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Son of a Witch: A Novel
by Gregory Maguire

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13521.Son_of_a_Witch_A_Novel?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Son of a Witch: A Novel" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1166564765m/13521.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13521.Son_of_a_Witch_A_Novel?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Son of a Witch: A Novel</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7025.Gregory_Maguire">Gregory Maguire</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7857784?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 2 of 5 stars 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 the first book are the problems I have with this book.
 
 1- The pace is way too slow. I like the author's writing. I could read volume after volume of the middle bits of his stories. So if this book were DOUBLE the size, I'd be ok with it. It's just again when I got to the end, I realized that not much had happened. I'll give credit where credit is due though, Liir accomplished about 10 times as much as Elphaba ever did. So this was a step in the right direction. It's just over the course of the two books, I must say, all that really happened was about 5 trips between Kiamo Ko and the Emerald City. A lot of walking. Or flying on a broomstick. The old saying about it's not the reward of the quest, but the quest itself, shines through in both of these books. The "getting there" is a great read. But the endings are so ... well, that's point 2 so let's get to point 2 now.
 
 2- The ending left me flat. Very flat. I'll again give credit where credit is due ... this ending was way better than the ending to Wicked. It was a big step forward. Elphaba really doesn't seem like she's ALLOWED by the writer to accomplish anything. Liir accomplishes a few things of importance. But that's it. That's all. So unless there's a third book on the way, I'm really dissatisfied with the state the story is left in at the very end. Especially with the character of Nor. It seemed like everything I read about her was in fact not needed. Like she could be cut completely out of this book and it wouldn't matter. The same could ALMOST be said of Shell. And Trism. And Candle after they got to Apple Farm Press.
 
 If there's a third book, well, I like his writing enough that I'll again fall victim to interest and read it. But until this story gets some better or more complete resolution, I can't in good faith reccommend this to anyone.
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/555276?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Steve's review
rating:

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 the first book are the problems I have with this book.

1- The pace is way too slow. I like the author's writing. I could read volume after volume of the middle bits of his stories. So if this book were DOUBLE the size, I'd be ok with it. It's just again when I got to the end, I realized that not much had happened. I'll give credit where credit is due though, Liir accomplished about 10 times as much as Elphaba ever did. So this was a step in the right direction. It's just over the course of the two books, I ...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 the first book are the problems I have with this book.

1- The pace is way too slow. I like the author's writing. I could read volume after volume of the middle bits of his stories. So if this book were DOUBLE the size, I'd be ok with it. It's just again when I got to the end, I realized that not much had happened. I'll give credit where credit is due though, Liir accomplished about 10 times as much as Elphaba ever did. So this was a step in the right direction. It's just over the course of the two books, I must say, all that really happened was about 5 trips between Kiamo Ko and the Emerald City. A lot of walking. Or flying on a broomstick. The old saying about it's not the reward of the quest, but the quest itself, shines through in both of these books. The "getting there" is a great read. But the endings are so ... well, that's point 2 so let's get to point 2 now.

2- The ending left me flat. Very flat. I'll again give credit where credit is due ... this ending was way better than the ending to Wicked. It was a big step forward. Elphaba really doesn't seem like she's ALLOWED by the writer to accomplish anything. Liir accomplishes a few things of importance. But that's it. That's all. So unless there's a third book on the way, I'm really dissatisfied with the state the story is left in at the very end. Especially with the character of Nor. It seemed like everything I read about her was in fact not needed. Like she could be cut completely out of this book and it wouldn't matter. The same could ALMOST be said of Shell. And Trism. And Candle after they got to Apple Farm Press.

If there's a third book, well, I like his writing enough that I'll again fall victim to interest and read it. But until this story gets some better or more complete resolution, I can't in good faith reccommend this to anyone....less

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message 1: by Amanda

12/20/2007 09:02PM

This is EXACTLY the review I wanted to write. Thank you! :)