Son of a Witch (The Wicked Years #2)
The long-anticipated sequel to the beloved and hugely successful novel
Wicked, now Broadway's #1 smash hit musical
When a Witch dies-not as a crone, withered and incapable, but as a woman in
her prime, at the height of her passion and prowess-too much is left unsaid.
What might have happened had Elphaba lived? Of her campaigns in defense of the
Paperback, 444 pages
Published
October 1st 2008
by Harper
(first published October 1st 2005)
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I've read a lot of reviews for this book and most people seemed to hate it. You will notice, however, that I gave this book five stars.
To those who hated it, I say this: I see what your problems are.
The story is badly paced (most of the 'action' happens in the last third), the reader spends most of the time being confused as to what's going on (while it is a third person narrative, it is limited third person), some of the characters seemed half-drawn, the narrative is v...more
To those who hated it, I say this: I see what your problems are.
The story is badly paced (most of the 'action' happens in the last third), the reader spends most of the time being confused as to what's going on (while it is a third person narrative, it is limited third person), some of the characters seemed half-drawn, the narrative is v...more
I've read a lot of terrible books, but this one possibly wins the distinction of being the worst book that I have ever read. It was awful.
An explanation....I liked Wicked and I have read all of Maguire's other books. Every time a new Maguire book came out, I read it and they seemed to progressively go downhill. I didn't expect Son of s Witch to be very good, but I wanted to give it a chance.
The only reason that this book was possibly written, is due to the success of the...more
An explanation....I liked Wicked and I have read all of Maguire's other books. Every time a new Maguire book came out, I read it and they seemed to progressively go downhill. I didn't expect Son of s Witch to be very good, but I wanted to give it a chance.
The only reason that this book was possibly written, is due to the success of the...more
I made a mistake reading this book. I should have known from the ending of Wicked that it wouldn't get much better. But I held out hope. My hope was that "well, maybe the ending I didn't get in Wicked, I'll get here, and maybe that was the plan all along, to fully revise things in a sequel, as that would be more the author's OWN and he'd be less pigeon-holed."
Alas, that wasn't the case.
Again, 98% of this book is a great read. But the two main problems I had with...more
Alas, that wasn't the case.
Again, 98% of this book is a great read. But the two main problems I had with...more
"Wicked" kind of annoyed me from time to time ... inspite of the fact that I loved reading Elphaba's story. If that book fell a little short ... then this book (the sequel) completely misses the mark. Maguire did okay when he was writing on the basis of someone else's work ... but here on his own he flounders. Whatever it was that did not sit well with me from "Wicked" is found tenfold in the pages of "Son of a Witch." At first I thought that it was just Maguire's t...more
This book was so satisfying. Liir, son of Elphaba, comes into his own and after 266 pages, he begins to do incredible things to help other people, lead, unite, take the helm of his mother’s legacy. And it’s so realistic because he does it while still in a state of confusion and self-doubt, obstacles he never really overcomes (neither did Elphaba really). I love how everyone says to him “if only Elphaba was here to see this…” The Bird Congress aka Witch Nation (charged by Liir to be the eyes of O...more
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I really enjoyed Son of a Witch, despite the feeling that it’s just an interlude in a larger story. With Wicked, I had lots of preconceptions about the characters, and whilst I liked the slant on them that the book provided, I suppose it did get in the way a bit. With Son of a Witch, I didn’t have those same obstacles to get past.
I enjoyed finding out more about Liir. I felt he was shabbily treated in Wicked, so it was interesting to follow his development here. I did want to shout at ...more
I enjoyed finding out more about Liir. I felt he was shabbily treated in Wicked, so it was interesting to follow his development here. I did want to shout at ...more
I'm not sure why this has an average of 3.32. It's a great entertaining and thought-provoking book. Maybe I'm prejudiced toward GM, but I loved it, and think it came to its inevitable conclusion. Can't wait for the next (which goes into Mother Yackle if anyone's following the series - he read a bit at last year's Grub Street conference).
I just looked at some of the other reviews and disagree on so many levels. The kinship of Elphaba and Liir is demonstrated quite well through his be...more
I just looked at some of the other reviews and disagree on so many levels. The kinship of Elphaba and Liir is demonstrated quite well through his be...more
Liir sets out on his own after the fall of the Witch to find his possible half-sister Nod and find that Oz is in political change with the departure of the Wizard. Son of a Witch isn't great book (I would consider Wicked a great book), but it isn't bad. The problem with Son of a Witch is that it feels like filler to a bigger story. It does touch upon some of the questions left over from Wicked (despite now being a "series", I don't think Wicked was intended to be anything but a stan...more
As much as I liked Wicked, I had an inkling I was going to like Son of a Witch even better, especially given the beginning, with the spate of senseless "scrapings" and the discovery of the unconscious boy, who turns out to be Liir, the book's protagonist and the potential son of the Wicked Witch of the West.
