"A Lion Among Men" by Gregory Maguire

"A Lion Among Men"
by Gregory Maguire
read by John McDonough
Published by Harper Audio (2008)
Approx 12 hours

Well I just finished listening to the third installment in Gregory Maguire's take on the Land of Oz. "Wicked" took the world by storm, and has been a hugely successful Broadway production. "Son of a Witch" told of Liir, the son of the Wicked Witch, Elphaba, who was melted by Dorothy, as he hunted for his half-sister Nor. It seems as though Maguire has closed up his version of Oz, but has left himself some room in case he wants to revisit this land. This time around we learn more about the Cowardly Lion, Brr and even more on how Elphaba became what she was.

Before we get into the story, I have to say that John McDonough does a superb job narrating this book, giving voice to all the characters. I was so happy to hear that he didn't try to give the lion the same voice Bert Lahr did. In all of Maguire's books all the characters have a bit of a darker side to them and the Bert Lahr Cowardly Lion just would not have worked. While still able to show some of the cowardly, lacking of nerve aspect to the lion he also gave him a bit of a scholarly sound in his voice. After all when the book opens the Lion is seeking information on behalf of the Emperor of Oz. McDonough does a great job representing the voice of Yackle who has been trying to die and failing and therefore holds a bit of snarkiness in her voice.

As the book opens the armies of the Emerald City and Munchkinland are marching toward each other in what will be the battle of battles. In the middle is the Mauntery, which has been the epicenter for Elphaba, Yackle, Liir, and Candle. Yackle still lives despite losing her eyesight and longing for death. At her request, the Maunts bury her in their crypt alive with only a few candles and some wine. She's eventually forgotten, but not by all. The Lion arrives wanting to question her regarding Elphaba, and eventually we find out also the Grimoire, in which the power of all powers could be attained. One of the sisters at the Mauntery is explaining that Yackle is dead just as Yackle comes walking into the room. The sister faints at the sight of the dead Yackle, who is now blind and very very old.

Yackle and Brr begin a bit of bartering to tell stories so Brr can gather the information he's seeking. In this we learn more of Brr's beginnings, how he was abandoned and alone in the forest and taught himself to talk while listening in on humans (he had the ability but no one to teach him). In his early years he comes across one of the Wizard's soldiers caught in a trap that was meant for an Animal like himself. He is too cowardly or maybe just excited about making his first friend and cannot find himself leaving the soldier alone. Brr stays with the man until he dies and sets out with the soldier's medal of courage and some books to tell his family.

By the end of the book the Clockwork Dragon Oracle makes its return and reveals all to the players involved just before the war comes to them. Allowing each to make a decision about their pasts and futures.

Maguire could end his Oz saga here, but he did leave the door open for further exploration. This book really allows you to emphathize with all the characters, even the ones who seem bad/evil and is a great addition to Maguire's stories.

"Son of a Witch" by Gregory Maguire

"Son of a Witch"
by Gregory Maguire
Read by the author
Produced by Harper Audio (2005)
Approx 14.5 hours

I still haven't had the chance to see "Wicked" the musical, but I couldn't just stop after reading the book. I found Gregory Maguire had written two sequels to the book so I thought I would get going on that aspect of the story. So here it is I've just finished "Son of a Witch" and have found the story to be interesting but didn't seem to close out the story. In the interview at the end of the audiobook the author says he doesn't have any plans to come up with another book in the spin off from the world of the Wizard of Oz. But it seems as though this book screams for a sequel. In that same interview Maguire says he got the idea from two sources; the numerous letters from young female fans who wondered what happened to Nor (daughter of the witch) and after seeing the torture photos from Abu Gharib prison. The problem with this is that this book seems to leave even more questions about what happened to Nor, although the prison scene is in the book.

This audiobook is read by the author and after reading stories (he also writes children's stories) to children he has honed his craft of quality voice acting. Maguire delivers the story probably the way it should be, the voices all sound as he intended so you get more depth to the characters. His delivery is perfect for the story and the different characters come across well defined. Keep in mind this is a story from the "Land of Oz" so there are some interesting characters such as, a talking Goose, a Phoenix and an Elephant disguised as a human princess. Each one comes across just as you and the author would think they should sound.

The first section of the book consists of a series of flashbacks that jump back to after the Wicked Witch of the West (Elphaba) is killed by Dorothy and Liir (the Son of the Witch) accompanies her and her band (Scarecrow, Tinman, Lion and Toto to) back to the Wizard, and the "present" when Liir's body is found along the roadside thought to be another victim of "The Scrapings." Citizens are found dead with their faces scraped off by some mysterious force. When Liir is found to be still alive he is brought back to the Cloister of Saint Glinda in the Shale Shallows. The Superior Maunt recognizes the young man and identifies him as Liir, the young boy who left the Cloister with Elphaba a decade or so ago.

