Book Written Around 2005 About Young Girl Who Has Witches in Her Family Lineage
 Cover of Son of a Witch | |
| Writer | Gregory Maguire |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Douglas Smith |
| Land | United States |
| Linguistic communication | English |
| Series | The Wicked Years |
| Genre | Parallel novel, fantasy |
| Publisher | Regan Books |
| Publication date | 2005 |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 352 |
| ISBN | 0-06-074722-vi |
| OCLC | 60359529 |
| Preceded past | Wicked |
| Followed by | A Lion Amid Men |
Son of a Witch (2005, ISBN 0-06-074722-half dozen) is a fantasy novel written past Gregory Maguire. The book is Maguire's fifth revisionist story and the second set in the land of Oz originally conceived past 50. Frank Baum. Information technology is a sequel to Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the W (1995). Like Wicked, Son of a Witch differs from the original series in tone: while Baum'due south books were intended equally children's literature, Son of a Witch elaborates a darker and more mature side of the lighthearted world of Oz. In an interview that is included with the Son of a Witch audio CD, Gregory Maguire gave two reasons for writing the volume: "the many messages from young fans asking what happened to Nor, last seen as a chained political prisoner, and seeing the Abu Ghraib torture photographs."[1] Son of a Witch continues the story later on the fall from power of the Wizard of Oz and the death of Elphaba, Maguire'due south reinvention of the Wicked Witch of the West. Equally its title implies, the story elaborates the life of Elphaba'due south possible son, Liir.
Son of a Witch is the second novel in The Wicked Years. It is dedicated to the musical cast of Wicked.
Synopsis [edit]
Oatsie Manglehand, a adult female who leads the Grasstrail Train, discovers the body of a boyfriend, desperately bruised and about death, by the side of a route in the Vinkus. The Vinkus has lately get unsafe due to "scrapings", mysterious killings that involve the removal of the head'southward facial features, but this man's confront has not been scraped. Oatsie brings the man to the Cloister of Saint Glinda in the Shale Shallows. The Superior Maunt recognizes the beau and identifies him as Liir, the immature boy who left the Cloister with Elphaba a decade or so ago.
The narrative is not chronological for the first part of the book: in the first 2 sections ("Under the Jackal Moon" and "The Service") the narrative shifts betwixt the fourth dimension when Liir left Kiamo Ko after the death of Elphaba and the time when Candle and Liir exit the Cloister. The second 2 sections ("The Emperor Apostle" and "No Place Similar It") tell the story chronologically from Candle and Liir'southward arrival at Apple Press Farm to the stop. An explanation for this narrative construction in the first part of the book is provided by references that Candle, in playing the domingon while Liir is in his coma-like state, is "guiding" him through his recollection of his by, and to the numerous and complex references in the novel to connections betwixt past and present in the lives of individuals.
Events between the end of Wicked to the opening of Son of a Witch [edit]
Afterwards Elphaba's death in Wicked, Liir accompanies Dorothy Gale, the Scarecrow, the Tin Human being, the Cowardly Lion and Toto back to the Emerald Metropolis. While traveling, they run across Princess Nastoya, the leader of the Scrow, a Vinkus tribe. Nastoya is an Elephant who, because of the Wizard's pogrom against Animals, availed herself of a witch's charm that enabled her to transform into a human being. Nastoya is slowly dying, and she asks Liir to observe a way to enable her return to Elephant form before she dies. In render, she promises that she will try to learn about the fate of Nor, Fiyero'due south daughter, who, with her family unit, was taken by the Wizard'south forces. When they attain the Emerald Metropolis, the others go off to receive what they were promised by the Wizard, leaving Liir alone.
Liir becomes convinced that Nor is in Southstairs, a subterranean city that operates as a maximum-security prison, and seeks the assistance of Glinda, appointed acting ruler of Oz later on the Magician's divergence. She enables Liir to access Southstairs by arranging a meeting with Vanquish, Elphaba's younger brother. Shell, who undertakes 'missions of mercy' in Southstairs, which involves 'comforting' female prisoners by injecting them with extract of poppy flower and taking sex equally payment, brings him to the Under-Mayor, Chyde. When Chyde takes Liir to find Nor, they learn that Nor has recently escaped, by hiding in the carcasses of some slaughtered Horned Hogs. Liir leaves Southstairs by flight out (via the "original geological bucket" at the middle of Southstairs) on Elphaba's broom.
