Book Review: Son of a Witch

In case you weren’t aware, Son of a Witch is the sequel to Wicked, and chronicles what happens to the Wicked Witch of the West’s son, Lirr, after Dorothy kills her.  In the Oz timeline it takes place after Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and before its sequel, The Marvelous Land of Oz.

As a character, Lirr is sniveling and progresses little, remaining a lost child looking for a mother-figure throughout.  This could be an interesting break from most literature, except that Lirr is simply so damn whiny he grates on your nerves before you’ve read much at all.

Dorothy’s companions are much more interesting, especially in the flaws Maguire adds.  It adds a nice contrast and depth to the rosey, shallow characters Baum paints.  However, the depth of the companions quickly draws attention to the shallowness of how Lirr is written.  The more vibrant characters are only in the story for a short period and drop off the page much too quickly, so much so that they really only serve as cameos.

Like its predecessor, Son of a Witch feels of a blood-and-bones history of Oz.  A reader can easily marry the “Wicked” series into the Oz mythos by simply explaining Baum’s rosy Oz as the Official History, as he and many subsequent writers of Oz portrayed themselves as Royal Historian of Oz, and Maguire’s stories as the version of the bourgeoisie.  Even with such an interesting construct, the story is sluggish and doesn’t move much, perhaps a constraint Maguire couldn’t shake by placing the story between the first two Oz books — at times it feels that Melville’s stories flew by in comparison.  

My impression thus far of the “Wicked” series is much like my feelings toward “The Matrix” trilogy.  The first story was interesting and fun, leaving a good deal up to speculation, but written as a one-off story.  The second, however, is written as a small part of a grander story which could probably be told in one volume, but drawn out for more, dropping you out at the end, leaving you unsatisfied at the lack of closure while the author pats himself on the back for making you purchase his additional volumes with no foreseeable end.

Upon reaching the last page, I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth, not from the world and happenings itself, which are interesting, but from a sense of the narrative following the wrong person in an attempt to force suspense.  It’s solely about whiny Lirr and not about Oz — interesting things are happening, but Lirr isn’t there to see them.  I do plan on reading the third novel, Lion Among Men, but if it fails improve on this book’s flaws, it will be the last “Wicked” story I read.

~ CvM