The Wicked Years is a series of novels by Gregory Maguire that present a revisionist take on L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, its 1939 film adaptation, and related books.
Unlike the original novel series, the Wicked Years are targeted towards a mature audience and presented a very different and cynical version of Oz than its depictions by L. Frank Baum or previous adaptations.
It is told through the various perspectives of those who knew Elphaba, a green skinned outcast with an allergy to water who aspired social reform for the Animals in Oz but was branded as the Wicked Witch of the West.
The promotional info stated that the novel "will feature all sorts of magical mayhem, with the Emerald City plotting an attack on Munchkinland, while the Cowardly Lion runs for his life.
In the novel, the Grimmerie contains information on various supernatural creatures, including angels and an entire section on "Evil Particulars" (i.e. demons), methods of poisoning water and breeding a docile population, as well as diagrams of instruments of torture and weapons which Elphaba considers "too vile to use".
It contains a variety of incantations, written in a strange language, that allow her to perform various spells throughout the musical; the contents are considerably less gruesome than those of its novel counterpart.