Wicked by Gregory Maguire has become a mini-cottage industry for the author. There is the extremely popular musical, two (and soon to be three) sequels and other novels based on a similar premise (reworking of well known fairy tales). While the basic concept of reworking older, well-known characters isn’t new (Phillip Jose Farmer did itfor years), Maguire works with secondary characters (who aren’t fully developed in the source material) and works his stories around them.

Maguire’s first task was to give the Wicked Witch of the West a name, Elephaba (LFB – L. Frank Baum is the inspiration) and a family. Her parents aren’t very happy. Her mom came from a prominent family, but married a traveling minister. When her mom is seduced by a stranger bearing an elixer (in a green bottle), she is impregnated with Elephaba. Elephaba comes out with green skin, sharp teeth and an aversion to water. Elephaba’s mother is later seduced by another man, who might be the father of the other child Nessarose (who is born with no arms). The lack of arms make it hard for Nessarose to stand or walk, so she is constantly aided by a nurse.

Elephaba goes to college and meets Galinda and they eventually become best of friends. Galinda (now known as Glinda) has some personal setbacks and decides to change her study to sorcery, even though she isn’t nearly as good at it as Elephaba. Glinda enchants some slippers for Nessarose, to allow her to stand and that leads Elephaba towards the climax. The three main ladies are all animal rights believers and a murder on campus (and its subsequent coverup) change the direction of their lives and send the West, East and North (which earn them their direction based witch names). The rights of different species and people within Oz is a reoccurring theme in the book. It colors a lot of the story and moves the plot along in places. Elephaba’s life is riddled with personal issues from her family situation and her rivalries with Nessarose and Glinda.

I don’t wish to go over the entire plot (since the portion I’ve detailed only covers about the first third), but suffice it to say that the density and the time jumping cause a lot of characters to drop in and out of the book. The book deals with various political and social issues in and around Oz, before we get to the place where Dorothy drops in on Nessarose and the original story starts up.  It is a very dense novel, but a rewarding read, especially for those of us who love the original Oz series. Highly recommended.