I unexpectedly really enjoyed this book despite the terrible reviews it has!

I found the main characters to be so endearing and fun to read about. Liir, in particular, is a character I love. McGuire does a great job developing his character and those around him.

However, my main issue, which I also had with the Wicked book when I read it in middle school, is that his writing style and world building are not good. His writing can be very clunky, and he uses unclear names for people and places, which makes everything a bit of a mess.

Despite this, I do think that he finds a solid rhythm in this book, and it comes to life in a really nice way. The story is engaging and keeps you hooked until the very end.

I must read what comes next because we really end at such a cliffhanger. Also, the relationship between Liir and Trism is something I love.

Overall, I think I would recommend this book to people who like kooky fantasy. It has its flaws, but it also has a lot of charm and heart.

Finally finished!

It's truly ridiculous how long this task took me. I must have restarted it about three or four times.

At first, I thought it would be a breeze, but as I delved deeper, I realized the complexity and the need for precision.

Each time I restarted, I gained a better understanding of what was required, but it also meant starting from scratch and spending more time.

However, now that it's done, I feel a sense of accomplishment.

Despite the frustration and the numerous restarts, I persevered and managed to complete it.

I guess this experience has taught me the importance of patience and not giving up easily.

Next time, I'll approach similar tasks with a more strategic mindset and hopefully avoid as many restarts.

But for now, I'm just glad it's over and I can move on to other things.

Well written, a solid sequel, but for me a bit of a disappointment.

Liir, the "son of a witch", is carrying on after Fabala's death. 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 guess I hoped that Liir would have inherited some more of her fire.

Maybe he would have shown more courage and determination in the face of challenges. Instead, he seems a bit lost and unsure of himself.

However, I still appreciate the author's creativity and the unique perspective he brings to the story of Oz.

The characters are well-developed, and the plot keeps the reader engaged from start to finish.

Overall, while it may not have lived up to my expectations, it is still a worthwhile read for fans of the Oz series.

Edit 2025: still love this book.

Not as confusing the second time round, despite apparently remembering nothing of what happened.

Love Liir. Hope he's in the next book.

_______

I really, really didn't want this to end.

How could it end like that?!

What about Trism? Candle? The Maunts? The Grimmerie? The Emerald City even.

I HAVE to know what happens.

What a spectacular story though.

A slow burner at first, but the second half more than made up for it.

I never thought I would say this, but I actually preferred it to Wicked.

Something about Liir was so compelling.

His compassion, perhaps.

And what an ending.

This book has truly captured my heart.

The characters are so vivid and the plot is full of twists and turns.

I found myself completely immersed in the story from beginning to end.

The second time reading it, I was able to pick up on details that I missed the first time.

Liir's character development is especially well done.

From a confused and lost young man, he grows into a compassionate and brave leader.

I can't wait to see what happens to him in the next book.

The ending left me on the edge of my seat, eager for more.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good fantasy story.

"Wicked" sometimes really annoyed me,

even though I had a great interest in reading Elphaba's story. If that book had some不足之处,

then this sequel completely fails to meet the mark. Maguire did a decent job when he was basing his writing on someone else's work,

but here, on his own, he struggles. Whatever it was that didn't appeal to me in "Wicked" is magnified tenfold in the pages of "Son of a Witch." At first, I thought it was just Maguire's interpretation of certain parts of Baum's original story that didn't sit well with me,

and then I thought maybe it was just his writing style. Now I firmly believe it's a poorly written book from every perspective. I persisted in reading, hoping that it would improve and that the real story would soon unfold,

but it didn't. Page after page, it remained the same, and finally, I turned the last page, and it was all over. There have been very few occasions when I felt that reading a book was a waste of time,

and this was definitely one of them.

Come on yourself. Suppose everyone in your family was thought to be wicked.

Even were called Wicked, almost as a title - " But they were, thought Liir; it was my family, too, or as good as.

OMG, this quote!!!! I saw it and was like it drove the book. It really made me think deeply about the nature of family and perception.

Heavily debating on starting the next books! Or to move on. The story might not be as great as Wicked, but for Liir's story, it was understandable.

Liir's perspective adds a new layer to the narrative. We get to see how he deals with the reputation of his family and how it shapes his own identity.

It makes me wonder what will happen to him in the future. Will he be able to break free from the shadow of his family's past? Or will he be forever doomed to be associated with the Wicked?

These questions keep me on the edge of my seat, eager to find out more about Liir's journey.

