I read Son of a Witch right after it came out, and I had to make myself finish it. I hated it. More specifically, I hated Liir. There were some characters I liked, but they just sort of drifted in and out of the story. This makes sense because it seemed that Liir just drifted from plot point to plot point. I would have prefered a less passive character. For a character who managed to accomplish things, he seemed to have a remarkable lack of agency that I found infuriating. I wish I could remember specifics, but I tried to push it out of my mind as I read other things.

I like Wicked overall, but there are things that I found distracting. I loved Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. I don't think it's Maguire's style that I objected to, just the story he chose to tell. Also, to be fair, I am extremely attached to the original Oz books, so maybe I am instinctually reacting to his interpretations of my 'verse.

How 'bout now? Have you all read it now???

Hee. No, not yet. I changing from one book to another. Right now I am reading Wicked, American Gods, and Anyone But You.

I didn't care much for the book Wicked (although I want to see the musical), but it was the kind of "didn't care much" that translates to "I might like this if I read it at a later date and knew it was going to trash my childhood vision of Oz."

Next up in my TBR pile are "Julie and Julia," "Anansi Boys," and a couple of Madhur Jaffrey's cookbooks.

justkim, I felt the same way. THere were som many things that were just left open. Like, the guy Liir saw carrying The Grimmerie, how did the page of The Grimmerie come to be where Liir found it? Who the everloving FUCK was Yackle? Just some prophet? And what possible good came from 3000 birds buzzing the Emerald City? And what the fuck about Nor? She just turned into some freakish Brad Pitt Seven Monkeys character ?

He really really dropped the ball. I loved then ending, as in, the last little bit. As in, the last sentence. Because being the Elphaba lover I am, it's nice to know she's living on and hopefully, the baby will be more like her Grandmother than her father, I hope.

Sheryl, Gosh. I haven't read the book in 20 years (oog) so all I remember is the frustrating ending.

Yes! That's it exactly!

Edited to add: The whole part about the dragons just seemed so random and not a part of any Oz I ever knew. At least it provided an answer to the murders.

But ya know what? I hated that answer. I would have preferred it been, I don't know Winkies on the rampage. Or we find out the people killed were persecutors of Animals and the scrapings were part of the Elphaba Lives! movement. SOMETHING besides "Uh...the Emperor needed a weapon to get the flying things and well, dragons fly." Also, there was none, and I mean NO chemistry between Liir and Trism to justify a love affair. None. And that screamed to me like, "Well, I'm gay, so someone in this book has to have the gay sex." I don't mind gay sex, mind you. (So many doors open with that statement.) but I need ANY sex in my books to have chemistry. That whole scene read to me as, well, you're here. Peg A, Slot B.

Dammit.

You're not wrong. The whole book was just random events happening randomly. And not in a "Life sure is funny" kind of way.

What bugs me on the whole about it is that obviously (to me, anyway), he wrote it because of the pop-u-larity of the musical. Here's some more Wicked - watch it fly off the shelves. I enjoyed the premise of Wicked because I like the other side of any story. But this isn't the other side of any story. This is a novel with characters from other novels in it. Wicked at least made references to The Wizard of Oz. This had nothing to reference. And the story lacked because of that. If it had been a different story of someone other than the Son of Elphaba , it might have evoked altogether feelings from me. On the other hand, I might not have read it, either.

The second Alatriste book is out in translation.

(I saw it at Barnes and Noble this weekend.)