Later on living on the streets of the Emerald Urban center for a time, Liir manages to enlist in the Habitation Guard. After a number of years in the service, his and iii other companies (known equally the "7th Spear"), led by Commander Cherrystone, are deployed to Qhoyre in Quadling Country, ostensibly to find those responsible for the kidnapping of the Viceroy and his wife and to maintain order, but imperatively to prove some strength against the Quadlings for their lack of interest in the disappearance of the Viceroy. Their quietism and full general deferential nature, still, prevent the Seventh Spear from needing to brandish any force. Over time, the unit comes to absorb the laid-back nature of the inhabitants, and the government in Emerald Urban center become critical near their laxness, ordering them to get back on mission immediately. To adopt an appearance of keeping the Quadlings in line, and in desperation, Commander Cherrystone provokes the village of Bengda into refusing to pay an exorbitant fine and orders Liir to lead a secret operation to burn the hamlet. In the operation, many of the villagers including women and children are burned to death or drowned, and Liir, having witnessed this, deserts. Liir learns later that the Quadlings attacked and killed most of the Seventh Spear, and that dragons were and then sent to punish the Quadlings.
Liir returns to Kiamo Ko, where Chistery, Elphaba'south Flight Snow Monkey, and her elderly Nanny are still living. While in that location, a desperately injured Princess of the Swans lands, having been attacked by a predator she does not know the proper name of. Before she dies, she asks Chistery to take her place at a Briefing of the Birds she has called. Although Chistery says he cannot get, Liir decides that since Elphaba would take attended the Conference, he will go in her stead. While flying on Elphaba's broom to reach the Conference, however, Liir is attacked by dragons and falls to earth, where he is found by Oatsie Manglehand.
Afterward the Curtilage [edit]
The Superior Maunt of the Curtilage of Saint Glinda decides to appoint Candle, a young Quadling daughter, to watch over Liir and soothe him by playing on her domingon, a Quadling guitar-like instrument. When Sister Medico and Sister Apothecaire object, she informs them that she is sending them into the Vinkus to investigate the perpetrators of the scrapings of some novice maunts who were doing missionary piece of work there. They come across the Yunamata tribe and Princess Nastoya and the Scrow, who each accuse the other of perpetrating the scrapings. It becomes evident to the Sisters that neither tribe is responsible.
When Candle believes that Liir is dying and is about to get help, an old maunt, Mother Yackle, stops her and locks her in the room with Liir. In a desperate effort to save him, she performs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the boy, and wraps him in her clothes. Mother Yackle later on unlocks the door, and, when the Superior Maunt and the newly returned Sisters Doc and Apothecaire enter the sickroom, Candle and Liir are gone.
The pair take up residence in a deserted farmhouse, which Candle names "Apple Press Subcontract." When he is fully recovered, Liir goes to the Conference of the Birds. Equally the Princess of the Swans had told Chistery, the Birds had until now been piddling concerned with the fate of other Animals under the Sorcerer's anti-Animal laws because, being flying creatures, they were relatively safe. However, the Birds were a potential threat to the Emerald City'south efforts to split up those groups who might oppose them, similar the tribes of the Vinkus and the Munchkinlanders, considering they can come across and study on what is going on throughout Oz. This is why the dragons are attacking Birds, and why the Conference is huddled up in Kumbricia'due south Pass, afraid to fly. The Conference wants Liir to destroy the dragons and recover the broom (taken by the dragons) in order to become their human ambassador, a asking that Liir reluctantly agrees to fulfill.
