This book is less horrible than previous books in the series. It's extremely short length makes it much more focused, and things actually happen in this story.

I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. That's not saying much, considering I wasn't thinking I would enjoy it at all. But considering the last two Anita Blake novels have been actively painful, and the last Merry Gentry novel was just confusing as hell, I could honestly say I just enjoyed reading this one.

BLURB
My aunt, Queen Andais, will have it no other way. And so I am virtually a prisoner in faerie–trapped here with some of the realm’s most beautiful men to serve as my bodyguards . . . and my lovers. For I am compelled to conceive a child: an heir to succeed me on the throne. Yet after months of amazing sex with my consorts, there is still no baby. And no baby means no throne. The only certainty is death at the hands of my cousin Cel, or his followers, if I fail to conceive.

Now Mistral, Queen Andais’s new captain of the guard, has come to my bed–defying her and risking her terrible wrath in doing so. But even she will hesitate to punish him in jealous rage, because our joining has reawakened old magic, mystical power so ancient that no one stands against it and survives. Not even my strongest and most favored: my Darkness and my Killing Frost. Not even Mistral himself, my Storm Lord. But because Mistral has helped to bring this magic forth, he may live another day.

If I can reclaim control of the fey power that once was, there may be hope for me and my reign in faerie. I might yet quell the dark schemes and subterfuges surrounding me. Though shadows of obsession and conspiracy gather, I may survive.

the fey former Los Angeles PI has given up detecting and fully embraced her duties as Princess Meredith NicEssus, potential heir to the faerie throne. Since the extremely orgasmic princess's foremost duty is to prove her fertility in order to gain the throne, she spends most of her time bedding her immortal sidhe royal guardsmen, giving each a fair shot as her future consort.

All the group sex has a profoundly transformative effect: her men are regaining their full powers, and the long-dead faerie gardens are springing to life. But when Meredith and her merry men inadvertently find themselves in the territory of King Sholto, who has been betrayed by others in the faerie court, there's deadly danger even for immortals.

Finished 2/8/07

BLURB
Little Red Riding Hood
Puss in Boots
Tom Thumb
Diamonds and Toads
Bluebeard
Sleeping Beauty
Cinderella
Riquet a la Houppe
Donkey Skin
Griselda
The Ridiculous Wishes

Be warned, the fairy tales of our past are a lot more grusome that we know them - while there are the happily ever afters we have come to love - the roads to them are far more difficult than our modern versions let on!

Essential reading for anyone with a taste for the story behind the stories...

A beautiful, funny, and smart retelling of the Cinderella story. This one honestly gets better every time I read it.

Book Number 6 in my 50 book challenge.

Ella was given a horrible gift at birth by the fairy Lucinda: the gift of obedience. When she's given an order, Ella must do it. When her mother dies and Ella is sent off to finishing school, people not in her family begin to learn about the curse. . . or they at least figure out she must do what she is ordered to, they don't know why exactly.


Why didn't I like it? It was SOO hard to read. Many parts couldn't keep my attention and I caught myself skimming the book more than once.

A completely new take on the Cindarella story. Ella is granted the "gift" of obedience by her fairy godmother, but it turns out to be a curse: she has to obey every order given to her. She finally gets sick of it, and ventures out to find her godmother and give back the "gift."

I liked the book, it flowed well from the beginning to the end. It is also another interesting take on cinderella since it has the whole prince and glass slipper concept. It is also way better than the movie which left out critcal aspects of the book but again what do you expect from a Disney enchanted tale. I recommend the book for anyone who likes an enchanted tale and is looking for a quick read.

I really enjoyed this book. It wasn’t as good as Wicked, but was still worth the read. Son of a Witch is about Liir, Elphaba and Fiyero’s alleged son. The plot focuses on him hoping to uncover the truth about his parents and trying to find his step-sister Nor, who was taken prisoner by the Great and Powerful Wizard of OZ.

“What he saw, in the topmost room where he had lain, was a figure on a rush-bottomed chair, sitting away from the light, twisting her hands. Her hair was looped up on her with no regard for neatness or priority, just to get it out of the way. Her eyes were, closed, but he didn’t think she could be praying. He didn’t know what she was doing. At her feet was a largish basket woven of twigs. He didn’t look into it; he couldn’t. Every now and then her shoeless foot would nip out from behind the dark hem of her skirt and give the basket a little push, and because of the rounded bottom, the basket rocked for a time. Then the green foot would appear again, and started the rocking over.”

This book was really disappointing. I really enjoyed Wicked, so I thought I'd like this one too. Instead, I found that it didn't really add anything to Wicked, and instead was just a strange story that didn't really seem to go anywhere or make all that much sense. It needed some sort of conclusion and/or coherence.
Liir was a depressing character with nothing interesting about him. In fact, all of the characters were uninteresting. None of the character interactions particularly rang true. I couldn't care about the characters or what happened in the story.

Sequel to Wicked. Story of Liir, possibly the Son of the Wicked Witch of the West.

This book is just as well written and interesting as Wicked, but also a major downer.

Liir is hapless and kind of hopeless as a character (even more so than in Wicked) and we follow his adult life as he stumbles from one bad situation to another in search of an impossible goal.

There is no real resolution to this book, which is mildly unsatisfying.

Still, I think I'd read it again, it's very engaging.

September 2007 - listened to book on CD - borrowed from library. Better than the book wicked. Still pretty strange, though.

BLURB

The sequel to Wicked returns to the land of Oz to tell the story of Liir, an adolescent boy last seen hiding in the shadows of the castle after Dorothy did in Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. 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?

