Friday, October 15, 2010

The latest Oz reading

I just finished A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire, the third volume in the "Wicked Years" cycle. The Cowardly Lion is definitely the star of this one, and we get to find out a lot about him. If Wicked asks the question, "What makes one wicked, anyway?" then this book asks, "What makes one cowardly, anyway?" We also find out a little more of what else was going on behind the scenes in Wicked (and, to a lesser extent, Son of a Witch), and of course what's been going on in Maguire's version of Oz since Son of a Witch. The other major figure in this book is Yackle, and if you've read the first two books and have wondered about her, this book answers those questions. I know among Oz fans I'm a bit of an oddity for liking these books, and this one was no different. So if you've already read and enjoyed Wicked and Son of a Witch, I suspect you'll like this return trip. If you didn't like the first two books, you'll want to give this one a pass. And if you haven't read any of them, don't start with this one. Like any series, you're better off reading the earlier books first. Otherwise, much of this one is going to go right over your head.

1 comment:

Jay said...

I didn't really think this one was bad so much as I thought Maguire's writing was dry and dull.