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Book Review: A Lion Among Men

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Gregory Maguire’s A Lion Among Men is the third and latest book in The Wicked Series. This series follows the times in an evolving Land of Oz where the Wicked Witch of the West is related to the Wizard of Oz and the current Emperor of Oz may not be the benevolent leader that he tries to portray.

Chances are that if you’ve found this entry via a search engine, then you’ve already read the first two books in this series so I’ll refrain from too much history. If not, then feel free to read my reviews of Wicked – The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and Son of a Witch.

A Lion Among Men begins with the Cowardly Lion (his name is Brrr) meeting with the oracle known as Yackle. Those of you who have read the two previous books in this series know that Yackle has played a sideline role in the Wicked Witch of the West’s life and did a great deal to help Liir overcome almost certain death during his convalescence at St. Glinda’s mauntery. Brrr is sent to meet with Yackle to ascertain what she knows about the Wicked Witch of the West, Liir, the Thropp family, and (most importantly) the Grimmerie (the Witch’s magic book). The interplay between Yackle and her fellow maunts (think of them as nuns) is pretty funny and the reader is led to believe that Yackle actually rises from the dead to speak with Brrr. Once you get to the end of the book, the oddities that take place in the beginning of the book become clearer, but that’s true of any good story.

Yackle proves to be a tough nut for Brrr to crack and for each piece of information that she gives to the Lion, he either recalls a repressed memory or has to speak about some part of his past. His first memory is of him at the young age of three years old, wandering the northern reaches of Oz not knowing who he is and certainly never knowing who he will become. In fact, this memory is where the Lion actually begins to speak to other creatures and finds his first “friend” in Jemmsy.

The story continues with more of the Lion’s memories being played out and, from my perspective as a reader, I thought the revelation of these memories was especially wordy and somewhat drawn out in the beginning of the novel. Maguire could have sped up the process and gotten the reader to some of the more interesting parts of the story quicker.

While Brrr interacts with Yackle, a young woman becomes a member of the The Clock of the Time Dragon – a traveling show that played a large part in the first book in this series. Through this young woman’s eyes, we see the scant relationships of those involved with the Clock. Frankly, these interludes in the beginning of the novel are a bit tedious and don’t make much sense until the end of the story.

Like the two previous novels, Maguire uses a winding tone in his storytelling and wedges in unnecessary sexual scenes. I have to admit, though, that after reading the first two books I could call when the awkward sexual moment was coming in this one (though I didn’t predict the blood – you’ll have to read the book if you want to know more).

After the slow start, the book becomes a fun read and I found myself zipping through it much quicker than the others in the series. What is especially nice about A Lion Among Men is that some of the loose ends from the first two novels are satisfactorily addressed. Lost characters are brought back into the story and unanswered questions are answered.

We’re still in the dark about Candle, Liir, and their child, but I’m sure that will all be addressed in a future story. After the slow start, I enjoyed reading A Lion Among Men and I recommend it to fans of the fantasy genre or those of you who have already read the first two books.

Book Review: Son of a Witch

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Some of you may remember a few months ago when I finished reading Wicked – The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. I gave that book my highest recommendation and I was just as impressed with Gregory Maguire’s Son of a Witch: Volume Two in the Wicked Years, though somewhat confused towards the end of the novel (see below).

As the title of the novel suggests, this story focuses on the Wicked Witch of the West’s son – a young man named Liir. Essentially, the entire novel follows Liir’s journey growing up in the weird world of Oz with no discernible family or role models for him to loop up to. In some sense, the book becomes a story of Liir’s progression as a person and his coming to terms with his history while trying to figure out if there is any hope for his future.

Unfortunately for Liir, he has a tremendous bad luck streak which extends from his time as a child through the end of the novel. However, depending upon your view of the novel’s ending (which I won’t relay here), a strong argument can be made that Liir’s entire life story may consist of a series of half-starts and failures, but that the story itself is a triumph for his family. You have to read the book (especially the ending) for my summation to make any sense.

I thought it was fun to read this book as it brings back many of the old characters from Wicked and introduced some great new characters. Also, the reader has the opportunity to continue to watch the evolution of Oz – now in it’s post-Wizard state of affairs. Maguire sticks to his familiar story telling style with an abundance of sexual innuendo throughout the novel (oftentimes wedged in at awkward spots in the story) and a pessimistic tone to the novel’s writing. I enjoyed the pessimistic tone since, I think, the tone is in direct contrast to the idea that is pushed throughout the story regarding Elphaba (the Wicked Witch). Either Maguire wrote this novel with a stroke of brilliance or it just worked out right.

