Wicked

I've tried to read Wicked twice now. The first time I got about 1/3 of the way through. I've tried again recently and got about half way. BORING!!!! I've had a lot of people recommend this book, but I just can't seem to get into it. I ususally need to like at least one character to enjoy a book and I don't care for any character in this book. I give up. Too many good books waiting to be read! Anyone else have difficulty getting through it?

It was hard but I did finish it. The end does get better but it's still not that exciting. I keep fighting with myself to try another book of Maguire's but I'm not sure I can do it.

I found it tedious and preachy myself. I did read the whole thing though. 1st and last for Maguire.

I read the whole thing, too, and I'm didn't like it much either. I won't be reading any of the sequels.

I was disappointed in it too. I talked to a used bookseller a few years ago and he said he had way too many copies of that book. Not one that people hung on to, or passed around between their friends.

I tried to read Wicked, too. I really wanted it to be good, but I couldn't get through it.

I'm glad I'm not alone. I heard so many people go on and on about it. I was thinking that I was weird.

Don't let the book put you off the musical, though. The musical is only loosely based on the book and is better in many ways, oddly enough.

I'm a bit obsessed with fairy tale retellings. I devour them, typically. The first Maguire I read was Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and I still think that one is superior to Wicked (though admittedly, I have a thing for Oz, so I love the book). I think I grew to appreciate his writing style more in Confessions and then in Mirror, Mirror-once I stopped worrying about reading every line and jsut let the story wash over me, it became better for me to read. That being said, I thought Lost was terrible and would never recommend it.

I agree with kaelirenee: both Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and especially Mirror, Mirror were better than the Wicked series -- and there's a new one just out called Out of Oz

It's the premise that is so enticing. I was sorely disappointed at the treatment, and gave it up.

I agree with those who liked Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister better -- I thought the language was more beautiful and the story moved better. But I still liked Wicked well enough to finish it. I want to try re-reading it so I can move on to the other books in the sequence.

I found a great deal of Wicked to be pretentious. It's like he wanted to show off his wonderful skills with political and religious rhetoric. I remember some writer once commenting that men only wrote love stories to show off their skills with poetry (this was a hundred or two years ago). That's how I feel about Wicked. It's like he wrote all the rhetoric and then bent and warped a story around it to make it fit.

I enjoyed Son of a Witch more than Wicked. Read the whole thing and got lost a few times but found his other stories seemed to be better.

Out of Oz, which ends the series, was absolutely wonderful. Don't give up, Pam_B!

Always so great to know we're not the only one! I chucked my half-read copy on the recycle pile too!

Loved the musical, hated the book (which I actually read first). Maybe I'll try Confessions, based on recommendations here.

Mirror Mirror is my favourite.