Coming on the heals of the 'Wicked" movie, readers will likely purchase this title thinking "Oh great, a back story to read on Elphaba until the second movie comes out." Honestly, depending on whether or not they have read a Gregory Mcguire title or like his style of writing will have a lot to do with if they enjoy this novel or not. This is a book that is likely "review proof".

As a huge wicked fan I wanted to like this but it just wasn’t it. It felt unnecessary to the original story. I think a lot of wicked the movie fans will flock to this without knowing this book series is a far jump from the musical

While the concept of delving deeper into Elphaba's childhood is fascinating, the result was a tad underwhelming. While Gregory Maguire's style of writing prose can be long and flowery, I always appreciate the attention to detail that he's able to convey or the abstract concepts that he's attempting to put into concrete descriptions. Elphie was a pleasant read, but to me I came out of it having gained no extra knowledge of Elphaba's childhood. Overall, it was a nice way to enjoy more of Maguire's Oz.

I loved the previous books in this series and was eagerly looking forward to this one. Maybe my expectations were too high, or I wasn't in the right mood, but this latest addition to the Wicked series let me down. Whatever the reason, I had a difficult time staying engaged with it.

Readers of this series are familiar with Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, but how did she become the person we are familiar with? This book focuses on Elphaba's childhood, her relationships with her siblings and parents, and the situations she encountered early in life. Maguire explains Elphie's backstory, which should have been enlightening, but I struggled with it. At times, the writing was disjointed and hard to follow. I put the book down several times, hoping it would get better; it didn't. 2/5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and William Morrow, for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The publication date is March 25, 2025.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This book was barely readable. The writing style didn’t flow well, and nothing seemed to happen. The story didn’t make sense and didn’t feel like a compelling prequel.

Ebook received for free through NetGalley

I’ve read the quartet over ten years ago and recently watched the movie based on the broadway. As such I jumped on this book when I saw it. Similar to the others it was a good read and great to get a prequel to the stories.

Another dark and twisty installment from Oz!

While the story is largely about the childhood of Elphaba, the stage is also set for the political climate that we see in Wicked: othering and mistreatment of groups, distrust, panic, etc.

This was a good prequel for a story that has reached people for decades now, and it added depth to the history of the Wicked Witch of the West. As they say: “are people born wicked, or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?”

DISCLAIMER
Maguire’s stories of Oz are NOT the same as Wicked the broadway musical or movie. It is the *inspiration for* not *script of*, and I would encourage you to check content warnings and especially parents to review content of these books before approving their child to read it. I will also say that I read Wicked at 15 or 16, and my parents most definitely did not know what I was reading. It was a little much for me at the time, but an interesting read nonetheless.

I really had high hopes for this but I couldn’t get through it. I gave it 2 stars. I was hoping that it would’ve been like the original but it fell flat for me.

First off, if you are familiar with the musical/movie, but not the books, be aware that the books are very different from the musical, they are much darker.

That said, this new book is a prequel centered on Elphaba and the Thropp family. There's not much of a plot to follow, as it skips time several times (it starts when Elphie is about 3, and ends when she is around 16 or maybe a little older, as she's entering Shiz). That said, there is a small plot about trying to find the family of someone they were once acquainted with. It's a nice little backstory about Elphie growing up and her upbringing and ultimately how she ends up going to Shiz. It also alludes to some other things about her future at different times.

I enjoyed it, but be aware that the language Gregory Maguire uses is a little different than most modern books, and it can be a little challenging to follow at times.

Dnf at 60%. I felt like this was more of a political backstory of Oz, rather than a story about Elphaba’s childhood in Oz.

I really wanted to love this book. I enjoyed both the broadway musical and part 1 of the recent Wicked movie. I haven't read any books for the OZ characters, so I thought I'd start at the beginning with this one. The sentences were formatted in an odd way. I would read a paragraph over and over again because I wasn't sure I understood what it was trying to say.

Thank you NetGalley, William Morris and Gregory Maguire for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for access to the ARC 😍I am obsessed with Wicked and was so excited to be able to read this so soon. I enjoyed this book. It gave you more insight on Elphie’s childhood and how she became who she was. This was great! I wish I could have read this before reading Wicked.

