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I initially read this book because I watched the movie "Wicked". I found myself confused; I had never seen the musical or read the original "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West", so I was unable to bridge the plot points occurring in the musical movie with what I knew of the original "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" movie. So, in a quest for understanding, I read this book, assuming that it was a case of important details being left out in the adaptation.

I cannot express how different the musical is from the novel that inspired it. And the novel is so far removed from the plot of the original "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" that calling it a "re-imagining" is a stretch. Almost none of the major plot points of the original book occur in the "remake" and characters are fundamentally different. This book is as closely related to "The Wizard of Oz" as "Fifty Shades of Gray" is related to "Twilight". I cannot help but feel some level of pessimism, because the author clearly had their own aspirations for a rich and dynamic world, but instead of creating their own they have chosen to build off the success of others.

Beyond just the differences between the original and this remake - which could honestly be forgiven if that were the only transgression - the book is disgusting. The author cannot help but reference urine at least once a section, and whenever a child is present in a scene, their sexual development must be mentioned at least once. It's completely unnecessary and adds nothing to the book but a disturbing observation. Whatever the motivation behind them, there was DEFINITELY a better way to deliver whatever message the author was attempting to send.

And the third strike for the book, in my view, was that it was just boring. The story meandered and swayed, rarely keeping me engaged. At one point, the climax of the Shiz section of the book, I thought things were going to get interesting. I thought I was about to depart on an epic adventure of espionage and rebellion. I was reading quickly and excited for what may happen next. Instead of an adventure, however, the book transitioned into a romance novel. But not before a random trip to a sex dungeon by some of the side characters. Then, after the dungeon and romance portions had concluded, it turned into a sleepy quest for forgiveness. Then on to a decent into madness so rapid it no doubt gave the showrunners for Game of Thrones inspiration. Summaries of this series do not do justice to just how little happens in each chapter, despite the length of the book.

At no point in the story did I care about the characters' motivations. Nor did any actions they took make particular sense to me. Behavior and motivations changed on a page by page basis and new side quests were constantly introduced with little impact on the main through-line (if any exists at all).

I have no intention of continuing the series. I don't know that I would recommend this book to many people. I'm sure there are many that love this book, but I'm afraid that I am not one of them.

I found out about Station Eleven through an NPR podcast. I had added the book to my reading list but didn't get around to reading it before my wife suggested we watch the show. We get four or five episodes into the show and I am confused on character motivations - characters in the show don't behave how real humans would. So I looked to the book to fill in the blanks.

I found that the book far out-shined the show when it came to quality. The show seems lost in trying to append a moral message and action sequences to the book's initial plot. It takes what it wants from the show, primarily character names and origins and overarching plot points like the Georgia Flu, then twists them into an alternative interpretation in an effort to distinguish itself from the book. In my opinion, instead of bastardizing the well-written story of the original novel, the show should have created it's own characters with their own motivations built in the same universe. The two mediums needed never cross paths, but instead are forced into comparison.

Focusing on the book, I found it uplifting and hopeful. After each reading session, I found myself looking at things in my life that I take for granted - especially technology and the internet - and I see them with fresh eyes and renewed appreciation. I am writing this message using a machine that translate kinetic energy on a keyboard into electricity and stores that electricity as a series of 1s and 0s somewhere on a server someone else hosts. The concept is astounding and its recreation would be nearly impossible if everyone responsible suddenly died. In my opinion, this is where the book excels. Pointing out the things in modern life that take astounding feats to produce and result in simple tasks - all this effort should be honored and appreciated more than we do now.