In the years following her studies at Shiz University, Elphaba Thropp, also known as the Wicked Witch of the West, whose tragic life and death were detailed in Wicked, had a lover named Prince Fiyero of the Vinkus, the land west of the Emerald City. Sadly, Fiyero was abducted and killed by the Gale Force officers, the shock troops of the Wizard of Oz. Pregnant with Fiyero's child, Elphaba fled for safety to the Mauntery of St. Glinda just outside Shiz, where she slipped into a coma that lasted for months. When she woke up, she found that her child had been born. She then took vows as a maunt and remained at the mauntery for several years before leaving with a strange young boy for the castle of Kiamo Ko, which was once ruled by Fiyero but was now occupied by his wife, children, and their retainers.

Son of a Witch continues the story that began with Wicked, after the fall of the WOO (Wizard of Oz) and Elphaba's death. It follows the life of Elphaba's son, Liir. Like Wicked, Son of a Witch presents a much darker and more mysterious side of Oz than what we knew as children. The novel starts with the discovery of a young man's body, badly bruised and on the verge of death, by the side of a road in the Vinkus. The Vinkus has recently become dangerous due to "scrapings", mysterious killings that involve the "scalping" of the face, but the man's face has not been scraped. The woman who finds him takes him to the Cloister of Saint Glinda in the Shale Shallows. The Superior Maunt recognizes the young man as Liir, the boy who left the Cloister with Elphaba about a decade ago.

In the first two sections of the novel ("Under the Jackal Moon" and "The Service"), the narrative alternates between the time when Liir left Kiamo Ko after Elphaba's death and the time when Liir and a young maunt named Candle are at the Cloister. The second two sections ("The Emperor Apostle" and "No Place Like It") tell the story chronologically from Candle and Liir's arrival at Apple Press Farm to the end. An explanation for this narrative structure in the first part of the book is given through references that Candle, while playing the domingon with Liir in his coma-like state, is "guiding" him through his memories of the past, and there are numerous and complex references in the novel to the connections between the past and present in the lives of individuals.

After his mother's death, Liir accompanied Dorothy Gale, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and Toto back to the Emerald City. During the journey, they met Princess Nastoya, the leader of the Scrow, a Vinkus tribe. Nastoya is an Elephant who, due to the Wizard's pogrom against Animals, used a witch's charm to transform into a human. She is slowly dying and asks Liir to find a way for her to return to her Elephant form before she dies. In return, she promises to try to learn about the fate of Nor, Fiyero's daughter, who was taken by the Wizard's forces along with her family. When they reach the Emerald City, the others go off to receive what the Wizard promised them, leaving Liir alone.

Liir becomes convinced that Nor is in Southstairs, a subterranean city that functions as a maximum-security prison, and he seeks the help of Glinda, who was appointed acting ruler of Oz after the Wizard's departure. She arranges a meeting between Liir and Shell, Elphaba's younger brother. Shell, who undertakes "missions of mercy" in Southstairs by injecting female prisoners with extract of poppy flower and taking sex as payment, takes Liir to the under-mayor, Chyde. When Chyde takes Liir to find Nor, they learn that Nor has recently escaped. Liir leaves Southstairs by flying out on Elphaba's broom.

After living on the streets of the Emerald City for a while, Liir manages to enlist in the Home Guard. After several years of service, his and three other companies (known as the "Seventh Spear"), led by Commander Cherrystone, are deployed to Qhoyre in Quadling Country, ostensibly to find those responsible for the kidnapping of the Viceroy and his wife and to maintain order. However, the peacefulness of the Quadlings and their lack of interest in the disappearance of the Viceroy prevent the Seventh Spear from making any progress. The authorities in Emerald City push the army to get results, and in desperation, Commander Cherrystone provokes the village of Bengda into refusing to pay an exorbitant fine and orders Liir to lead a secret operation to burn the village. In the operation, many of the villagers are burned to death or drowned. Liir, horrified by the incident, deserts.

Liir's adventures and misadventures continue. He sires a child with the girl Candle while he is unconscious in the mauntery, learns that his scheming half-brother Shell has become Emperor of Oz, establishes a love relationship with another soldier, Trism, and keeps his promise to Nastoya, which allows her to return to her Elephant form and die fulfilled. Everything and everyone that the WOO touched was damaged, corrupted, or destroyed, and that is as true for Liir as it is for anyone or anything else. Son of a Witch can be depressing at times, which is understandable because, like its predecessor Wicked, it is a dystopia. But as a story, it is just as captivating as Wicked and well worth the effort to find and read.

I am extremely angry at Gregory Maguire.

His books are nearly impossible to read, and after multiple attempts to get past the first few chapters of Son of a Witch, I resorted to listening to it on tape.

Surprisingly, it was equally difficult to listen to, especially when the author himself was the audio reader.

I had previously thought that Wicked was a good book, but my opinion is now changing.

I read it a decade ago during my more open-minded college years.

As I began Son of a Witch, I was excited to learn more about the presumed offspring of Elphaba.

