The Wicked Years
| Author | Gregory Maguire |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Published | 1995–2011 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
The Wicked Years is a series of novels by Gregory Maguire that present a revisionist take on L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, its 1939 film adaptation, and related books.
This is a very different and cynical look at Oz as is seen in the books by L. Frank Baum or the film(s). Unlike the originals, these books are not intended for children. This Oz is beset with many social problems like the discrimination against sentient animals (called Animals in the book) and racial tensions between the various human ethnic groups in Oz. Many of the protagonists in the Wizard of Oz are presented either as antagonists or neutral.
There are four books in the series.
The first novel, published in 1995, was Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, a book detailing the life of the infamous villain from Baum's books, now called "Elphaba". It is told through the various perspectives of those who knew Elphaba (who would become branded as the Wicked Witch of the West), an outcast aspiring social reformer with an allergy to water. The novel was a huge success, and was later adapted into a smash hit musical, which opened on Broadway on October 30, 2003.
A sequel, Son of a Witch, was published in 2005, and detailed the life of Elphaba's son Liir. It is told through the perspective of her son Liir who is trying to find his half-sister Nor and incidentally finishes some of Elphaba's work. It begins not long after the end of "Wicked."
A third novel was published in 2008, titled A Lion Among Men; the protagonist being the Cowardly Lion, now called 'Brrr'. His history from cubhood to current time of the book is given in parallel with the history of the oracle Yackle, who was introduced in "Wicked." Their stories overlap with "Wicked" and "Son of Witch", carrying the story about eight years past "Son of a Witch."Lion was the first book to introduce the title "Wicked Years".
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