yeller's review
3.0
I've seen a lot of complaints about this book, and I agree with a lot of them. This book was chronically mediocre, it didn't stand up to how wonderful Wicked was. I adored Wicked, it was my favorite book for years. I bought this book early, shortly after he published the third book in this series, so I could get it signed by him when he came to visit my town. I tried reading it three times and couldn't get into it, and didn't know why. Now, having finished it, I do know why.
First off, the pacing is wildly off. Maguire adds long, philosophical tangents that are interesting, but add absolutely nothing to the story. He adds tangents about uninteresting characters (there was WAY too much about the maunts) and drags on Liir's illness and journeys way too long. There's little that happens in the majority of the book, simply because Liir just hems and haws for hundreds pages and frets about his lifelong identity crisis. It just drags on way too long without much happening.
Another problem I had with it was the characters, of course. They are half-drawn and undeveloped. A lot of them had the potential to be interesting, but just fell so flat, like Trism and Princess Nastoya, Sisters Apothicaire and Doctor. Others just weren't developed at all and didn't have a chance, like all of the Animals. Obviously, background characters are important and not usually fleshed out, but almost none of the characters were fully fleshed or interesting. All of them seemed like fleeting, uninteresting interruptions in a book that was already uninteresting. Liir is also not all that sympathetic a character. His identity crisis, which makes up the majority of his character and life, is uninteresting. His constant self-deprecations are not charming, but annoying. He just falls completely flat of being interesting or engaging or relatable.
Notice that I did give it three stars, rather than one or two. There were parts that I enjoyed, and characters I enjoyed. I wished we'd learned more about Shell, about Liir's time with the army, about Commander Cherrystone, about how the government was functioning. I think, in this case, having a third person limited voice for the book was a bad choice because it left all the action out. I loved the bit about Southstairs. There were parts that were interesting and engaging, they were just few and far between. There were, however, enough interesting parts to keep me forcing myself through the novel.
All in all, I wouldn't particularly recommend this book unless you desperately want to know what happens to Oz after Elphaba and Dorothy leave it. I am dearly in love with Oz, both Baum's and Maguire's, and I will continue reading the series just to see how the politics and international relations continue, but I hope the main character and voice and plot gets better in the next two.
First off, the pacing is wildly off. Maguire adds long, philosophical tangents that are interesting, but add absolutely nothing to the story. He adds tangents about uninteresting characters (there was WAY too much about the maunts) and drags on Liir's illness and journeys way too long. There's little that happens in the majority of the book, simply because Liir just hems and haws for hundreds pages and frets about his lifelong identity crisis. It just drags on way too long without much happening.
Another problem I had with it was the characters, of course. They are half-drawn and undeveloped. A lot of them had the potential to be interesting, but just fell so flat, like Trism and Princess Nastoya, Sisters Apothicaire and Doctor. Others just weren't developed at all and didn't have a chance, like all of the Animals. Obviously, background characters are important and not usually fleshed out, but almost none of the characters were fully fleshed or interesting. All of them seemed like fleeting, uninteresting interruptions in a book that was already uninteresting. Liir is also not all that sympathetic a character. His identity crisis, which makes up the majority of his character and life, is uninteresting. His constant self-deprecations are not charming, but annoying. He just falls completely flat of being interesting or engaging or relatable.
Notice that I did give it three stars, rather than one or two. There were parts that I enjoyed, and characters I enjoyed. I wished we'd learned more about Shell, about Liir's time with the army, about Commander Cherrystone, about how the government was functioning. I think, in this case, having a third person limited voice for the book was a bad choice because it left all the action out. I loved the bit about Southstairs. There were parts that were interesting and engaging, they were just few and far between. There were, however, enough interesting parts to keep me forcing myself through the novel.
All in all, I wouldn't particularly recommend this book unless you desperately want to know what happens to Oz after Elphaba and Dorothy leave it. I am dearly in love with Oz, both Baum's and Maguire's, and I will continue reading the series just to see how the politics and international relations continue, but I hope the main character and voice and plot gets better in the next two.
queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
3 ⭐ CW: Violence, sexual content, torture, sexual assault, animal cruelty
Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire is book two in the Wicked Years series, set after the events in Wicked. I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first book. This was really slow and plodding with an unengaging MC.
We follow Liir, the alleged son of the Wicked Witch of the West. Liir is basically useless and one dimensional the whole book. He doesn't really start to have any growth until like 75% through the book. What I did enjoy were the themes around the sociopolitical climate of Oz, and the criticism of different forms of government and their grasp for power and control.
Liir walks all over Oz, alone searching for any clue to his maybe half sister Nor. He becomes a soldier and defects, and finally decides to grow a personality and do something that the Witch probably would have approved of.
It was an interesting read if you're into politics and such, but I probably won't read the next two books in the series.
Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire is book two in the Wicked Years series, set after the events in Wicked. I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first book. This was really slow and plodding with an unengaging MC.
We follow Liir, the alleged son of the Wicked Witch of the West. Liir is basically useless and one dimensional the whole book. He doesn't really start to have any growth until like 75% through the book. What I did enjoy were the themes around the sociopolitical climate of Oz, and the criticism of different forms of government and their grasp for power and control.
Liir walks all over Oz, alone searching for any clue to his maybe half sister Nor. He becomes a soldier and defects, and finally decides to grow a personality and do something that the Witch probably would have approved of.
It was an interesting read if you're into politics and such, but I probably won't read the next two books in the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Animal death, Violence, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Sexual assault
leonore_book's review
2.0
This was part of a reading challenge. It wasn't terrible, but it's not my cup of tea.
findingthefantasticstory's review against another edition
4.0
I really loved this. I think I prefer it to Wicked.
mkd13's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
blaarrosir's review
2.0
The follow-up to Wicked. It was odd and strange and just...weird. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't exactly good either. Even still, I'm glad I read it.
katiearcher's review
2.0
It literally took me 10 years to finish this book because I found it so boring but I refused to give it up. Wicked is so much better than the sequel.
honeypuff's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5