I totally paused!

Title: Son of a Witch
Author: Gregory Maguire
Publisher: Regan Books
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 352
How I Read It: Hard cover purchased by me.

Synopsis: Ten years after the publication of Wicked, we’re returned to the land of Oz.  We are reintroduced to Liir, an adolescent boy last seen hiding in the shadows of the castle after Dorothy did in the Witch.  Bruised, comatose, and left for dead in a gully, Liir is shattered in spirit as well as in form.  But he is tended at the Cloister of Saint Glinda by the silent novice called Candle, who wills him back to life with her musical gifts.

What dark force left Liir in this condition?  Is he really Elphaba’s son?  He has her broom and her cape – but what of her powers?  Can he find his supposed half-sister, Nor, last seen in the forbidding prison, Southstairs?  Can he fulfill the last wishes of a dying princess?  In an Oz that, since the Wizard’s departure, is under new and dangerous management, can Liir keep his head down long enough to grow up?

My Review: The first time I read this book, I didn’t think much of Liir himself.  He’s a rather obtuse boy who becomes a rather obtuse sort of man.  Subsequent readings have somewhat altered that perception of him, but on the whole, he’s still very frustrating to me.  I can’t remember the last time I read a character who seems to despise themselves this much and thinks so little of their own value.  Oh wait, yes I can – it was Bella Swan!

Liir is a boy who has really suffered from not knowing the truth of his parentage – and to an extent, no one fully knows that truth anyway.  It becomes clear over the course of both Wicked and this novel that he is, in fact, the offspring of Elphaba and Fiyero, although even to the reader I guess we’re never quite sure about that either.  So I can see how Liir would be so confused, and happy to just wander around wherever the wind blows him for quite some time.

Although he never demonstrates the talents that my beloved Elphaba possessed, it’s obvious after a time that he does share some of her characteristics, particularly her protectiveness of Fiyero’s family and desire to help the Animals of Oz.  He is far less capable than she is, but manages to have an impact despite his uncertainty and lack of talents.

The book has a weird pacing to it, sometimes it’s difficult to tell what is a flashback and what is happening in the present, but I realized – that’s kind of the point.  Liir is stuck in his memories, no one is sure if he’ll live or die, and we’re going on this journey with him.  We need to find Liir’s voice as much as he does, to figure out his role in life, and ultimately see if he can contribute to the history of Oz.

As was the case with Wicked, I feel like Maguire devoted a lot of time and thought to this novel with the full intention of making it be a piece of the larger puzzle that is his entire series.  For those who have read further into the series, you probably know that each of these books is focusing on a different segment of what is going on in Oz, everything is another piece that falls into place.  And a lot of this book makes more sense to me later on, which I’m sure will only improve when I finish the series.

Read this book if: I would encourage anyone who is a fan of this series to read the second book – still one of my favorite series ever.

My Rating: 4/5 – Borderline Amazing!

Title: Wicked
Author: Gregory Maguire
Publisher: Regan Books
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 406
How I Read It: Paperback purchased by me.

Synopsis: When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum’s classic tale, we heard only her side of the story.  But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch?  Where did she come from?  How did she become so wicked?  And what is the true nature of evil?

Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again.  Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability, and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence.  And then there is the little green skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly, and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

My Review: I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve read Wicked, but I can safely say that I enjoy it more every time I read it.  I adore getting caught up in the world of Oz regardless of the source, but Maguire’s world holds a special place in my heart.  I feel like I catch more about this world every time I read the series, which makes me respect Maguire even more as an author.

This version of Oz provides a great backdrop for commentary on things that are going on in our society, and really can be modified to think of social issues we’re dealing with at any time.  The struggle of the Animals in this book can be likened to the struggle of any minority in our social landscape, which makes it more sad to me because I know these kinds of horrible things have happened in our history, and are still happening now in some way or another.

Aside from all the political and social implications, we get to see the entire life of Elphaba, and her involvement with the other important figures of Oz that we are already familiar with – Glinda, the Wizard, the Cowardly Lion, Tin Man, and the Wicked Witch of the East.  Maguire does a great job of linking all these people together, since Oz is such a small land you know many of them would have come in contact with each other before Dorothy’s arrival.  It also sets the backdrop for future books in this series, as we see the origin of the Lion in this book, who goes on to be a central character in the third book in the series.  At the same time, I originally read Wicked before any sequels had come out, so it’s fascinating to see how Maguire has weaved these threads together over the course of the whole series, and built upon the foundation he sets up so nicely in the first book.

As always, I immensely enjoyed reading this book again, and even though we all know how the Witch meets her end, I keep hoping a little bit that it’ll be different somehow.  Through the brilliance of the series, however, we do get to see Elphaba’s life carry on in a way, which really fills me with a joy.  She’s such an amazing character, one that I feel so many ties to, and I’m so glad to have her in my life as often as I want.

Read this book if: I’m a huge fan of this series, so I would suggest it to anyone!  I sort of force this book upon anyone who displays any interest at all.

My Rating: 5/5 – Did I say cool?  Make that awesome!

I had no idea this book was coming out, so imagine my surprise when I see in the airport a book that I *think* is a Gregory Maguire book. And then how happy I am to find it is a continuation of the Wicked storylines!

Of all the Wizard of Oz characters, the Cowardly Lion was one of the ones that was least interesting to me. However, that didn’t stop me from immediately buying and reading this book. It starts out kind of slow, and I admit that the switching from time and character was a bit frustrating at first. I would feel like I was just getting into a story and then bam! different character.

I also suffered from not having read Wicked or Son of a Witch anytime recently, so I was somewhat confused about the timeline for awhile. For some reason, I had thought that Liir’s actions in SOAW brought about the fall of Shell Thropp as Emperor of Oz, so I thought all this was taking place earlier in the timeline. It wasn’t until it was later mentioned that I became aware of this actually being the “newest” time wise in the series.

To some extent, I could have done away with some of the story. Mostly because, as mentioned above, my interest in the Cowardly Lion has been limited. I am, however, in love with Elphaba and Liir, so I was more interested in their aspects of this story. If you’re looking for a lot about them, it’s quite a ways into the book before you get much news. The book reads quickly enough though, so it doesn’t feel like a waste of time to get to those precious gems.

I’ve been hoping for a continuation of Liir’s story since finishing the last book, and I will continue to hope for that. I think if I weren’t so invested in those other characters, this book would have been better for me. However, it stands well enough on it’s own and although I don’t recommend picking it up if you haven’t read the first two books in the series, it’s definitely worth reading. Though, maybe grab it from the library first and then decide if you want to own it after reading.

Read this book if: You have been waiting, like me, for any new Oz material from Maguire. He never disappoints, even if the topic isn’t necessarily what I had been hoping for.