The beginning was indeed good. Engaging. I especially enjoyed the brief time Liir spent with the Yellow Brick Road friends from The Wizard of Oz. I'm a huge WoO nut, but...more
The beginning was indeed good. Engaging. I especially enjoyed the brief time Liir spent with the Yellow Brick Road friends from The Wizard of Oz. I'm a huge WoO nut, but...more
Mahina
rated it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who liked Wicked
Shelves:
listenedto
I liked this story better than "Wicked". It has similar elements of political intrigue and activism to "Wicked" but it is painted with a more strident brush.
I am a great an of Maguire and enjoy while being grossed out by his realistic (read graphic) descriptions of nearly every aspect of life.
"Son of a Witch" is Liir's story and throughout "Wicked" you never really find out if Liir really is Elphaba's son. In SOW, the same lack of explanation...more
I am a great an of Maguire and enjoy while being grossed out by his realistic (read graphic) descriptions of nearly every aspect of life.
"Son of a Witch" is Liir's story and throughout "Wicked" you never really find out if Liir really is Elphaba's son. In SOW, the same lack of explanation...more
Finally a character to like...Liir's character is fully loveable, unlike many of the Wicked characters. He is much more human, and vulnerable and fully developed. The book can be slow, especially in the first half, but the story is so rich that it kept me interested. I do understand other reviews about the story being confusing and disconnected...sometimes the jumping around and references from the first book can be hard to follow.
I agree with some of the reviews that say the story was promising and had potential to go many places, and then fell flat. I realized that half way through the book, not a lot had happened, and I could tell that the pace wouldn't be picking up. After finishing the book, I realized that this book is merely the part 2 of the Wicked Trilogy- it was merely a segway to the next book. None of the mysteries were solved, though there were traces throughout the book that it would come much much later. Th...more
Jeez, and I thought Wicked was bad. Wicked was mostly plagiarizing Baum's universe, and it still managed to be a trite exercise in politically correct stupidity. When Maguire strikes off on his own, the results are twice as insufferably self-absorbed and soporific. If I could give this book no stars, I would; it was the final straw that made me convince my fiancee to permanently purge all Maguire from our library. Not worth the effort of acquiring, even as a paperweight, unless you're a maso...more
Andrew
rated it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who didn't think Wicked was a slow read and Liir was a boring character.
Shelves:
fantasy
This book is about The Wicked Witch of the West's alleged son, Liir. Liir was a boring character, but if you were going to write a sequel to Wicked, I guess you had to start somewhere. I mildly enjoyed the book because it featured reprisals of such characters as Glinda, Princess Nastoya, Nanny, and others from Wicked, including Shell who was only talked about in Wicked. The story, however, was rambly and boring. I wouldn't have gone on reading it if I didn't simply want to know where Gregory...more
I love the Oz universe, but I don't really like Maguire's style. But for some reason I've read this damn book 2 times.
Not nearly as good as Wicked, but still very enjoyable. Like its predecessor, there's a lot in here about personal responsibility -- to the people in your life vs. the society you live in, and how they aren't usually the same thing in the immediate. To me, Liir seemed less a child of fate than Elphaba; he chooses a lot of his problems. His story was very interesting, though.
(One thing in the negative -- when I read Wicked, I thought Maguire's literal interpretation of common phrase...more
(One thing in the negative -- when I read Wicked, I thought Maguire's literal interpretation of common phrase...more
While I really enjoyed Wicked, I'm not entirely sure what I think of Son of a Witch. Parts of it had the makings for going somewhere, other parts just fell flat, and the highlight of the whole book was the political turmoil that's building the whole way. My mom seemed to think highly of it when she gave me my copy, but later discussions, she agreed it was a little flat.
If you enjoy Maguire's other work, give this one a read and see what you think. If you didn't enjoy Wicked or don't ...more
If you enjoy Maguire's other work, give this one a read and see what you think. If you didn't enjoy Wicked or don't ...more
Well written, a solid sequal, but for me a bit of a disappointment. Liir, the "son of a witch" is carrying on after Fabala's death and quite frankly, I expected more of him. The Green Witch remained magical despite Maguire's literary attempts to humanize her and the World of Oz. Or rather, I should say, his attempts to display Oz for a world beyond the everyday transactions of school, politics and relationships. Magic was uncommon but practiced, and in Fabala's case it was inherent. I ...more
I liked it the best of the three
At the end of Wicked I was left wanting more from this series of characters I had grown to love. Son of a Witch offers this opportunity, but it never fully lived up to the first novel. My reaction to it reminded me of the disappointment I felt as a child when I read the lesser known novels in the Chronicles of Narnia series. I was disappointed because I wanted the feelings and the comradely that were established in the first book. I whole heartedly agree with the following review, [http://ww...more
Jenny
rated it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who honestly and truly liked the first book without reservations
Recommended to Jenny by:
my 28-year-old self
Shelves:
read-in-2008,
books-not-worth-finishing
My apologies to Jeff, I hereby withdraw my recommendation of the book Wicked. It really has been quite a few years since I read it, and I thought I had a good memory of enjoying it. I stand corrected.