Returning to Apple Press Subcontract, Candle tells him she is significant. Liir insists he never had sexual activity with her, then he cannot be the father, simply Candle insists that he did and he is, and explains that she had sex with him while he was unconscious, although Liir remains unconvinced. Arriving dorsum in the Emerald Metropolis, he meets Trism bon Cavalish, the soldier who had told him how to get into the Home Guard, who, he remembers, was a Pocket-sized Menacier involved in dragon husbandry. To Liir'due south disgust, Trism informs him that the Emperor Apostle, the current ruler of Oz, is none other than a born-once again Crush. Trism is psychologically shattered because of his responsibility for training the dragons to perform their killing missions (including the scrapings), but, as primary dragon master, feels trapped, fearing for his and his family's life if he resists. Trism reveals the dragons are sent out to terrorize the population of Oz and ensure submission to the Emperor's authority. Liir convinces Trism to aid him destroy the dragons, and later on poisoning their nutrient, they recover Elphaba'south broom and cloak and abscond the City. Liir leaves a note saying he has kidnapped Trism, signing himself "Liir, son of Elphaba."
During their flight, Liir and Trism become lovers. They eventually finish upwardly at the Cloister of Saint Glinda, where Commander Cherrystone and the Dwelling Baby-sit congregate them. The mauntery is spared from assail considering Glinda is staying there on retreat. With her help, they come upwards with a plan for the pair's escape: Liir will wing away on his broom, while Trism volition exit with Glinda, bearded as her retainer. Returning to the Conference of Birds, Liir flies almost Oz, collecting and training a huge flock of Birds, which he leads to the Emerald City. Over the City, they fly in formation as a huge representation of the Witch, with Liir equally "the keen black centre of the Witch."
Returning to Apple Printing Subcontract, Liir finds that Princess Nastoya and the Scrow have come up. Candle informs him that Trism had earlier come to the subcontract and left, having unsuccessfully tried to persuade her to flee with him, telling her he was agape Commander Cherrystone and the Habitation Baby-sit would come up looking for him. Liir comes upwards with the idea that Candle'southward music might release Nastoya from her human form, and he is correct: he has hung around Nastoya the preserved faces of scraping victims that he and Trism stole later poisoning the dragons (which were going to be displayed equally an example of what would happen to those who defied the Emperor), and with Candle playing accompaniment, the faces sing about their lives. Somehow, this allows Nastoya to return to her Elephant form and she dies.
The new ruler of the Scrow insists Liir back-trail the Scrow and the Princess'southward body back into the Vinkus, in instance they encounter the Yunamata. They do, but the Yunamata merely pay their respects to the expressionless Nastoya and leave. When returning home, it suddenly dawns on Liir that the "ELPHABA LIVES!" graffiti he has seen in the Emerald Urban center is in Nor's handwriting. When he arrives at Apple Press Subcontract, Candle is gone, only he finds wrapped in Elphaba'south cloak a newborn baby who he initially thinks is expressionless but revives under his care. Holding the baby upwardly to the rain to launder away the birth claret, she "cleans up green."
Characters [edit]
Characters who appeared in Wicked [edit]
Liir: The protagonist of the story, Liir is not a conventional storybook hero, being filled with self-dubiety. Although the facts of his parentage are obscure (even to himself), information technology becomes clear that he is the son of Elphaba and Fiyero. One slice of bear witness of this is that he can fly Elphaba's broom, which others (like Trism) cannot. Liir is described as handsome, tall with black hair and stake skin. He is 14 at the offset of the novel, which spans a menses of over 10 years. His main, if oftentimes interrupted, quest throughout the novel is to detect Nor, his childhood playmate at Kiamo Ko (and one-half-sister). While he does not actually end up finding her, he finds evidence that she is still live. The story also reveals that Liir may be bisexual, having romantic relationships with both Trism and Candle (in Wicked, he was briefly infatuated with Dorothy).
Oatsie Manglehand: A woman who runs a horse-and-coach caravan that transports passengers along the Grassland Trail through the Vinkus. Her driver is named Nubb. She finds the injured Liir and brings him to the Cloister of Saint Glinda. The Superior Maunt reminds her that she transported Liir and Elphaba to Kiamo Ko years ago.
