BookRank

Reading order

The Wicked Years reading order

Gregory Maguire

  1. Wicked1995
  2. Son of a Witch2005
  3. A Lion Among Men2008
  4. Out of Oz2011
7.57.5 / 10
182 ratings
Score
4 volumes
Volumes
1995–2011
Published
about 35 h
Reading time
Completed
Status
Fantasy
Genre

Quick answer

Wicked
Start withWicked1995 · Volume 1 of 4
Open the volume →Buy the first volumeListen to the audiobook

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Publication order

4 volumes1995–2011Completed

  • Gregory Maguire’s retelling of the Land of Oz from the side of the Wicked Witch of the West: Wicked follows Elphaba from her green-skinned birth through political awakening in an Oz that is far darker and more political than Baum’s.
  • It inspired the stage musical and its films, but the novel is denser and bleaker.
  • Read in order; the sequels follow her son and the wider land, and rate a little lower.

A plan for the whole series

4 volumes, 1,808 pages, about 35 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 6 weeks.

  • From volume 2 on, the number of ratings falls most before volume 3, “A Lion Among Men” (by 52%). Plan your break after volume 2, before the series plans it for you.

Stages

2 stages, with 1 short book from outside the series between them. You finish around December 21, 2026, 9 days later than in one go.

  1. Stage 116 habout 3 weeksby November 19, 2026
  2. BreakMaus · Art Spiegelman · 295 pp. · score 9.05 h, by November 29, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
  3. Stage 217 habout 3 weeksby December 21, 2026
  4. The end of the series
    December 21, 2026
In one goDecember 12, 2026about 6 weeks
In stages, with breaksDecember 21, 2026about 8 weeks · +5 h of other books

We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.

How this plan is calculated

The plan comes from the pages and ratings of each volume: we split the series into stages of about three weeks’ reading, size each break to the stage before it, and read the chance of finishing from how many readers rate the last volume compared with the first. How we work out the plan →

Every volume in order

Read: 0 of 4
  1. Wicked
    Wicked1995 · 16 ratings · Not ranked yetStart here
    –Not ranked yet
  2. Son of a Witch
    Son of a Witch2005 · 123 ratings
    7.57.5 / 10
  3. A Lion Among Men
    A Lion Among Men2008 · 59 ratings
    7.67.6 / 10
  4. Out of Oz
    Out of Oz2011 · 40 ratings · Not ranked yet
    –Not ranked yet

Order checked by hand · Order and years: Wikidata (CC0). Spotted an error? Tell us. · Data updated October 29, 2026

Frequently asked questions

Which Wicked Years book is the best?

By reader score, A Lion Among Men (7.6/10). The lowest-rated is Son of a Witch (7.5/10).

Which The Wicked Years book is the longest?

“Out of Oz” is the longest at 568 pages; the shortest is “A Lion Among Men” with 368 pages.