Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

*S P O I L E R S* BELOW... Gregory Maguire took a very interesting concept for a novel, and turned it into a truly boring and rambling story that can best be described if you listen to the song, "Is That All There Is?" by Peggy Lee. After I read the last page, I think I became a book-burning sympathizer. Elphaba starts out as a very complex intuitive character, who progresses to the point of being part of a huge network of rebels who are trying to assassinate the Wizard (due to his Nazi-like running of Oz). For reasons not truly explained well, she abandons everything she believes in and morphs from a well-rounded interesting character you could empathize with, into a flat character with no motivations and no interests. This transformation lasts through the end of the novel where the eventually becomes a lunatic who causes her own death. (question for those who enjoyed the book: She starts off with this network of "terrorists", yet when she gets back in the game and aligns herself against the wizard again, where has this network gone?) Major characters you assumed would have important roles in the book were discarded randomly (i.e. Boq), and others were brought to the forefront without any sort of development (i.e. Fiyero). And speaking of random silly characters with no point, can someone please tell me why she spent 1 year with Fiyero's family in a rambling useless 100 pages worth of agony? And can someone else tell me why she spent 6 years screwing around the castle doing nothing after Fiyero's family were kidnapped? One might think they meant nothing to her (As not a single attempt to free them was described), but then you come to her meeting with the Wizard where she pleads through tears to get them back. One would think that her possession of the magic book would make her somehow stronger or more magical, but you would be incorrect in assuming so. IN fact, Elphaba doesn't really do anything Witch-like except ride a broom that apparently anyone can operate. Does that make everyone else a witch too? Lastly, with all the tyranny in the land, her life and her death meant nothing and changed nothing, which is the thing that pissed me off the most about this book. It served no purpose, and if the writer was attempting to discuss the origin or nature of "wickedness", he did a piss-poor job. For every issue and non-answered question I listed above, there's 100 more. Do not buy this book. IF you must read it, then go to the library or borrow it from a poor chump who has bought it already (i.e. like me).