REVIEW

I label this as reading as a technicality...I started reading this a few years ago and never finished it. When I don't like a book, I end up never finishing it.

I didn't like Liir, I found him dry and boring. Now, I don't mind reading about teen aged angst, honest! I even liked Harry Potter! In book 5! But I thought Liir was an asshole.

I include this book because I want to know from any readers out there...Is it worth it to finish? The poor thing is sitting neglected on the shelf, and I'm not sure what to do with it.

I mainly picked up this book because I was reading Wicked and I couldn't remember that much of it from reading it as a kid. It was better when I was a kid, but still pretty good as an adult. A bit of a strange adventure story.

It's been years since I've read this book, and I've read all the Gregory Maguires since, and I LOVE it. It was a wonderful book - so evocative. All the characters are turned around - Glinda is a simpering backstabber, and Dorothy a mere annoyance. It makes you start to look at all literature in a topsy-turvy way. Definitely on my top ten books of all time list. I hear he's coming out with a sequel and I can't wait.

Made me throw "Wizard of Oz" into the vcr for a second (hundredth?) look.

I LOVE WICKED! A friend of mine recommended this to me and got me hooked. I have since read it at least half a dozen times and have also become obsessed with the musical.

“And of the Witch? In the life of a witch, there is no after, in the ever after of a witch, there is no happily; in the story of a witch, there is no afterward. Of that part that is beyond the life story, beyond the story of a life, there is—alas or perhaps thank mercy-no telling. She was dead, dead and gone, and all that was left of her was the carapace of her reputation of malice.”

‘And there the wicked old Witch stayed for a good long time.”
“And did she ever come out?”
Not yet”

An interesting way to turn the story of the Wizard of Oz on its head. I really enjoyed it- turning a classic, almost trite fairy tale into a political story of sorts. It added so much detail and life to the Oz story.
Unfortunately, the ending didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story. The majority of the story is about fighting for good, or at least what one believes is right, and it ends up as a story about trying to find forgiveness. The end also felt rushed, crazy, and not at all as well laid out as the rest of the book. So while I liked most of the story, I felt like the end was a totally different book.

I picked up this book a few months ago. After having to go over parts 3 or 4 times (something that doesn't normally happen) i lost interest. Everyone said that this book was phenomenal but I couldn't get into it. Last weekend I saw Wicked the Musical and fell in love. The first thing I did when I came home was take this book back off the shelf and pour into it.

I'm on page 100 and while I've heard there are many changes from the book to the stage, I'm hoping it won't be a complete deviation.

So far I am liking it. There are a lot of political overtones and the pace is steady.
I'm finding that the Elphaba of the musical was more forceful and strong then the one in the book, however I'm not far enough into it to see her full identity. I'll write more when I finish...and I WILL finish it.

Incredibly well written, though quite depressing. Not at all like the musical, but at the same time you can see where everything came from in the musical's story.

Much more of a political and religious commentary.

NOT a light pick-me-up read.

Highly engaging and interesting.

Yep, it's weird. Nope, it's not the same plot as the musical (it's a lot less sunny). Nonetheless - it's a really great read - a cross between fantasy, magical realism, satire and epic. Read!

What we never knew about the Wicked Witch of the West could fill a book, oh wait, it did. A fantatic read that makes the Wizard of Oz that much better. How can two sisters overcome their 'faults' why are some people 'good' and others 'bad'? What a fun book, such an enchanting tale.

Read this book after raving reviews from a few friends. I was looking for the characters story...I wanted to know what made the wicked witch who she was...but felt the entire book was only a political commentary. Found it difficult to get through the entire thing. Rather depressing. But, I'll still read Son of a Witch.
It is well written...just not what I had anticipated.

Back to Oz, but a far more realistic place than the Garland movie would suggest. This book opens with the early life of a very troubled little green skinned girl - who grows up to be the Wicked Witch of the West (Ding Dong)!

GM obviously loved the Oz world, and many of the principle characters appear in a respected and thoughtful portrayal. Like many alternative histories, the best aspects of this book are the familiar, reworked for a new perspective!

By far one of my favorites. I have always been a fan of the wicked witch from the original Wizard of Oz. I was always sad that her story was never told.But that is where Mr. Maguire comes in, he tells her story wonderfully. Letting you know that all is not as transparent as it seems. This book will shine lighht on Elphie's life from birth to death, and give her credit where credit is due.

I quite liked this book, particularly the first half, and I loved the character of Elphaba. Like I said elsewhere, I love retelling of well-known stories, and I love looking through the point of view of the villain. My biggest complain would probably be the ending. Obviously, it was never going to be a happy ending, but I still thought it was quite slow during the last half.

Either way it was a very fun book to read.

I am the BIGGEST Wizard of Oz fan ever. I have tons of collectibles and the first song I ever learned to sing was "Over the Rainbow". I plan on getting the ruby slippers tattoo in the fall. Yes, I am obsessed. So when I heard there was this story circulating called "Wicked", detailing the life of the Wicked Witch we've all come to fear, before Dorothy landed a house on her sister, intrigued me beyond all stories. I read the book and although it was a little difficult to understand (Maguire does not translate his fantastical vocabulary very easily for the reader like Rowling does with the Harry Potter series), it was truly a masterpiece. Shortly after reading the book I went and saw the play. I am a huge fan of musicals to begin with and this play was truly an amazing show. I am getting ready to read the sequel to this book, "Son of a Witch", so look forward to hearing my review on that novel as well. Overall "Wicked" captured my heart and I hope anyone else will enjoy it as much as I did.