I am very grateful to have been chosen as an ARC reader for Elphie in exchange for an honest review.

Bad news for the folk that like reading things in chronological order… this prequel book is much better enjoyed after reading Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Gregory Macguire’s writing style is unique and takes some getting used to. You really are just thrust into his world with little to no backstory. If you have not read the main book/series recently, you may be a bit lost starting this book. A lot of names and places are thrown around and it is a little overwhelming.

That being said, I really enjoyed the writing and I will eat up any bit of Elphaba and the Wicked universe you give me.

It’s hard for a novella to wow me, hence the three stars, but it was an enjoyable read and a great little addition to the main story.

3 stars.

The writing was okay. It wasn't really as captivating as I thought it would be. There wasn't really a good flow to the book either which is why I had trouble getting into the book.

Let me start off by saying I absolutely LOVE Wicked (the book). I read it back in 2006 for the first time, and it helped me during a hard time by transporting me to the world of Oz. When I saw Maguire wrote a prequel (to the prequel?) I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. Sadly, I was very disappointed in “Elphie.” It felt like Maguire was trying to shoehorn the musical’s versions of Elphaba into her already established book characterization. Elphaba of the book and musical are two very different iterations, and Elphie tried to straddle the line between the two, making it feel disingenuous to the character.

Beyond the odd choice in characterization, the story itself was not compelling. It was quite slow without any sort of action at all. No climax or stakes. The plot simply rambles on with uninteresting settings and forgettable characters. Even the Elphie is this book is quite forgettable.

This one hurts, but I couldn't finish. Made it almost halfway, but I can't anymore. It just feels like the author saw an opportunity to cash in on the movie and threw this together quickly. Wicked is one of my favorite books, I was very excited about this one. But in all honesty, it's just not good. Thank you, NetGalley and William Marrow, for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this book, which obviously will capitalize on the current popularity (and Oscar nominations) for the film, Wicked: The Musical. The writing is difficult at times -- very dense descriptions of characters and their feelings mixed in with short bulleted sentences that seem out of nowhere. Despite that, it is Elphie -- and her younger, armless sister, Nessa, who are the heart of the story. The parents -- the bombastic minister father and the mother who died in childbirth, are presented in a dichotomy that helps the reader see where lonely, conflicted green-colored Elphie will later become the Wicked Witch of the West. We see the beginnings of her intolerance of water and her beautiful singing voice. But we also see the darker sides of the developing personality. Other characters, sweet Nanny, rascally baby brother Shell, and father figure Unger also are described in ways that definitely influenced Elphie's eventual change into Elphaba, in my opinion.
And more than a cohesive plot, this novel is solidly a character-driven piece. I found myself skimming over parts, but then I would come across beautiful passages that I had to go back and re-read. A few of my favorites:
From Nessa: "my great moral strength is that I don't lie, either. A paradox: I may not have arms, but I am armed with the truth."
From Elphie: " 'You don't know me, nobody knows me.' Not even myself. She doesn't understand why her reaction is sudden outrage. Or is it fear."
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and William Morrow for the e-ARC and the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance reader's copy of the book. I wanted to enjoy this book, I really did, but I didn't. I honestly feel like this is a cash grab written book riding the shoulders of the popularity of the Wicked movie. In my opinion and this is just my opinion, nothing new was learned nor was this a necessary book. I loved the original Wicked book and enjoyed the continued story through the follow up books, but this was a pain to read as I just couldn't get into it and it didn't hold me.

As a huge fan of Gregory Maguire’s “Wicked”, I was incredibly excited to receive this arc of “Elphie”. The idea of learning more about Elphaba’s upbringing was just so enticing.
That being said, this book was a big let down for me. Being one to give it a thorough chance, I painstakingly pushed through this. It took me over a month.
While I found the majority of this book to be extremely boring, I did like to see how the ending ran into the beginning of her journey at Shiz University.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for this advanced copy in return for my honest opinion.

Pub date: 25 March 2025

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I’m sad to say I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would, mainly because I could not get past the writing style. I absolutely loved The Wicked Trilogy that was written years ago and thought this would be a perfect read to start out the new year, and while the tales regarding Elphaba’s past were enjoyable, the writing style really affected my rating of the book.