Son of a Witch (Wicked Years #2) by Gregory MaGuire

Title: Son of a Witch
Author: Gregory MaGuire
Published: October 2006 by Regan Books
Pages: 337
ISBN: 9780060747220
Source: personal copy

Description:  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 to 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?

I Give This Book 3 Stars!

I will admit that I was not an instant fan of Wicked.  It took the second reading for me to be fully engaged in it and not completely confused.  Maybe that's the case here as well.  Nothing about this book felt similar to the first.  It was even more confusing.  The characters don't feel the same nor does the land of OZ (but then there is no Wizard...).   The first half to 2/3 of the book drag on.  All the action occurs in the end, and then it's over.  I didn't particularly like Liir.  He was a wishy-washy character, and never firmly stood his ground on anything.  In the end, he seemed to develop some character.  But, it was too little too late.  I will probably read the latest in the series A Lion Among Men, but only because the library has it.