Editors Reads Verdict
The sequel to Wicked is darker and more elliptical than its predecessor — a coming-of-age story for a protagonist who doesn't know who he is, set in an Oz that is becoming increasingly authoritarian and violent.
What We Loved
- The political deterioration of Oz is developed with greater specificity than in Wicked
- Liir's uncertain identity — is he Elphaba's son? — gives the novel a genuine central mystery
- Maguire's darkening vision of Oz as totalitarian state reaches new levels of complexity
Minor Drawbacks
- Liir is a more passive protagonist than Elphaba — his uncertainty can frustrate readers
- The novel lacks the emotional intensity that Elphaba generated in Wicked
Key Takeaways
- → Identity is not inherited — even a legendary parent's child must discover who they are independently
- → Political systems that dehumanize outgroups create conditions for atrocity with shocking speed
- → Moral courage is not genetic — it must be chosen and earned by each person separately
| Author | Gregory Maguire |
|---|---|
| Publisher | ReganBooks |
| Pages | 337 |
| Published | September 27, 2005 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy, Literary Fiction, Revisionist Fiction |
The Uncertain Heir
Son of a Witch opens with Liir, badly injured, found near death in the wilderness — and the novel slowly reconstructs what happened to him in the decade since Elphaba’s death at the end of Wicked. Maguire’s structural choice to begin in medias res, piecing together the past through memory and unreliable recollection, reflects the novel’s central concern: Liir doesn’t know who he is, and the book’s forward movement is his uncertain search for an identity he may or may not be able to claim.
The central question — is Liir Elphaba’s son? — is never definitively answered, and this is not a narrative weakness but a deliberate philosophical position. In a sequence of novels about how identity is imposed and contested, leaving the Wicked Witch’s possible heir without certainty about his parentage is entirely consistent.
A Darker Oz
The Oz of Son of a Witch is further along its political deterioration than the Oz of Wicked. The Wizard has been replaced, but what replaced him is not better — the religious fundamentalism that was a background threat in the first novel has become dominant, Animal rights have been further eroded, and the mechanisms of state violence are more openly practiced.
Maguire is interested in the speed with which political repression normalizes — how quickly citizens adapt to atrocity when it is directed at groups they have been taught to distrust. Liir’s wandering through this landscape gives the novel its episodic structure: he encounters the consequences of Oz’s political choices in specific communities and specific bodies.
The Coming-of-Age Without a Model
What distinguishes Liir’s story from a conventional fantasy coming-of-age is that he has no model to follow. Elphaba’s legend precedes him wherever he goes, but the legend is useless to him as a guide — he is not her, may not even be her son, and cannot inherit her courage through bloodline. He must find his own version of resistance, which is slower, less glamorous, and more genuinely his own.
Our rating: 3.8/5 — A worthy sequel to Wicked that deepens the political vision of Maguire’s Oz while offering a more introspective and less immediately compelling protagonist than Elphaba.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Son of a Witch" about?
Ten years after the events of Wicked, Liir — possibly Elphaba's son — stumbles out of the wilderness near death and must piece together what happened to him and what he is meant to do. The Wicked Years sequence continues as Oz descends further into political darkness.
What are the key takeaways from "Son of a Witch"?
Identity is not inherited — even a legendary parent's child must discover who they are independently Political systems that dehumanize outgroups create conditions for atrocity with shocking speed Moral courage is not genetic — it must be chosen and earned by each person separately
Is "Son of a Witch" worth reading?
The sequel to Wicked is darker and more elliptical than its predecessor — a coming-of-age story for a protagonist who doesn't know who he is, set in an Oz that is becoming increasingly authoritarian and violent.
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