Nobody could blame Gregory Maguire for wanting to write a sequel to WICKED now that the musical smash has given the novel a second life.Yet the question begs to be asked: was it really needed?

In Son of a Witch, the title character is Liir, who is actually uncertain of his parentage but believes he is the son of Elphaba, the so-called Wicked Witch of the West. WICKED ended with Elphaba's death by water (like in the movie), and this story opens around a decade later with Liir critically injured and in a coma. As he recovers in a convent-like place filled with maunts (the Oz version of nuns), he dreams of what has occurred to bring him to this point.

Maguire's Oz is no children's fairy land, but is instead a magical but often grim land where some characters are actually quite brutal. In this land, the Wizard was a vicious dictator and Elphaba was less evil than a defiant loner. Although the Wizard is now gone (with Dorothy) and Glinda the "Good" in control, things are hardly peachy. Liir sets off on a quest to find his half-sister Nor, but is easily sidetracked and eventually joins the army. Eventually he leaves this and goes off on other adventures.

In the Oz of this novel, the late Elphaba is treated as a hero by many, and for much of the book, Liir seems to be doing all he can to avoid his birthright. He is a boy (and later a man) who has the potential to follow his mother in doing great things, but he is much more comfortable doing nothing of consequence other that trying to find Nor.

While this is a good book (and I wouldn't be at all surprised if there is yet another sequel), Liir is not a strong enough character to make this a great novel. Compared to the people around him, Liir is kind of boring, which is basically what he intends to be. Also, although a satire, there are very few laugh-out-loud moments. I finished the book not quite sure what the point was, except to fill in the gap of the ten years after Elphaba's death and set the stage for an anticipated third book. ( )

Now I wasn't a massive fan of Wicked, although a few of the ideas were worth mulling over. But this book I couldn't even get through. I'm sure the story isn't that bad, but the writing is shocking. Give it to someone else to write and we might have a decent book.

Sorry, I'm not normally so harsh, but I can't even describe what it's about. ( )

I'm not usually a fan of sequels, but found myself absorbed in this one. Maguire's prose is always impeccable and, this is no exception. Through the lense of OZ, he explores the horrors of soldiers being forced to obey orders and the subsequent fallout, the coming of age of Liir, and a host of other social and ethical issues. Definately engaging and true to the characters of Wicked. ( )

The twists and turns of the plot were interesting enough that I kept reading in hopes of learning to like Liir, or find another character as interesting as Elphaba. There were little glimmers here and there, but it seemed that Maguire would present just enough of a character so that they might be likable or compelling and then reveal their grimy faults and disturbing habits. I've got the next book in the series and I hope it's more like Wicked than Son of a Witch. ( )

This was a neat follow up to wicked but left so much unanswered. Well written as we have come to expect from Maguire. Not sure if I like it as much as Wicked though, still a good read though ( )