However, Maguire provides no new insights into the Wonderful World of Oz.

Instead, he presents a poorly conceived, rambling tale told by an unreliable narrator about an unlikeable and self-involved main character.

The character's only drive is to find his presumed half-sister Nor, whom he never finds and whose importance he constantly wavers on.

This book is so frustrating that it arguably inspired the phrase "WTF".

Perhaps my frustration stems from the fact that it makes me feel like an idiot.

I often had no idea what was going on, and Maguire seems to be playing tricks on the reader.

He makes wild inferences, forces connections that aren't there, and changes direction abruptly.

He lies to the reader without remorse and is just plain bizarre.

I was left speechless when I realized that I was reading a twisted version of Giovanni's Room set in Oz.

It was like a tornado of homoeroticism had dropped on my head.

I am angry at Maguire for tricking us with an ingenious concept and then failing to develop it properly in Son of a Witch.

His use of the third person narrative as a weapon leaves the reader completely ignorant of the characters' motivations.

While his talent for using culinary metaphors to describe the landscape is notable, it doesn't make up for the many flaws in this book.

I definitely will not be reordering this "meal" or trying the "dessert" again.

It is truly arduous to make a comparison between "Wicked" and "Son of a Witch" owing to the plethora of differences. Elphaba was born with a particular character, whereas Liir's birth remains somewhat of a mystery, and his character was nearly nonexistent in the first book.

I awarded "Son of a Witch" 3.5 stars as it was a rather good means of crafting Liir's own history. We get to learn how he endeavored to find his voice, something he could accomplish on his own, and the consequences of his attempts.

Meanwhile, we could bear witness to all the political and religious changes that were transpiring in Oz. [The land's poor government, after the Wizard departed, seriously bothered me.]

I was delighted to still discover numerous points connecting the story to "Wicked" (such as the plot concerning the Time Dragon or Yackle), which made this book a rather good sequel.

He could bear to touch the small corpse of a human child.

It was just another child, just another inevitable fatality in this cruel world.

The sight of the lifeless body was heart-wrenching, yet he had come to accept it as part of the never-ending cycle of life and death.

It was the next crude accident that had befallen this innocent soul, and unfortunately, it would not be the last.

The world seemed to be filled with such tragedies, and he could only hope that one day, there would be less pain and suffering.

But for now, he had to find the strength to carry on and face the reality that lay before him.

The small corpse served as a reminder of the fragility of life and the importance of cherishing every moment.

He knew that he would never forget this encounter, and it would forever haunt his conscience.

Yet, he also knew that he had to find a way to move forward and make a difference in the world, no matter how small the gesture might be.

A few words about Son of a Witch

Astounding, thoughtful, noteworthy, innovative - these are just some words to describe Son of a Witch. When I first read Wicked, I was truly in awe. Now, almost a year later, I'm glad to have my mouth gaping open and my brain racing once again.

Even though the Wicked Years is a fictional series, Wicked and Son of a Witch have conveyed messages in a way that no nonfiction book can. Literature makes this abundantly clear. Why else are morals taught and messages conveyed through fairy tales? Fantasy is like a backdoor into your brain. When you read a fiction book, you enter a different world, something that nonfiction can't do to the same extent. While in this world, you subconsciously absorb the message along with the pleasure and surprise of reading a good book. It's easier to win a bee with honey than vinegar. Fiction is like the honey; it's easier to absorb morals from a fantasy story where there is no actual pain but the illusion of it than to be scared into understanding by a war story. At least, that's how I feel.

Son of a Witch contains a crucial moral for me. It's actually written in the book: "All cows were like all other cows, all tigers like all other tigers -- what on earth has happened to human beings?" This simple question makes everyone wonder. Different cultures have tried to answer it with their myths and legends. For example, Christianity and Judaism explain it with the story of Eve and the snake of temptation. Greek mythology tells us that when Pandora's Box was opened, sin and evil were born into the world. I personally think it's because we've become so smart that we question our origins and try to make life perfect. This goal is unachievable; life will never be perfect, and neither will we. This doesn't mean it's wrong to try, but the act of doing so gives rise to further complications like slavery, wars, and global warming.

