“Son of a Witch” by Gregory Maguire

“Son of a Witch” by Gregory Maguire

Despite it’s quirky title this sequel to Gregory Maguire’s “Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” is anything but light and whimsical. Much like the first book it’s a dark, maybe even darker, view into the world of Oz we all thought we knew.

Honestly I found both the start and the finish of this book to be a bit rough. Breaking away from the straightforward storytelling he did in Wicked Mr. Maguire weaves together the story of Liir, the son of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, through a series of flashbacks, dreams, and the memories of the people who come into the company of the now severely injured and unconscious Liir. This goes on for most of the first half of the book and takes us from the moment of the witch’s death to previously unknown cause of Liir’s comatose state. There are along the way some slight, but annoying, discrepancies between the ending of “Wicked” and the start of “Son of a Witch”. For one Liir is no longer fat, but trim and fit enough to become a solider. This might not be a big deal to most readers, but too me contradictions between sequels and originals is a mortal sin all writers of series fiction should try to avoid at all cost.

Other then that “Son of a Witch” was a fairly enjoyable dark little tale of a disadvantaged boy coming to age during turbulent times in a magical world. Though Liir receives a bit of help here and there from those who knew, loved, or just respected the witch there is none of the sort of charity or warm fuzzy reunions by proxy that one finds in many such works. There was no Harry Potter/Dumbledore moment where Liir gets taken under Glinda’s, or anyone else’s, wing and taught magic or given a home. He is instead stuck with figuring out and finding his path for himself. This I find much to the credit of Mr. Maguire and will keep me reading his work even if it is in other ways flawed.

The ending I will not give away, except to say Liir does not really accomplish much. This I have mixed feelings about. I think perhaps it was a heavy handed effort to leave an opening to revisit Liir and the line of Elphaba in a future book, though it is my understand that third novel in the series covers the life and times of the Cowardly Lion.