Book Review: Son of a Witch (The Wicked Years #2) by Gregory Maguire

Memory is a part of the present. It builds us up inside; it knits our bones to our muscles and keeps our hearts pumping. It is memory that reminds our bodies to work, and memory that reminds our spirits to work to: it keeps us who we are. ~Candle

A few years after my reading of Wicked, I found out about the sequel, Son of a Witch. I was ecstatic to start reading it! Good ol' days, were the A-levels (if I'm not spewing with irony... I'm not sure how else to put it)

Maguire has taken it upon himself to recreate the world of the Wizard of Oz. This is not unheard of nowadays with the rise of book fandoms (most notably those of Harry Potter series, LotR, Star Wars, etc), where some of the fans take it upon themselves to recreate stories, events, relationships, etc and shape it to their liking.

Maguire, here, decided to add a backstory to the Wizard of Oz, a rather dark and cruel one. The land of Oz now has its own traditions, religion(s), and complex politics. They have their own gawky-named dishes, animals (the grites and pfenixes), and don't forget the speaking-Animals, whom Elphaba rioted for their rights during her time. It's an astonishing magical world Maguire has conceived from the original, and now seemingly, simpleton one his precedent L. Frank Baum the creator of the Wizard of Oz, had established alongside the illustrations of W.W. Denslow. Maguire deserves a noteworthy credit for his well-thought out fantasy world. Alas, this sophisticated world is not blunder-free.

The tale starts off with the arrival of Candle at the Mauntery, where her first assignment was to tend to an unconscious man, he was in a coma actually for some time. Candle is then locked in the chamber where Liir lays still, cold, with his body temperature dropping even further, and Candle is told to "do whatever it takes to keep him alive". An odd request for a helpless girl... Let's just say that the story falls down a bottomless pit from there onwards...

It's the only condition I know. Bitter Love, Loneliness, contempt for corruption, blind hope. It's where I live. A permanent state of bereavement. This is nothing new.

Maguire's delivery of such refined work was best exhibited in Wicked. It is unfortunate that he's smeared all signs of a sophisticated and magical sense in this book. Maguire has turned the dial for adult content so far, he probably broke it off the control board! Not that Wicked was lacking any. Mature themes in ugly politics, the private lives of the characters, disturbing imagery and the coarse language throughout the story tips over the element of "adult fiction" a whole lot more, the magical aspect of the story shrivels down into a dark corner... There is a possibility that I was the one at fault for picking out this book. Then again, I was too young, and I didn't know any better.

Also... the sex... there were too many unnecessary sexual encounters... It would have been expected from a rookie, an amateur author to attempt such a feat, simply to fuel up the word count. Kindly note that there was a time when Liir was confused as to whether he was more attracted to Candle or Trism... maybe both...

Wisdom is not the understanding of mystery. Wisdom is accepting that mystery is beyond understanding. That's what makes it mystery.

Liir's mission was to find his half-sister Nor (she was only mentioned in Wicked, but never appeared), where she was in bondage with the Wizard. Alas, to fulfil his goal, Liir has to learn magic and complete other side quests on his way.

The original Wizard of Oz characters do make a reappearance in the book. Maguire made it so that Liir's first flashback goes to the time when Dorothy killed his mother, where he joined her (Dorothy and her companions) on the road for some time. There was already too much happening in the story that it felt like Dorothy and her "friends" were forced into all of this., and quite uncomfortable.

As a child, I never like Dorothy. Probably because I considered her a complete doofus for knowing anything at all... This was even more evident when she splashed water at Elfie, killing her and then simply apologising for her mistake.

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

Glinda (I prefer her original name Galinda) replaced the Wizard, who left so abruptly leaving the land in ever-growing chaos. The Scarecrow was her successor, and evidently, he was a degenerate imposter and a damned figurehead. Shortly after, a new emperor (Emporer Apostole, previously known as Shell Thropp, Elphaba Thropp's half-brother) took over ruling the Land of Oz, he was the worst of them all. Liir was employed under his rule for some time, doing the most unforgivable of tasks, and subsequently (once he no longer under his employment) he dedicates all his power to correct the his past mistakes.

Glinda waved dismissively. Then she tucked her hand against her mouth and bit her knuckles. It was hard to tell if her pretty ways were studied or innate.

"Oh, oh," she managed, "I don't know that I'll see you again- and you remind me so of her.”

Short Analysis:

• Book cover: (3.75 stars)

  • Another beautiful black and green cover with Liir taking the central shot, and his (?)mother Elfie... Or is it Nor?! I'm not sure

• Writing style: (3 stars)

  • Maguire extends his story, Wicked, here. He's added a lot of new characters to the story, and that was essential.

  • Albeit, the majority of the events that occurred in this book were merely a filler, in my opinion. The narration was so, very, absolutely dull... dreary... just too tedious and forced!

  • I was starting to get the sense of Maguire's repetitive writing pattern, which got the better part of me. I cannot deny that sloppy writing gets on my nerves enough that I would rather drop the book than waste more greys on it.

• Story structure: (3 stars)

  • The story starts several years following Elphaba's death. One must acknowledge the dodgy first few pages, with Mother Yackle locking Candle in a room with the dying Liir... I concede with Candle's confusion. It was an odd thing to ask of a new arrival... Anywhere! It was good thing Candle ran away.. though I'm still confused as to why she dragged the still-unconsious Liir with her...

  • I skipped a lot of chapters (I had to go back and read them all later anyway) in hopes of landing on a chapter or a section where anything would be of a matter of importance, adding to the plot of this book. ~In other words, the story is quite slow!

  • Maguire used very feeble language, with some exceptionally flimsy terms, to write up this book which was directed (I hope) to an adult audience!

  • The mature themes explored in the book were far too spiced up to my liking, be it in politics, occasional vulgar language, cruel imagery or otherwise.

  • As for the sexual content... I'm just baffled at the explicit content in this book

• Plot: (3.5 stars)

  • Liir wakes up from a long-comatosed state has was found in at the beginning of the story, with a semi-non-existing memory of his life before

  • Liir was clearly identified as Elphaba Thropp and Fiyero's son, previously in Wicked. I simply don't get why it took so long to come clean with the truth about Liir's parents in Son of a Witch... That was some unnecessary drama

  • He shouldered the responsibility to find his half-sister Nor, who was previously under the Wizard's control

• Ending: (3 stars)

  • We don't really get an "ending" per see...

  • Galinda uses her power and resources (aka, her wealthy dead husband's money) to stop the army from going after Liir, who leaves Candle (again) at the farm.

  • When he goes back to get her, to his she's already gone. Instead, he finds his old cloak with what seems to be a dead baby... but after a closer inspection, she's alive! She's green! Green seems to be a recessive gene running in Liir's DNA...

Final Rating: 3.25 stars /5

Often, a stand-alone novel is wiser than a sloppy sequel. Maguire has proven the latter to be quite true. Reading through Son of a Witch, was such a hassle. It was as if someone was pointing a gun to dear Gregory's head threatening him to complete the book in haste, otherwise, he'd suffer the consequences... (I can't bring myself to even imagine what the consequences would be in this case).

Sometimes it is best to stick to your own (original) fable rather than pushing your way through/along someone else's. It worked quite well with Elphaba in Wicked, albeit its proving otherwise here... Maybe letting go wasn't so easy for Maguire.

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Thank you for reading!

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