![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
niori_1709It seems that I’m in the mood to cover some sequels to books I’ve already reviewed. Like previous entries, if you haven’t read the first book, then there will be spoilers in this review. So read at your own risk! This time, I’m going to be talking about the sequel to one of the first books I ever reviewed, Gregory Maguire’s ‘Wicked’. This is the second book in ‘The Wicked Years’ series and the topic of this review is ‘Son of a Witch’.
If you remember ‘Wicked’ at all (and you should, since it was such a memorable book), you’ll recall that we were left with more questions than answers. The biggest question, in my humble opinion, is whether or not Liir, the boy who traveled with Elphaba for the last part of ‘Wicked’, is her son or not. ‘Son of a Witch’ is Liir’s story. It is, primarily, a coming of age story. It follows Liir from the end of ‘Wicked’ to his adult years. He is searching for his origins, which are as murky to him as they are for the reader. Of course, it’s not going to be an easy road. The situation in Oz is growing worse, and as the potential son of the Wicked Witch of the West, it’s even more dangerous for Liir in particular. Elphaba has come to represent the resistance to the tyranny of the Wizard. There are people out there who won’t allow Liir to possibly carry on her legacy.
‘Son of a Witch’ is a dark story, like ‘Wicked’ before it. It can be downright gruesome at times, and is not a book where they all live happily ever after as an ending. In fact, the book would have suffered if Maguire had gone that way. ‘Son of a Witch’ isn’t as good as ‘Wicked’, but that might just be because Elphaba was my favourite character, and she is not in the book. As a hero, Liir is harder to like. Most of the time, he comes off as even more of an anti-hero than Elphaba. It’s an interesting book and a great continuation of Maguire’s adaptation of the Oz stories. Believe me, after reading these two books, you’ll never watch ‘The Wizard of Oz’ movie the same way again.
If you remember ‘Wicked’ at all (and you should, since it was such a memorable book), you’ll recall that we were left with more questions than answers. The biggest question, in my humble opinion, is whether or not Liir, the boy who traveled with Elphaba for the last part of ‘Wicked’, is her son or not. ‘Son of a Witch’ is Liir’s story. It is, primarily, a coming of age story. It follows Liir from the end of ‘Wicked’ to his adult years. He is searching for his origins, which are as murky to him as they are for the reader. Of course, it’s not going to be an easy road. The situation in Oz is growing worse, and as the potential son of the Wicked Witch of the West, it’s even more dangerous for Liir in particular. Elphaba has come to represent the resistance to the tyranny of the Wizard. There are people out there who won’t allow Liir to possibly carry on her legacy.
‘Son of a Witch’ is a dark story, like ‘Wicked’ before it. It can be downright gruesome at times, and is not a book where they all live happily ever after as an ending. In fact, the book would have suffered if Maguire had gone that way. ‘Son of a Witch’ isn’t as good as ‘Wicked’, but that might just be because Elphaba was my favourite character, and she is not in the book. As a hero, Liir is harder to like. Most of the time, he comes off as even more of an anti-hero than Elphaba. It’s an interesting book and a great continuation of Maguire’s adaptation of the Oz stories. Believe me, after reading these two books, you’ll never watch ‘The Wizard of Oz’ movie the same way again.