In the "present" time Liir is brought back to health by A Quadling girl, Candle who rarely speaks, and only in her native tongue, Qua'ati (though she understands other speech). Raised in Ovvels, she and some relatives became itinerants. She is left at the Cloister of Saint Glinda by her uncle, and ends up working in the kitchen under Sister Cook. She becomes a skilled player on the domingon, a Quadling musical instrument which sounds like it closely resembles a lute. When a phoenix plucks one of its own feathers to give to Candle and place in the domingon, the instrument seems to be complete, and Candle is able to "play" Liir Back to health by making him remember his past.

Candle and Liir are forced to leave the Mauntery and seek shelter in an abandoned farm which also served once as a press for an underground newspaper. Liir then learns he must go back to Oz and destroy the dragons, reclaim his broom and cape (which belonged to his mother) and guide the Council of Birds to Safety. In the process Liir learns his uncle Shel is now the Emperor of Oz and is running a corrupt government. The big lesson for Liir in this is that the he cannot simply sit back and let the world go by, he must take part in it in order to make change.

The story remains very interesting and entertaining, but I feel the book was not complete. I guess that's why Maguire wrote the sequel "A Lion Among Men," which is on my summer reading list.

Book Review: "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" by Gregory Maguire

Borrowing aspects from the "Oz" books by L. Frank Baum and the "Wizard of Oz" movie Gregory Maguire tells the story of the "Wicked Witch of the West." In this book we learn that the witch was not the wicked one only a side affect of a very superstitious land of Oz, and the political conspiracies of the Wizard of Oz. The wizard is the one to be made out as the bad guy. Where does Dorothy come in? Well, she is merely a pawn for the Wizard to sacrifice so he can have Elphaba (The Wicked Witch of the West) killed and he won't have to worry about a hostile takeover of his regime.

Gregory Maguire has written in this book a great retelling of the land of Oz that sucks you in and never lets you go. This epic novel could easily be place in the same category as J.R.R. Tolkien's "Rings" books and Frank Herbert's "Dune" series, in that it creates a world that has many possibilities and has an ongoing quest that is full of mystery and intrigue. Also the bad guy (gal/witch) is not bad and the good guy (wizard) is not so good, so there's a twist for you my pretties.

Okay when the novel first starts out you begin to think this is one of those that begins to tell the tale that Elphaba is a "victim" of a bad childhood. She was born on a night when her father, a priest for the Unnamed God, is keeping his parishoners in Munchkinland from worshipping a tic-toc dragon that tells the future. But the dragon tells of a priest who's "harlot" of a wife gives birth to evil and the parishoners hunt him down to keep the prediction from coming true. On the lam he has some midwives hide his wife as she gives birth. But Elphaba is born, with strange green skin and sharp teeth and seems to have intelligence behind those infant eyes. She remains to be a mysterious child until her sister, Nessarose is born.

Then we jump to Elphaba going to college at Shiz. She is forced to room with Glinda. Glinda is much worse for the wear on this one in that it will ruin her possibilities of being popular because she hangs around the green-skinned girl. During their stay at Shiz, Glinda is told by Madame Morrible, the headmaster of the Girl's college that Glinda would do well to study sorcery. Meanwhile Elphaba is taken in on the fight for Animal rights. Keep in mind that Animals are not animals. Animals have intelligence and can talk, while animals are simply beasts. So while the well know Cowardly Lion is a Lion and not a lion. Tu compre?
Back to the story....the instructor that gets Elphaba on the track of Animal rights is Dr. Dillamond, a Goat who teaches life sciences. The wizard has recently passed a law that all Animals will be sent back into the fields and is working toward downgrading Animals to animals regardless of their intelligence. Dr. Dillamond is murdered and Glinda's Ama (a type of nanny) seems to have witnessed the murder but soon loses her mind mysteriously. So Elphaba's Nanny comes to take the Ama's place and brings Elphaba's sister Nessarose, since she'll be coming to Shiz as a student in the next year anyway. Oh and Nessarose is not free from being odd, Nessarose was born without arms. During this time Elphaba's and Nessarose's father sends Nessarose a gift, Ruby Slippers. Elphaba becomes jealous of the slippers, but knows that Nessarose is helpless with no arms.

Madame Morrible tries to recruit Glinda, Elphaba and Nessarose into some sort of secret service that seems to be on the side of the Wizard and his government. Elphaba will have nothing to do with this and she and Glinda sneak off to see the Wizard and find some answers. When they are supposed to return to Shiz, Elphaba stays behind.

The book then jumps about 7 years and Elphaba is in the underground fighting against the Wizard. The story then goes on to explain how Elphaba came to living in the west in the castle, Glinda in the north and Nessarose in the east, in such epic detail that creates not a "new" version of Oz but an explanation of how things are misunderstood.

This book took me completely by surprise, I was prepared for a fun story, instead I got a great novel that provided many intelligent philosophical points of good versus evil.

I should close in saying that, yes, this is the same book that influenced the smash Broadway Play of the same name. So now, i'm hoping to win the lottery so I can go see the production. If I don't ever win the lottery well then I'm hoping someone at least releases a dvd of the production.