a Trivia person, so sorry....I can't tell you how old Toto was when he died, or how many Rubies covered The Ruby Slippers.

My sister had been telling me about the book for who knows how long, and I FINALLY remembered to have a copy ordered to our local library.

So on to the review. I loved it. It had some slow places through-out, but I was able to press on because loved the characters so much already. I felt pissed and disappointed at a few of the "good" characters, and had an even bigger "witch crush" on Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, than ever before. From the time she was born it was obvious she was an outcast for the most part, and it's a wonder she turned out to be the strong woman she was all the way up until the end when Dorothy melted her. Just like in "real life" there are social injustices, political corruption, and greed throughout the land. Try it...you may be surprised who you end up viewing as "the good guys" and "the bad guys".

I was happy to find out that this is a series 'The Wicked Years" and that there are 3 more books in the series. In order I think are:

1. Son of a Witch--- yes she had a son.

2. A lion Among Men---the story of , Brrr, (name of) the cowardly lion and his history with the Wicked Witch before she was The Wicked Witch and before he met Dorothy.

3.Out of Oz----the grand finale that has Glinda the Good Witch on house arrest, Brrr the Cowardly Lion on the run from the law of the land, and a return of Dorothy to wrap things up.

I'm on a waiting list for "The Son of a Witch". Hopefully, it becomes available when this semester is over in a few weeks. It'll be a good start to a restful summer.