The Superior Maunt of the Cloister of Saint Glinda: The Superior Maunt during Elphaba's seven-year stay at the Cloister. She is originally from the Pertha Hills in Gillikin. During the siege of the Cloister, she abdicates as sole authority of the mauntery and establishes a triumvirate consisting of herself, Sister Doctor, and the absent Candle.
Yackle: A mysterious crone who comforts Elphaba when she arrives at the motherchapel in Emerald Metropolis after the death of Fiyero in Wicked. In Son of a Witch, she appears much the same, although, every bit Mother Yackle, she is at present resident at the Curtilage. The other maunts recollect she is a senile onetime biddy, only she plays an important function in bringing Candle and Liir together: she was the maunt who admitted Candle into the Curtilage and she locks Candle in the sickroom with Liir (telling her, "At that place's no one else here to do what needs to be done"), which leads to Candle becoming impregnated by Liir (for this human activity, Mother Yackle calls Candle "a daughter of Lurlina"). She tells Candle that Liir is in danger if he stays at the Cloister and helps drag Liir to the cart in which Candle transports him to Apple Press Farm. Of Elphaba, she remarks, "I seem to accept been placed on the sidelines of her life, as you might say, as a witness."
Chistery: The snowfall monkey Elphaba taught to speak and gave wings (making him a Winged monkey). He remains at Kiamo Ko, looking after Nanny.
Nanny: A devout Lurlinist who raised Elphaba and her siblings (besides every bit their mother Melena). She remains in her bed in Kiamo Ko throughout the novel. She is senile, just does have moments of lucidity. She is a bit confused and seems to call up that the "witch" is still live and living in the upper belfry of Kiamo Ko.
Nor: The daughter of Fiyero, Prince of the Arjikis, and Sarima. In Wicked, she is last seen at the meeting between Elphaba and The Magician, when he displays Nor in chains to Elphaba. Although she never actually appears in Son of a Witch, news is heard of her: she escapes from Southstairs by hiding under the carcasses of two Horned Hogs, slaughtered for a feast, and she is responsible for the graffiti (like ELPHABA LIVES) seen around the Emerald City.
Commander Cherrystone: The officer leading the Gale Forces that abducted Nor and her family in Wicked. Liir meets him over again at the Palace when Glinda arranges to have Trounce take Liir into Southstairs, although he does not call up Liir, and is unperturbed near Liir's blaming him for his role in the fate of Nor and the rest of her family. He leads the 7th Spear in the Qhoyre operation, and while at that place, develops a mentor-protégé relationship with Liir, which leads to Liir existence put in charge of the operation to burn Bengda. He later besieges the Curtilage of Saint Glinda after Liir and Trism take taken refuge at that place.
Princess Nastoya: An Elephant who availed herself of a witch's charm to disguise herself in human grade. While she used to be able to shift betwixt Elephant and human form, she is finding it increasingly difficult to do this, which leads her to believe she is dying. For giving her protection and a home, she agreed to go the leader of the Scrow. When she meets Liir, she explains that when Elphaba, besieged at Kiamo Ko by the Sorcerer'due south Gale Forces, sent out her Crows to inquire for Nastoya's help, the Crows were attacked and devoured past nocturnal rocs, a circumstance of which Nastoya learned but later. Nastoya has been unsuccessfully trying to unite the tribes of the Vinkus—the Scrow, Yunamata and Arjikis—against the Wizard.
Lord Shem Ottokos: An old Scrow who acts as Princess Nastoya's chief translator and major domo. He studied at Shiz University, which gives him a facility with other Ozian languages. After Nastoya's death, he becomes the leader of the Scrow.
