Son of a Witch

[maxandmolly]

While I was in the bookstore today looking for the new Christine Feehan book (which my nifty fan club email told me was for sale today, but nobody had it!) I saw Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire on sale. It's a follow up to Wicked, the first book of his that I read, that got me totally hooked on him. But a couple of the other books were a disappointment.
So, has anyone read it yet? Is it any good? Is it worth paying hardcover price for, or do I wait for the paperback? I just can't see Liir being interesting enough to rate his very own book.

[Lil_Mrs_0702]

When my dh worked at B&N, one of the girls read most of his books and didn't like them after Wicked. She said that Wicked had a lot more creativity than the other books.

So you have read Wicked? I started it and I am at the part where the two girls are in school but it totally loses my interest. Does it get better later in the book or is it one of those where if I am not into it by now, I'm not going to?

[maxandmolly]

Hmm, hard to say. It does get a little lighter-for a while- while everyone is at school. But it is a pretty dense, heavy book as a whole.
So? HAS anyone read the new one?

[maxandmolly]

Anybody?

[rebeccasmommy]

I'm reading it now, but haven't really had a lot of time to devote to it. It's been interesting, though.

[maxandmolly]

I'd love to hear your take on it when you're done!

[rebeccasmommy]

I'm probably a third of the way through. How much of the first one do you remember?

So far, there are two stories. In the begining, Liir is found nearly dead and is taken to the mauntery where Elphaba spent some time after her lover was killed (I just blanked on his name). There is a Quadling there who is trying to revive him with her music. That whole thing is one story.

The other is what happened to Liir right after Elphaba died, which is presumably leading up to how he was injured so badly. In that story, he's searching for Nor (the lover's daughter) who is the only member of the family that was left alive. She was taken as a prisoner by the Wizard. Before I fell asleep reading last night, he had just found out that she'd escaped Southstairs (the prison in the Emerald City).

Interesting thing here is that we've met Shell (Elphaba and Nessarose's younger brother), and he's somewhat of a jerk. I'm disappointed in how his character is represented so far.

The Wizard has left the Emerald City, and Glinda was the figurehead ruler for a time, while Liir was searching for Nor. In the "current" storyline, where Liir is unconscious, there's an Emperor, but I'm not sure yet how that happened.

Also, I don't know if you remember Princess Nastoya, the Elephant that was hiding as a human with the Scrow, but in this one she's dying and wants to be able to transform into her Elephant self again, but has lost the ability. Before he got into whatever trouble he did, she charged Liir with finding out how she can change into her Elephant form so she can die as an Elephant (she's "stuck" between forms right now, and if I remember correctly, she has her Elephant head on a human body).

So, it's interesting. I'm not sure why I insisted that I had to read it, as I didn't love Wicked, but I am enjoying it about the same.

[rebeccasmommy]

I finished it. If you liked [u]Wicked[/w], this is worth a read. He left the ending wide open for a third one.

Liir's character grows quite a bit toward the end of the novel which is interesting. Shell, Elphaba's younger brother, has a more important role later in the novel than I would have thought.

I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. Just kind of "eh" about it, if that makes sense! :)