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BooksFantasy

Son Of A Witch (The Wicked Years book 2) by Gregory Maguire (book review).

‘Son Of A Witch’ is book two in ‘The Wicked Years’ series by Gregory Maguire. This is one of many books by Maguire based on famous myths, legends or other stories where he takes a different look at the original.

In this book, we’re following Liir, who may or may not be the son of Elphaba. Liir has to try and find out more about his past and to try and find his possible half-sister, all while trying not to be found and killed.

I’ve read a few books by Maguire and have, on the whole enjoyed them, but for some reason ‘The Wicked Years’ series is just not one I’m enjoying and I’m not sure why. Having now read two books in this series, I can quite honestly say that these are not the books for me. I know that lots of people have read and enjoyed them and I also know that they are not badly written. However, I find them incredibly hard to read, I cannot seem to bond with any of the characters and I find the plot just hard to understand.

Maybe it’s because of the amount of ugly descriptions of the dark things that happen in this version of Oz? Or maybe it’s because of the lack of any real explanation of so many elements in this world that then leave me confused and annoyed? Or maybe it’s because I just did not understand where this book was going or even why it was written? Probably it’s a combination of all these elements that just left me cold.

I did like some very small bits of the story, those that seemed to make more sense to me. But these were very few and far between and just not enough for me to say I enjoyed the whole book. I just found that this book dragged on and expected too much knowledge from the reader that I just did not have at all. I managed to finish this book but it took me a lot longer than average and I just did not want to pick it up.

Overall, I’m going to finish the series but it will take me some time. I’m hoping that at some point the books just click with me and I finally understand why people love them so much, but I’m not holding out much hope of this.

Sarah Bruch

September 2019

(pub: Headline, 2008. 502 page enlarged paperback. Price: £ 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-7553-4156-6)

check out websites: www.madaboutbooks.com and www.headline.co.uk

 

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