Are you a fan of Wicked? (The movie, or the musical the movie is based on, or the book the musical is based on, or the movie that book was based on, or even the book by L. Frank Baum that kicked off the whole saga?) Then here are some other books to check out! If you're a fan of the musical and/or musical but haven't read the book by Gregory Maguire, you could start with that (although be advised that the book's tone is rather different from the musical). Or try one of these other fantasy books that have a similar style of worldbuilding and/or are adapted from other classic stories.
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Wicked
by Gregory Maguire Set in an Oz where a morose Wizard battles suicidal thoughts, the story of the green-skinned Elphaba, otherwise known as the Wicked Witch of the West, profiles her as an animal rights activist striving to avenge her dear sister's death. |
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The adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi
by Chakraborty, S. A. While trying to settle into a life of piety, motherhood and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural, Amina al-Sirafi, one of the Indian Ocean's most notorious pirates, is offered a job she cannot refuse, but soon discovers this final chance at glory comes with a high price—her soul. |
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The bird king
by G. Willow Wilson Fatima, a concubine in the royal court of Granada at the height of the Spanish Inquisition, and her friend Hassan, the palace mapmaker, risk their lives to escape when the latter is accused of sorcery. |
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Black sun
by Rebecca Roanhorse A trilogy debut by the Nebula Award-winning author of Star Wars: Resistance Reborn is inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and follows the unbalancing of the holy city of Tova amid a fateful solstice eclipse. |
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The bright sword
by Lev Grossman Arriving at Camelot to compete for a spot on the Round Table, a gifted young knight Collum instead finds only a handful of knights left after the Battle of Camlann, and together, joined by Merlin's apprentice Nimue, set out to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance. Simultaneous. |
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The chosen and the beautiful
by Nghi Vo Immigrant. Socialite. Magician. Jordan Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American society--she has money, education, a killer golf handicap, and invitations to some of the most exclusive parties of the Jazz Age. She's also queer and Asian, a Vietnamese adoptee treated as an exotic attraction by her peers, while the most important doors remain closed to her. But the world is full of wonders: infernal pacts and dazzling illusions, lost ghosts and elemental mysteries. In all paper is fire, and Jordan can burn the cut paper heart out of a man. She just has to learn how. Nghi Vo's debut novel The Chosen and the Beautiful reinvents this classic of the American canon as a coming-of-age story full of magic, mystery, and glittering excess, and introduces a major new literary voice. |
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Lucy undying
by Kiersten White Escaping from Dracula's clutches and trying to discover who she really is and what she genuinely wants, Lucy Westenra finds her undead life taking an unexpected turn in 21st-century London where she falls in love with Iris, who is also yearning to break free from her past. |
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Queen B : the story of Anne Boleyn, witch queen
by Juno Dawson In 1536, after her secret lover Anne Boleyn is beheaded, witch Lady Grace Fairfax will do anything in her power to expose a traitor until King Henry VII assigns a cruel man blinded by faith to end witchkind itself, and Grace, to get revenge and live, must be reborn. |
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The scandalous confessions of Lydia Bennet, witch
by Melinda Taub This lively retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, as told from the perspective of Lydia, the much-maligned youngest Bennet sister, is filled with enchantment, intrigue and boundless magic as she comes to learn that, for a witch, promises have power. |
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To shape a dragon's breath
by Moniquill Blackgoose Revered as a Nampeshiweisit, a person in a unique relationship with a dragon, by her people, 15-year-old Indigenous girl Anequs, at odds with the“approved” way of doing things, is forced by Anglish conquerors to attend a proper dragon school– and if she cannot succeed there, her dragon will be killed. |