First of all, I have to say that Gregory Maguire is one of my favorite authors. I've read all his chapter books, except for Lost and A Lion Among Men. He truly amazes me. I read on the Internet that many people really hated Son of a Witch; someone even said it was the worst book they had ever read. I have to agree that Wicked is better written than Son of a Witch, and I think I know why. In all the other books he's written, Gregory Maguire based his story on something else. When Wicked came out, everyone was amazed because no one had ever done what Gregory Maguire did. All those people who had read or heard about The Wizard of Oz and were disappointed now had, in my opinion, a more believable, better structured, and touching story. In fact, if I hadn't known, I would have guessed that The Wizard of Oz was the alternate story and Wicked the original. When he wrote Son of a Witch, he had nothing to base the storyline on. He was on his own. I think the story was very well constructed, even if it would have been stronger if there had been a fairy tale for Gregory Maguire to fracture. He's really good at writing, but everyone likes it better when he uses another famous novel as a base. Even so, Son of a Witch is still a remarkable feat of penmanship. The way he writes, you feel like the world in the book, the one he made up, is even more real than this one. This is one aspect that doesn't disappoint.

Here is a quote that will make your spine tingle: "Above it, all at once, the claustrophobic blackness of cave-dark gave way to the blackness of a different sort: a moonless night, with scratchy scarves of cloud being drawn by wind across ancient, disaffected stars."

Whatever people may think of him, no one can deny that he is a master at making you feel exactly how he wants you to. He can make you feel genuine surprise, awe, empathy, and fear. Whenever I read one of his books, he plays me like a violin, and I enjoy it too. He's also very good at starting and ending chapters and books. Here are some quotes:

Start of book: "So the talk of random brutality wasn't just talk. At noontime they discovered the bodies of three young women, out on some mission of conversion gone awry. The novice maunts had been strangled by their ropes of holy beads, and their faces removed." What a great beginning! Immediately, you're hooked in, disgusted by the face scrapings yet at the same time curious.

End of book: "Still smeared with her blood, and the watery beginning of her little feces. He took her to the doorway and held her up in the warm rain. She cleaned up green." This has to be one of the most appropriate endings I've ever read. For me, even if a book has an awesome beginning and great development, if the ending sucks, then it ruins the whole book for me. For example, I read this series called the Bartimaeus Trilogy, a marvellous story, but in the end, the main character dies. I was so pissed off. Anyways, Son of a Witch has a perfect ending, even if it leaves some questions unanswered, which is to be expected since there is a sequel. At one point, everyone who read the book wondered why Liir wasn't green. When we figure out that Liir's daughter is green, it answers a lot of questions. First of all, it confirms that the child is indeed Liir's and that he did have sex with Candle while in a coma. Second, and most importantly, it confirms that Liir is Elphaba's son and that the genes of green skin skip a generation. The ending is like the last piece to a puzzle; it makes so much sense! In Emerald City, graffiti was everywhere, stating that the witch lived. Now we know that she does indeed live, but only through Liir's child, who apparently has gotten the genes of green skin from Elphaba and maybe her magical powers too?

Another thing that Gregory Maguire did was that he strategically placed quotes inside the book. These were quotes like the one I chose for the meaning. By doing this, he made everyone think just a little bit more. This reminds me of how in Home of the Brave, Katherine Applegate did something similar. At the end of each part, there was a proverb. I think she wrote them for the same reason that Gregory Maguire did. It gives you something to think about and maybe a hint into what the meaning of the book is, for those readers who want more.

This was definitely one of the best books I've read the whole year. I will leave you with this unexplained excerpt to think about: "We are loping sequences of chemical conversions, acting ourselves converted. We are twists of genes acting ourselves twisted; we are wicks of burning neuroses acting ourselves wicked. And nothing to be done about it. And nothing to be done about it. , acting ourselves converted. We are twists"

This was a book that was truly rich in detail and adventure. It also delved into the personal growth of our hero. However, I'm extremely frustrated. Nor's outcome remains unclear, and Shell is still just a barely involved character.

I truly hope that in a subsequent book, we'll find out where Nor is and how Shell became who he is. The story spans a significant amount of time, much like in the first book. There are so many people coming in and out of Liir's life that it was sometimes quite challenging to follow.

I found myself frequently searching the book backwards to retrace one strand or another. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the overall reading experience. Perhaps I'm more invested in Elphaba than anything else. I really hate how much I came to admire her in the first book and how tragically ridiculous her death was, especially at the hands of her Dorothy, who is barely a cameo in Wicked and really unlikeable to anyone on "Team Elphie."

The best part of the book is that Liir has a wonderful sense of internal integrity and is rewarded for it with an answer regarding his parentage and is left with a choice regarding his daughter. I trust he'll do what's right by her, and hopefully, through their relationship, he'll find some much-needed healing and closure. I would still love for him to stumble upon Elphaba's diary (if she had one) so he could posthumously get the rest of his answers.

I rate this book 3.5, but I'm having a hard time deciding whether to round up to 4. I'll think about it and maybe round up later. For now, I'll keep it a 3. It was a solid read, and I'll continue onto the third book. However, I think I'm too frustrated right now to give it that bump. Maybe if my own questions are answered in a later book, I'll come back and make it a 4.