So, I've only recently listened to the Wicked soundtrack, went looking for fic recs, and ended up here. And man, was this a good place to end up.

This story is so well plotted; everything fits together and you really believe that every character is trying their hardest to get where they want to go. And the characters are so well written! I'm incredibly attached to your OCs now and would happily read a novel about Basalt or Brollin or Rasp even if Elphaba was nowhere to be found (although I really hope she would be?). There were multiple times when something happened to a character and I actually gasped because I was so upset that they were hurt :( And the WORLDBUILDING. Everything about how the Nome King's plan unfolds is spectacular, I think I'm going to have to read this again to get the full scope of what's going on - and I'm more than happy to do so! - but everything about him and Diggs and the war council and the society was fascinating.

This is amazing, I'm in awe of your writing skill and so thankful that I got the chance to read something as good as this. Thank you for writing!

I absolutely loved this story! I always found it funny when people saw Elphaba and were terrifies, or their reaction that she wasn't allergic to water. Excellent job! :D

I'd like to apologize for the last review, I was reading another story in another window, left, came back and saw the tab was a fanfiction, and didn't check what it was. Sorry! I'm pretty embarrassed now.

I always wondered where Snape learned occlumency, glad that you decided to fill in the blanks!

I stayed up until 3 o'clock in the morning reading the last couple chapters.

I just have to say I love this story. It's great, epic, exciting, scary and intriguing. I loved the characterisation of Glinda, Elphaba, Dorothy, everyone, really. I loved the OC's (and that's rare for me). I just loved this story.

That said, I did miss Fiyero sometimes. After Elphaba escapes her cell and goes to the Wizard's cell, I would have thought she'd want to free Fiyero immediately. I understand the plot demanded that she had to wait, but it didn't make sense to me at the moment. She loves him, wouldn't she want to make sure he's ok? The same goes for at the end of the story, the meeting with Ozma is over, and instead of going to her rooms with Fiyero, she's drinking alone, and he only shows up later. (I admit, there's a big chance the Scarecrow was still needed for another meeting or something, but why not tell us then?). And there were other moments when I kinda missed Elphaba thinking or worrying about him. (You probably can tell I love Fiyero/Elphaba...)

But those are minor concerns, as I said, I love this story and I've already recommended it to my sister. Thank you for writing this epic, and sharing it with us!

An abrupt and fascinating start led into a plot that continues your fascinating tradition; congratulations.
The opening creates some very intriguing questions about what happened to the Wizard even before you introduce the mysterious observers watching what’s taking place in Oz, and subsequent events were very well-written, to say the least. Not only do you create a fascinating villain in the form of the Nome King (I acknowledge that he’s probably based on the source material of ‘Return to Oz’, but since I haven’t seen that I’m judging the villains based on your work), but you give him an intriguing motivation while also giving Glinda a fascinating moral dilemma, as she convinces herself that she has to work with the conquerors of Oz to regain what she lost.
Elphaba’s own alliances are also handled well, the native Ozians relying on her through necessity rather than genuine trust at first even as they learn more about her, and her subsequent encounter with the Wizard is very well-handled, clearly exploring everything that led to him reaching this point after his initial actions (To say nothing of the intriguing possibilities of his longest ‘hallucination’ while in captivity; what he saw wasn’t real, but his speculation about that other reality was still interesting).
The Nome King’s subsequent explanation for his actions is also fascinating, presenting him as a more sympathetic character in terms of his motives even as his actions limit our desire to sympathise with him; he might say that he and Elphaba are basically the same, but there’s a difference between Elphaba being unwilling to trust others after bad experiences and him going out to attack an entire country even before he was confirmed to be barking mad (Although you put an interesting bit of thought into how the Ruby Slippers ‘worked’, on that topic).
Also, I definitely approved of your new twist on Dorothy’s role in the confrontation with the Nome King; enough changes are made for the other characters to have a chance to do some damage to that psychopathic hunk of rock in retaliation for everything he’s done to them, but Dorothy and her new allies still get a chance to shine at the end like they did in the original version of events (One type of fanfic I will always dislike are writers who basically stick in their own characters while depriving others of their defining moments; your means of giving Elphaba a chance to do damage to the Nome King without depriving Dorothy of her own role in the victory was brilliantly handled). The concluding revelation was also handled well, with Boq, Glinda and Dorothy each accepting and moving on from the lies they were told earlier to accept that the situation is always more complicated than they assume, leading into an excellent ending as the loose ends are resolved and all appropriate parties get what’s coming to them.
With this as another example of your fine work, I definitely look forward to seeing what you have planned for ‘Land of What Might-Have-Been’; keep it up!

Fascinating plot line so far, though I have only read to chapter two. Excellently written, wonderful idea, and of course, my all-time favorite musical. Excellent!

... You wouldn't happen to have the desire of making a sequel?

I was actually thinking in that scene, "What if Fiyero screwed up and called her Galinda?" And what d'ya know? I was right!

Bravo! I was linked here from TVTropes and just gave several days to this story- extremely well done! But I have to know- are you at all familiar with Babylon 5? Because the Nome King's temptation of Elphaba in chapter 26, in particular his repeated question of "what do you want?" put me so much in mind of Mr. Morden from that show. In any case, if you ever do get around to writing a sequel to this, I'd gladly read it.

I find it so deliciously ironic that I listened to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" while reading this.

Sequel! Sequel! Sequel!

Thank you. For sharing your talents with the world, and for finding the drive to make their applications a success.
Glinda and Elphie as teachers! Genius! They would remind me of my 4th-grade teachers, who worked totally in tandem (in the same classroom), and were two of the best teachers I've ever had. And yeah, great ending there. But poor Basalt, his ending was so sweet and sad.
So Ozma, does she have to have successors? She can die, right?
If you do write a sequel, it has to be - a sequel, and not a tired spin-off that tries to relive the glory days, if you know what I mean. And I'm pretty sure you already know that.
Happy writing! Cyberhugs!

of course I looked up crocodile shears...as well as the other ones you listed