The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
monchies's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
christar_123's review against another edition
3.0
I had to finish the series. Listened to it on audio book
writermaguire's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
brentkendra's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed the series. In the book Out of Oz I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to get out of the book. It seemed to drag on a bit in the middle but all in all I enjoyed the books.
candicem's review against another edition
1.0
I have never read a book that took 6 months to finish. So disappointing. I was hoping that this would be the exciting culmination to a disappointing 4 book epic tale. It wasn't. The ending left more questions and the possibility ( I hope not) of a continued series.
I'm not sure if Maguire even knew where he was going was this story. How do you end like that?
I'm not sure if Maguire even knew where he was going was this story. How do you end like that?
getnothingdone's review against another edition
4.0
I think Gregory Maguire may have fallen a little short of my expectations with 'A Lion Among Men' but he redeemed that with the final book of the Wicked Years series. The Wicked books are somewhat emotionally draining, but they are mostly wonderful. Maguire's strange, beautifully complex characters are written with such brilliant depth that it's hard to not get caught up with them. It's as though the author allowed us to glimpse into the lives of these people, to hover at the sidelines and witness them growing and changing and moving on, detached and yet as much a part of it as the other people who are at the edges of the protagonists' lives, hopeful and uncertain all at the same time. I am once again left feeling a little lost after coming to the end of a series of books in which I have become entwined, and I think that is the mark of a truly good book.
editorsansserif's review against another edition
3.0
On closing the back cover of Out of Oz, I was left shifting with disappointment on the couch, metaphorically grasping for there to be more to the end of this series, or even to the end of this tale.
Like many others, I was blown away by [b:Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West|37442|Wicked The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years, #1)|Gregory Maguire|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1370992578s/37442.jpg|1479280]; and I loyally persisted through books two and three. Each subsequent book had a lesser impact on me than the first, but I still cherished their stories, lingered in their endings for weeks. Yet when I woke the next morning after finishing Out of Oz, I felt nothing. The story had finally ended, but not with some sort of singing triumph or great mystery: no, it was about as flat and safe as your regular old airport landing of a 747.
Maguire has never lost a charming way with words, a capability to use language with richness and reach into the inner world of many characters at once. This novel's plot, however, nudged forward slowly as it strung from one introspective session to the next, while the characters outwardly spent most of the novel listlessly doing little of nothing. Threads of the story were dropped and then picked up far later, as if forgotten, and casually brought back in as if such a long lapse had meant nothing.
The finale of the book (and series) was so sudden and brief in comparison, but in the end, it left the impression of an old, knitted sweater left on a couch, mostly done but without the ends tied up.
Like many others, I was blown away by [b:Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West|37442|Wicked The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years, #1)|Gregory Maguire|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1370992578s/37442.jpg|1479280]; and I loyally persisted through books two and three. Each subsequent book had a lesser impact on me than the first, but I still cherished their stories, lingered in their endings for weeks. Yet when I woke the next morning after finishing Out of Oz, I felt nothing. The story had finally ended, but not with some sort of singing triumph or great mystery: no, it was about as flat and safe as your regular old airport landing of a 747.
Maguire has never lost a charming way with words, a capability to use language with richness and reach into the inner world of many characters at once. This novel's plot, however, nudged forward slowly as it strung from one introspective session to the next, while the characters outwardly spent most of the novel listlessly doing little of nothing. Threads of the story were dropped and then picked up far later, as if forgotten, and casually brought back in as if such a long lapse had meant nothing.
The finale of the book (and series) was so sudden and brief in comparison, but in the end, it left the impression of an old, knitted sweater left on a couch, mostly done but without the ends tied up.