I read this for work and I will say this now, it's not worth it.

Full of political ideas and satire that ring true to this day, this story is held back by clunky writing and info dumping. The writing is like wading through big words and complex ideas with no true conclusion in sight, only for it to pop up as you're drowning in it and it's much too late for the point to matter. I like the concept and the world building and expansion of the Oz world was very interesting. However, just because you have the world building in your back pocket doesn't mean your reader needs to know every last detail of it unless it's relevant to them and the characters. The whole first part is just these two elements warring with each other for dominance.

As we switch perspective, it gets interesting. We get to see the lives of Galinda, Boq, and the going-ons of Shiz. I enjoyed this part a bit more, so that's why the story isn't a 1 star or a DNF, but it was still a lot of frills that felt unnecessary and once again all the moments of interest were bogged down by clunky prose.

At the end of the day, this was an interesting read, but I don't think I'd recommend it. Save yourself the trouble and watch the Broadway musical to get the heart of the story in a succinct 3 hour rather than suffer this book. Please note, this is not a book for kids.

TW: sexual content, violence, animal cruelty, death, infidelity, bullying, sexism, racism, murder, religious bigotry, genocide, bestiality; mentions death of a parent, rape, slavery, cannibalism