Son of a Witch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since January 2007. |
 Cover of Son of a Witch |
|
| Author | Gregory Maguire |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Douglas Smith |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Wicked Cycle |
| Genre(s) | Parallel novel, Fantasy |
| Publisher | Regan Books |
| Released | 2005 |
| Pages | 352 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-06-074722-6 |
| Preceded by | Wicked |
| Followed by | A Cowardly War |
Son of a Witch (ISBN 0-06-074722-6) is a fantasy novel written by Gregory Maguire. The book is Maguire’s fifth revisionist story and the second set in the land of Oz originally conceived by L. Frank Baum. As the second book in the Wicked Cycle and the sequel to Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Son of a Witch continues the story after the fall from power of the Wizard of Oz and the death of Elphaba, Maguire's reinvention of the Wicked Witch of the West. As its title implies, it follows the life of Elphaba’s son Liir.
Unlike its predecessor, Son of a Witch deviates significantly from the original timeline of Baum's books. The character of Liir and most of the other characters and events introduced were never mentioned in any of the old Oz novels. However, Son of a Witch also takes care not to explicitly contradict those works so it could still fit into the Oz canon. Son of a Witch also differs from the original series in tone; while Baum's books were intended as children's literature, Son of a Witch, like Wicked, brings a darker and more mature tone to the lighthearted world of Oz.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Son of a Witch opens when Oatsie Manglehand discovers the body of a young man, badly bruised and near death, by the side of a road out of the Vinkus. The roads out of the Vinkus have become particular dangerous due to "scrapings", mysterious killings via the removing of the face, but the man's face has not been scraped. Oatsie brings the man to the nearby Cloister of Saint Glinda in the Shale Shallows, which happens to be the mauntery Elphaba had taken refuge in during the events of Wicked. The Superior Maunt recognizes the young man and identifies him as Liir, the young boy Elphaba had brought with her to the mauntery a decade and a half previous. A young Quadling girl, Candle, is given the task of watching over Liir though it is assumed that he will die. However, Liir survives far longer than the maunts' initial predictions due to Candle's domingon, a musical instrument which keeps Liir alive and causes him to experience flashbacks.
In the first flashback, after Dorothy Gale unintentionally kills Elphaba, Liir and Dorothy Gale leave Kiamo Ko for the Emerald City so that Dorothy can return to Kansas. While travelling, they meet Princess Nastoya, an Elephant who disguised herself as a human and became the leader of the Scrow, a Vinkus tribe. Nastoya is slowly dying, and she convinces Liir to promise to help her return to elephant form before she dies. They reach the Emerald City, and Dorothy returns to Kansas, leaving Liir alone.
The story then returns to the present, where Candle is becoming more conscious of the power of her domingon in sustaining Liir's life. Meanwhile, the Sister Doctor and Sister Apothecaire of the mauntery set off into the Vinkus to investigate the causes of the scrapings. They encounter the Yunamata, rival tribe to the Scrow and thought to be one of the possible perpetrators of the scrapings. They deny any involvement and accuse the Scrow. Both maunts then visit the Scrow, who also deny involvement in teh scrapings and accuse the Yunamata. Meanwhile, Liir experiences another flashback.
In the Emerald City, Liir searches for Nor, a friend of his childhood who was kidnapped by forces of the Wizard. He seeks the aid of Glinda, who agrees to introduce Liir to the last known member of Elphaba's family, her brother, Shell. Glinda brings him to Southstairs, the dungeon in which Nor was once imprisoned, where Shell is a prison guard. Shell gives him a tour of Southstairs, where Liir discovers that Nor has recently escaped.
In the present, Candle believes that Liir is finally dying despite her domingon. As a desparate attempt to save him, she has sex with him before being interrupted by the elderly Mother Yackle. Candle then flees the mauntery with the still-unconscious Liir.
In order to continue his serach for Nor, Liir joins the army, where he trains for many years in the Home Guard. During this time, Liir meets a soldier named Trism for the first time, but their encounter occurs only in passing. Shortly thereafter, his regiment is suddenly deployed to Quadling Country to deal with unrest in the area. In Quadling Country, Liir is part of an operation to destroy the village of Bengda; in doing so, many civilians are killed, and Liir becomes immediately disillusioned with the army.
He deserts and uses Elphaba's broom to return to Kiamo Ko, where stays for a few months with Chistery, Elphaba's flying monkey, and the elderly nurse Nanny. There, the Princess of the Swans lands, badly injured, and asks Chistery to attend the Conference of the Birds she has called in her stead, as she is dying. After the Swan Princess dies, Chistery convinces Liir that he should go, as Chistery is not a bird himself, but a representative of Elphaba would be welcome among the Birds. Liir reluctantly agrees to go. While flying on Elphaba's broom to reach the Conference, however, Liir is attacked by dragons and falls to the earth, where he will be found by Oatsie Manglehands, uniting the disparate plotlines.
 |
This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it. |
[edit] Characters
Liir, son of the recently deceased Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and (unbeknownst to him) Fiyero of Kiamo Ko, is the protagonist and hero of the story. Liir is described as tall with black hair and pale skin. He begins the story as a boy on the verge of manhood who accompanies Dorothy Gale to the Emerald City at the beginning of the book. There, he searches for Nor, the lost friend of his childhood who was kidnapped by the forces of the Wizard of Oz, but is unsuccessful in his search and join the army of Oz. Later in the story, Liir is revealed to be homosexual when he develops a relationship with Trism. But he feels strongly for the Quadling Glassblower Candle. Together they produce a child. So Liir may actually be bisexual.