Beat Thropp/The Emperor Campaigner: Elphaba's one-half brother, Vanquish is a fop and gigolo (and perchance a sex addict). He is heavily mentioned in Wicked and makes a tiny advent towards the terminate of the tale. In Son Of A Witch Nanny tells Liir that Shell used to be involved in espionage, "[s]nooping, settling scores out of the public heart, selling information," which Liir suspects explains Beat's activities in Southstairs. He later has "the Awakening," where "he heard the vox of the Unnamed God, telling him to atomic number 82," and becomes the Emperor Campaigner. Trism, who has had an audition with him, believes he is sincere in his religion, simply Liir is convinced he is a adventurer. His rise to power is somewhat mysterious: for example, Liir's army visitor, when deployed to Qhoyre, is chosen the "Seventh Spear," which is later explained by the Emperor Campaigner being titled the "Beginning Spear." However, Shell just becomes Emperor and "First Spear" while the Seventh Spear is in Qhoyre. This would appear to suggest that Beat's rise was due to a secret, complex and slowly evolving program, rather than a sudden "Awakening."
Dorothy Gale: The heroine of the original Oz books. From Liir'southward perspective, Dorothy is (like Glinda) squeamish, but self-centered and somewhat insincere. When she leaves to run into the Sorcerer, he thinks: "She hadn't been much, that Dorothy. Priggish, in a style, proud of her wide-eyed charity. Her kindness, at first magnificent, had come to seem a bit—well, cheap. [...] [H]er solicitousness to Liir seemed nothing more than than the Next Expert Deed."
The Scarecrow: This graphic symbol has a more substantial role in Son of a Witch than the Tin Man or the Cowardly King of beasts. He searches out Liir after having seen the Wizard to warn him that Dirt Boulevard, the slum he is living in, is about to be 'cleaned upward' by the government, and helps him escape from the purge. He brings Elphaba's broom to Liir, which Palace officials were going to throw out. Before he and Liir function ways, he tells Liir that he is not planning to remain in the Emerald Urban center, explaining: "1 day you're a celebrity, the next day you lot're hauled off to jail." The Scarecrow that later appears at Glinda'due south consecration into the Club of the Right, is, according to Liir, "an obvious impostor." This impostor has an "unfortunate blow involving a beaker of lighter fluid," which leads to Crush condign the Emperor Campaigner.
Lady Glinda Chuffrey, née Arduenna of the Uplands: Glinda is appointed interim ruler of Oz after the overthrow of the Wizard, but abdicates in favor of the Scarecrow. Her husband Lord Chuffrey is rich, old and infirm (he is a wheelchair user and drools). When he dies, Glinda goes on retreat at the Cloister of Saint Glinda, to which she gives a generous bequest.
New characters [edit]
Candle: A Quadling girl who rarely speaks, and merely 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 musical instrument (pictured by Douglas Smith on the title page of the first department of the volume, "Under the Jackal Moon") – at one point, she has a trio of farm animals singing to her accompaniment. She also has a "talent for reading the present." Later leaving the Cloister with Liir, she remains at Apple Press Farm until the stop of the novel. Liir believes that Candle fled the subcontract to atomic number 82 abroad the army from her newborn, knowing that Liir would render to have care of the baby.
Trism bon Cavalish: Trism comes from a Gillikinese farming family, and attended St. Prowd's school. He is Petty Fife in the Home Guard'due south musical corps when he first meets Liir and tells him how to enlist in the army. When Liir encounters him again, just earlier the deployment to Qhoyre, he is a Minor Menacier, involved in beast husbandry in the Development of Defense, afterward becoming Prime Menacier. The animals turn out to be dragons, which Trism has keen skill at training (becoming chief dragon master), although he is extremely distressed at the tasks for which he trains them. He somewhen helps Liir to destroy the dragons, and while fleeing from the enraged Home Baby-sit, the two appoint in a romantic relationship.
Sisters Doctor and Apothecaire: Maunts in the Cloister of Saint Glinda, and professional rivals who practise not think highly of the other's medical skills. Sister Doctor is described as beefy, with questionable credentials, but is an excellent diagnostician. Sister Apothecaire is a Munchkin who previously acted as Matron'southward Assistant at the Respite of Incurables in the Emerald City. Both sisters requite Liir small-scale run a risk of recovery when he arrives at the Cloister. The Superior Maunt sends them on their mission in the Vinkus partly to stop them fussing over the injured Liir.
Chyde: The under-mayor of Southstairs. He is described as sallow and has a fondness for jewels—all his fingers and both thumbs are loaded with rings. His assistant Jibbidee, an elf, afterward escapes from Southstairs and ends up serving drinks at a tavern in Strumpet Square.