As I alluded to earlier, though, Liir’s personal story of growth gets weird towards the end of the novel. For some reason, Maguire expands the story of Liir’s self-discovery to all aspects of his life – including his sexuality. At one point in the story, Liir uses a well-connected old army buddy to help him complete a major mission that destroys one of the Emerald City’s strongest weapons (I won’t ruin the whole thing here because you should read the book and find out for yourself). Due to these actions, Liir and his army buddy have to get out of the Emerald City before they are hunted down and tried for their crimes. They wind up at a rundown old inn and the story progresses is a regular fashion and then all of a sudden they’re sleeping together! The whole thing is really awkward, but not because of the sexuality question (college students are forced to read enough of that crap in liberal arts programs), but because of how completely unrelated to the core story this twist is overall.

There was little reason to introduce Liir’s sexuality into the equation and the novel could have ended without any of this being included and remained a very strong story. The reader begins this book by reviewing the Liir’s history and current problems and then once you think you’ve grown to know something about the main character, you’re thrown this weird curve ball that really seems forced into the story and completely unnecessary.

I really feel like this “twist” becomes an unnecessary burden on what is a larger, more compelling story. That said, I also received the third book in this series for Christmas and I’ve finished it and will post a review of it tomorrow. It’s funny – the only reason I read Wicked and Son of a Witch is because I wanted to read the book about the Cowardly Lion.

If you’ve already read Wicked, then I recommend reading Son of a Witch: Volume Two in the Wicked Years. The story of Liir finding himself in the corrupt and bizarre world of Oz that Maguire creates is both compelling and entertaining. If you can manage to put aside the forced, awkward twist in Liir’s story towards the end of the novel, I think you’ll find a very strong, very tight story in Son of a Witch.

Book Review: Wicked – The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

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This is a book that I’ve wanted to read for a long time and thanks to my recent staycation, I was able to purchase, finish, and greatly enjoy this novel. This is the story of Elphaba Thropp – known to the worldwide masses as the Wicked Witch of the West – as written by Gregory Maguire. Why the name Elphaba (pronounced El-fa-ba)? Well that’s easy. It’s a tribute to the author of the original Wizard of Oz novel, L. Frank Baum. L (El), F (fa), B (ba). Since most people will eventually wonder why Maguire chose that name for the Wicked Witch of the West, there you have it.

I was impressed with the depth that this story brings to the Land of Oz and the many races that exist within it. Understand, though, that this is not your Grandmother’s Oz by a long shot. The novel is surprisingly sexual in places and tells certain parts of the story differently than the MGM classic movie. Maguire gives history to the Wicked Witch of the West and by the end of the book has the reader wondering whether or not Elphaba truly is “wicked.”

As much as the story incorporates odd sexual references it includes religious discussions even more. There are communities in Oz that worship an Unnamed God and there are those who believe in a Fairy Queen named Lurline (who has a Christmas-like holiday celebrated each winter in her honor called Lurlinemas). There are others who believe in a simple relationship between good and evil forces and some who believe that the whole of Oz’s past, present, and future are the dreams of a sleeping dragon. And then there are the uncommitted citizens like Elphaba – who believe in neither good nor evil, but do their best to understand each.

Elphaba is joined in this story by Glinda – or as you may call her the Good Witch of the North – and Nessarose, Elphaba’s sister – also known as the Wicked Witch of the East. You remember Nessarose from the movie, right? The one whose feet curl up underneath Dorothy Gale’s house after is squashes her? After reading this story let me tell you – those feet have quite a story behind them! I wonder what L. Frank Baum would have thought about Maguire’s depiction of the Wicked Witch of the East as a religious fanatic who was so devoted to her faith in a land full of half and non-believers that she was thought of to be a witch.

Oh – and Nessarose has no arms in this book.

Bizarre, right? Bizarre might be the best way to describe much of what goes on in Wicked, but the novel is at one time both astonishing and entertaining. Maguire makes the reader wait to the very last pages of this 406 page story for the big payoffs and for answers to some questions posed in the latter parts of the novel. What is interesting is his use of a scene which should be part of the final pages for the prologue to the entire story. After I finished up on page 406 I immediately turned back to the very beginning of the book to re-read the prologue. Though there were no profound revelations in the prologue after having read the entire story, it was certainly interesting to re-read these pages. Keep that in mind if you pick this book up.

Maguire’s retelling of portions of the original Oz story are fun and enjoyable to read, though more adult-themed. His story of the Wicked Witch’s life is fascinating and one that fans of science fiction, fantasy, and good storytelling will enjoy. Who knew that the Wicked Witch was a leader in the equal rights movement between humans and Animals (capitalized for a reason – read the book)? Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West receives my highest recommendation.