I picked up this book, the sequel to Wicked at the library last week. I didn't get even 100 pages in, it was way too violent and graphic. There is something about the style, something fascinating (I think this is what I liked about the first one) but the things described were pretty mu...more
I picked up this book, the sequel to Wicked at the library last week. I didn't get even 100 pages in, it was way too violent and graphic. There is something about the style, something fascinating (I think this is what I liked about the first one) but the things described were pretty mu...more
I really wanted to like this novel. I loved Oz as a child, am always glad to see someone take it up as a subject, and a prequel, Wicked, was pretty good. This one, though, is terrible.[return][return]Liir, the main character, is so thinly drawn he seems almost disembodied, spending most of his time alone wondering who he is and what his place in the world might be. Frankly, it was almost impossible to care, particularly given irritating authorial idiosyncrasies such as Liir's incessant intern...more
I was really impressed with Son of a Witch's predecessor, Wicked. Written a decade earlier, Wicked had a set purpose - beyond the art of storytelling (and the story WAS wonderful), Wicked had an underlying intention of exploring the many possible roots of evil.
Son of a Witch falls flat. It serves merely as a continuance of Wicked's story line, and altogether abandons the philosophical wonderings of Wicked. Like the younger sibling being asked by teachers, "Why can't you be more like your...more
Son of a Witch falls flat. It serves merely as a continuance of Wicked's story line, and altogether abandons the philosophical wonderings of Wicked. Like the younger sibling being asked by teachers, "Why can't you be more like your...more
I'm deeply conflicted by this book. On the one hand (and I'd like to give a LOT of credit to reader Danii who pointed this out in her review), Maguire wrote this in a style that was rambling, conflicted, annoying, and at times going nowhere on PURPOSE. Because that's the kind of character Liir is. He knows very little about where he's from (heck, he can't even decide where he WANTS to be from), can't make up his mind about what to do with his future (other than in a sort of "well, this won'...more
In the years after she attended school at Shiz Univesity, Elphaba Thropp, a.k.a. the Wicked Witch of the West, whose tragic life and death were chronicled in Wicked, had a lover, Prince Fiyero of the Vinkus, the land lying west of the Emerald City. Fiyero was abducted and murdered by Gale Force officers, shock troops of the Wizard of Oz. Pregnant with Fiyero's child, Elphaba fled for sanctuary to the Mauntery of St. Glinda just outside Shiz, where she fell into a months-long coma. Upon her re...more
So ... we discussed the heck out of this one at book club, and I had a hard time writing my review. Plus, it was book #51 of the year for me, and I wrote this book review when I was reading #86. I really should have written this review earlier!
I do remember saying multiple times that I liked this one way better than Wicked, and I believe that can be owed to two main things:
1. a much better editor. This one didn't ramble in any way, shape or form like its predecessor
2....more
I do remember saying multiple times that I liked this one way better than Wicked, and I believe that can be owed to two main things:
1. a much better editor. This one didn't ramble in any way, shape or form like its predecessor
2....more
this is a re-read for me--i read it a few years ago when it first came out, after having been blown away by Wicked : The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.
when i first read Son of a Witch, i felt fairly dissatisfied with it. i mean, here's this guy with birthright up the wazoo, this guy should be a firebrand, he should rally all the right-thinking of Oz and send the Bad Guys on the shinkansen to hell, right? but no. he sort of gets blown from place to place, from quest to ...more
when i first read Son of a Witch, i felt fairly dissatisfied with it. i mean, here's this guy with birthright up the wazoo, this guy should be a firebrand, he should rally all the right-thinking of Oz and send the Bad Guys on the shinkansen to hell, right? but no. he sort of gets blown from place to place, from quest to ...more
Upon the demise of the Wicked Witch of the West, a young Liir sets out toward the City of Oz among Dorothy and her ragtag bunch. Bent on finding his possible half-sister Nor, Liir finds himself on a decade of character building and self-discovery. Brought back from the brink of death by a young Quadling woman named Candle, can Liir become more than the possible son and nuisance of the Wicked Witch, or will he continue to prove himself an amoral moron?
Continuing the saga of Oz, Magu...more
Continuing the saga of Oz, Magu...more
Where Wicked is the story of the tragic death of Elphaba, a flawed but rather admirable character, Son of a Witch is the story of the redemption of Liir, a flawed, whiny, and only barely admirable character. Liir is perhaps a more realistic character (at least, I can see myself in his insecurities and aimlessness) but that doesn't make him likable.
The book starts off with a physically broken Liir carried to the Mauntery where he spent his early childhood. His physical wounds are treat...more
The book starts off with a physically broken Liir carried to the Mauntery where he spent his early childhood. His physical wounds are treat...more
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Gregory Maguire is an American author, whose novels are revisionist retellings of children's stories (such as L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into Wicked). He received his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Tufts University, and his B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany. He was a professor and co-director at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children'...more
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“Happy endings are still endings.”
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“Not everyone is born a witch or a saint. Not everyone is born talented, or crooked, or blessed; some are born definite in no particular at all. We are a fountain of shimmering contradictions, most of us. Beautiful in the concept, if we're lucky, but frequently tedious or regrettable as we flesh ourselves out.”
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