Ansonby and Burny: Two soldiers in the Seventh Spear. Liir conscripts them into the operation to burn Bengda.
General Kynot: The short-tempered Cliff Hawkeye who is the President of the Conference of Birds.
Dosey: A motherly Wren at the Briefing whose arguments persuade Liir to aid the Birds.
Sillipede: An old cabaret performer who Liir and Trism meet perform at the "Ruby and Cucumber." She performs a risqué (and potentially treasonous) monologue that satirizes the Emperor Campaigner, to her audience's discomfort. (Sillipede is referred to in Wicked, in the Metropolis of Emeralds section, when Glinda recounts to Fiyero her contempo spotting of Nessarose and Nanny in the Emerald City, at Sillipede's 4th comeback tour concert).
Iskinaary: A Grey Goose who follows Liir back to Apple Press Subcontract after the Witch formation over the Emerald Metropolis. He is beautiful, vain and, by his own estimation, intelligent. At 1 point, he refers to himself equally Liir'south "Familiar."
Tip: This character appears in Baum's The Marvelous Country of Oz, where his full named is given equally "Tippetarius." Maguire refers to this in both novels when he refers to the ruler "Ozma Tippetarius."
Rain: Liir and Candle's girl. Liir is not, at beginning, convinced that he is the child'due south father. Simply after returning to Apple Press Farm, he soon discovers that Candle was telling the truth. After "cleaning up green", the babe is revealed to be emerald green of color, a trait that was passed down from Liir's mother, Elphaba. While the kid's name is not stated in the novel, the upcoming quaternary installment Out of Oz has Rain every bit a fundamental character.
Places and objects [edit]
The Jackal Moon: A lunar event which appears roughly every generation. It occurs when "a smear of celestial flotsam converged behind the crescent moon of early on autumn. The impact was creepy, a wait of a brow and snout. As the moon rounded out over a period of weeks, the starveling would plow into a successful hunter, its cheeks bulging." Liir is found past Oatsie Manglehand during the Jackal Moon and he and Candle exit the Curtilage at its waning. Assorted superstitions are associated with the flavour of the Jackal: while generally considered unsafe in Oz, the Yunamata believe that a child born in this flavor is lucky. When he appears to exist dying, Candle bleeds Liir and throws the claret out the window as an offer to the Jackal Moon.
The Cloister of Saint Glinda: A unionist mauntery in the Shale Shallows. The Cloister also functions as a hostelry for travelers between the Emerald City and the Vinkus. It is a fortified house (with a moat and drawbridge) on a slight wooded rise. Some parts of the Cloister are hundreds of years old.
Southstairs (as well Southstairs Academy): An underground city and high-security prison. Two access points are mentioned: via a clandestine staircase inside the Palace, and via a cage lowered downwardly into a geological shaft open to the sky in the heart of Southstairs, which is surrounded by battlements. Southstairs incarcerates mutual criminals and political prisoners, including a large number of Animals. It is Southstairs that provides the human being mankind fed to the dragons.
Apple tree Press Farm: An abandoned farmstead where Candle and Liir live later leaving the Curtilage. In that location is an apple printing and a printing printing on the bounds. The press press has been attacked and damaged, and has been used to print tracts critical of the (Emperor) Apostle. Considering the maunts at the Cloister know about the subcontract, they meaves Kiamo Ko, Liir looks for it in the Witch'due south room, but cannot find information technology. When resting on his trek back to Kiamo Ko after deserting the Seventh Spear, Liir, in a "waking dream" similar to an out-of-trunk experience, sees "a man in a cloak of purple-rose velveteen, holding a staff and a book of some sort. He was emerging in the air equally one seen coming through a fog. He seemed to exist off balance at first, and tested the ground with his staff until he found his feet. Setting his funny chapeau straight on his forehead, he pulled at his eyebrows as if they bothered him..." Upon waking, Liir realizes that the book the homo had was Elphaba'southward Grimmerie. Trism tells Liir that the Emperor Apostle showed him a page torn out of a book that was indecipherable, but that had been translated by the Wizard: "On the Administration of Dragons." This is the folio that Elphaba had torn from the Grimmerie to show the Wizard in Wicked.
