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   Summary and Book Reviews

Son of a Witch: Summary and book reviews of Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire, plus links to an excerpt from Son of a Witch and a biography of Gregory Maguire.

Son of a Witch Son of a Witch
by Gregory Maguire
Hardcover: Sep 2005,
352 pages.
Paperback: Oct 2006,
356 pages.

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Critics' Opinion:   good
Readers' Rating:  1.5 Stars
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Book Summary

Ten years after the publication of Wicked, beloved novelist Gregory Maguire returns at last to the land of Oz. There he introduces us to Liir, an adolescent boy last seen hiding in the shadows of the castle after Dorothy did in the Witch. Bruised, comatose, and left for dead in a gully, Liir is shattered in spirit as well as in form. But he is tended at the Cloister of Saint Glinda by the silent novice called Candle, who wills him back to life with her musical gifts.

What dark force left Liir in this condition? Is he really Elphaba's son? He has her broom and her cape -- but what of her powers? Can he find his supposed half-sister, Nor, last seen in the forbidding prison, Southstairs? Can he fulfill the last wishes of a dying princess? In an Oz that, since the Wizard's departure, is under new and dangerous management, can Liir keep his head down long enough to grow up?

For the countless fans who have been dazzled and entranced by Maguire's Oz, Son of a Witch is the rich reward they have awaited so long.

Book Reviews


Average  Kirkus Reviews
The book works too hard to dazzle us; it's considerably more cluttered and strained than Wicked.....but few readers will fail to stay its magical course. Once again, the myth of Oz proves its enduring power.

Good  Booklist - Paula Luedtke
This is no lightweight fairytale--entertaining, to be sure, but also complex and multilayered in plot and meaning, thought-provoking, and unforgettable.

Good  Publishers Weekly
Tucked into Maguire's enchanting fable are carefully calibrated object lessons in forgiveness, retribution, love, loss and the art of moving on despite tragic circumstances. Ten years after Wicked (which is still on Broadway), fans will once again be clicking their heels with wonderment.

Good  Library Journal - Starr E. Smith
A tale that adroitly mixes drama, humor, and political satire into a well-knit examination of good and evil-and leaves several doors open for future journeys over the rainbow into this cleverly constructed dystopia.

Average  The Washington Post - Katherine A. Powers
Though Wicked was not simply a reverse image of Baum's book or the famous movie, it depended on their depictions of Oz as a foil for its own maverick reshaping of the narrative. Those for whom potty humor is the acme of wit and foul decay is horror sublime will be happy to know that Son of a Witch is as well-supplied with those articles as the earlier book was. What it has lost, however, is the shaping vigor gained by pushing against a well-known story.

Average  The New York Times Book Review - Sophie Harrison
Maguire clearly feels most comfortable when inventing freehand, and most of his novel is set after the original Oz story ends. Dorothy's presence in the text causes difficulties. She belongs too frankly in someone else's fairy tale; her arrival strains Maguire's own confident production in an unhappy way...Once he's freed himself from Baum's tenacious apron strings, Maguire begins to enjoy himself, and the story picks up.

Good  People
Maguire's captivating, fully imagined world of horror and wonder illuminates the links between good and evil, retribution and forgiveness.

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