Candle is a Quadling girl who rarely speaks, and only in her native tongue, Qua'ati (though she understands other speech). She is a novice at the Cloister of Saint Glinda in the Shale Shallows when Liir is brought the cloister after being discovered badly hurt and unconscious on the road. She plays music on her domingon, a musical instrument, to keep him alive, then eventually cures him by having sex with him. She flees the mauntery with Liir thereafter. She is later revealed to have become pregnant with Liir's child and gives birth near the end of the story.
Shell, Elphaba's brother, is the self-proclaimed Emperor of Oz, a title that he retains through brutal oppression of the populace. When Liir first encountered Shell, he was a debauched guard in the Palace, but Shell attained power during Liir's time in the military by claiming a revelation from the Unnamed God that convinced him to do good. Liir is skeptical of Shell's reform.
Trism is a soldier in the army of Oz, described as young and blond. He has a strong affinity for dragons and has therefore been recruited to train dragons to attack travelers in the service of the Emperor. He despises both the dragons and what he forces them to do, and he joins forces with Liir to destroy the dragons. Trism is homosexual and develops a relationship with Liir.
As a likely reference to the original series, Liir briefly meets a young boy named Tip, whose grandmother tries to sell him to Liir for the Witch's broom. Liir refuses but later feels guilty. In the sequel to the original L. Frank Baum Oz series, Ozma, the rightful ruler of Oz, is revealed to have been a young boy named Tip. In the original book, Ozma was kidnapped by the witch Mombi who disguised her as a boy named Tip. She was freed from this disguise by Glinda and rules Oz for several of the following books in the original series. This leaves the door wide open for Maguire to write a sequel that involves Ozma's awakening if he sticks with the original storyline.
[edit] Publication
Son of a Witch was first released on September 27, 2005 in hardcover format by Regan Books. Almost exactly a year later, on September 26, 2006, the paperback edition was released in the United States. A second edition of the paperback was released shortly thereafter on October 26, 2006.
[edit] Reasons for writing
In an interview that is included with the Son of a Witch audio CD, Gregory Maguire gave two reasons for writing the book: the volume of letters he received from young readers asking what happened next, and the viewing of the Abu Ghraib torture photographs which were reminiscent of Nor's imprisonment. [1]
[edit] Literary significance
In interviews, Macguire calls Son of a Witch a "companion book," though he said he has no objection to the term "sequel" – except that Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, doesn't exactly make a reappearance. Rather, the book centers on Liir and chronicles his search for his half-sister, Nor.
Wicked recap: Liir is (probably) the son of Elphaba and her lover Fiyero, who is royalty among a small mountain tribe. Fiyero is killed in Wicked. In grief, Elphaba lives in a mauntery (or nunnery) for a while. She eventually brings Liir to Kiamo Ko to try to make peace with Fiyero's wife, Sarima, and their children. She is cold and distant towards all the children all the way to her death. But before that, government forces kidnap Fiyero's wife and children.
After Dorothy kills Elphaba, Liir accompanies her to the Emerald City, carrying Elphaba's broom and cape. There, he finds Glinda, who helps him in his search for Nor. Along the way, he meets Elphaba's brother, Shell, who eventually becomes the Emperor of Oz.
Along the way, Liir discovers he has the power to fly on the Witch's broom. He also works to free an Elephant disguised as a human and saves the Birds of Oz from government-bred and trained attack dragons.
[edit] Criticism and praise
Overall reviews for Son of Witch were mixed. Some reviewers praised the book for its innovative look into an imperfect fantasy world while others disparaged the book's alleged lack of focus. Writing for The Boston Globe, Sarah Smith wrote, "Maguire has done it again: Son of a Witch is as wicked as they come,"[2] but Katharine Powers for The Washington Post called it "off-kilter and aimless."[3] Kirkus Reviews keeps the middle ground of these two characterizations, writing, "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."[4]
[edit] Potential for third book
There is currently a third book being written. The book's ending not only clearly links Liir as the Witch's son, but it also introduces a granddaughter (of Liir and his saviour, Candle) who has the same green-hued skin color as Elphaba. Some speculate that this daughter is Elphaba reincarnated (hints at the end of the first book and several interviews with Maguire suggest that a "witch never dies and will always come back").
Liir also realizes that it is his half-sister Nor who has been scrawling "Elphaba Lives" all over the Emerald City, though they haven't been reunited. He searches for her in vain throughout the entire book.
As of October 2006, Maguire is writing a third Oz novel entitled A Cowardly War in which the central character will be the Cowardly Lion.[1]
[edit] Notes
- ^ [http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&isbn=0060548932&itm=1#REV Barnes and Noble (Publishers Weekly review)].
- ^ http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2005/10/16/in_a_dangerous_oz_theres_no_place_like_home/
- ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/29/AR2005092901742.html
- ^ http://www.kirkusreviews.com/kirkusreviews/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000974930