Dragons: These animals are considered rare and docile according to conventional Ozian wisdom, which considers the belief that they are menacing a myth. A dragon is roughly the size of a horse and its wingspan is the length of a bed sheet. It is unclear where the stock used by the Emperor Apostle came from. Ansonby tells Liir their training program started a few years before the Qhoyre operation. They are housed in the basement of a basilica on the Home Guard'due south training grounds in the Emerald Metropolis, which is diddled up when Liir and Trism poison the dragons, dragons being flammable.
Release details [edit]
Son of a Witch was kickoff released on September 27, 2005 in hardcover format past Regan Books. About exactly a year subsequently, on September 26, 2006, the paperback edition was released in the United States. A second edition of the paperback was released before long thereafter on Oct 26, 2006.
Allusions and references [edit]
Allusions and references to other works [edit]
Son of a Witch elaborates significantly on the history of Oz equally established in Baum's books, but in a way very different from its predecessor. The second Oz novel by Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz, recounts the dethronement of the ruler of Oz, the Scarecrow, by General Jinjur and her all-female person regular army, and reveals that the boy Tip is in authenticity the enchanted Princess Ozma, the rightful ruler of Oz. The only connection Son of a Witch has to the established Oz history is that the Scarecrow (although not Dorothy's Scarecrow) briefly rules Oz as a puppet (or 'straw man') of a cabal of bankers, and that Liir, on one of his journeys, crosses paths with Tip. Despite this, Son of a Witch does not explicitly contradict the official history, but instead recounts history that has been left out of the official history. Since the Scarecrow that becomes the ruler of Oz is not Dorothy's Scarecrow and since, when Liir meets Tip and Mombi, they are driving home a newly caused four-horned cow (which is mentioned at the opening of The Marvelous Land of Oz as Mombi's "especial pride"), information technology is likely that Son of a Witch takes place betwixt The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Marvelous State of Oz. Out of Oz, the fourth and concluding book in The Wicked Years, includes elements from The Marvelous State of Oz and depicts an somewhat contradistinct version of the events of that story.
Allusions to the musical Wicked [edit]
The use of Glinda'south concluding name Upland comes directly from the musical; in the previous book Glinda refers to herself as "Glinda of the Arduenna Clan". When Glinda throws Elphaba'due south broom in the fire and it refuses to fire she says "Sugariness Oz"; she uses the same exact phrase in the musical when she sees the broom levitate for the commencement time. When Glinda and Liir come across over again towards the end of the book Glinda claims that people call back the legend of Elphaba and in a way that nearly breaks the quaternary wall she says: "No Liir. She lives. People sing of her. … There's a musical noise around her proper noun; at that place are things people remember, and pass on."
Literary significance and criticism [edit]
Overall, reviews for Son of a Witch were mixed. Some reviewers praised the book for its innovative await into an imperfect fantasy world while others disparaged the volume's alleged lack of focus. Writing for The Boston Globe, Sarah Smith wrote, "Maguire has done it once again: Son of a Witch is as wicked as they come,"[2] simply Katharine Powers for The Washington Mail called it "off-kilter and bumming."[three] Kirkus Reviews keeps the heart ground of these two characterizations, writing, "The book works likewise hard to dazzle us; it'south considerably more cluttered and strained than Wicked…but few readers will fail to stay its magical course. Once again, the myth of Oz proves its enduring power."[four]
Liir was named #1 on a list of Top Ten LGBT Volume Characters.[5]
Notes [edit]
- ^ Barnes and Noble (Publishers Weekly review)
- ^ In a dangerous Oz, there'southward no place like habitation - The Boston World
- ^ We're Not in Kansas Anymore
- ^ Login Archived 2008-12-20 at the Wayback Auto
- ^ Parchita. "Peak 10 LGBT Book Characters". GAY-NERDS.com.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_of_a_Witch
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