I'm reading "Son of a Witch" right now, and I have to say....

meh.

I enjoyed "Wicked"---I loved the idea, I thought the relationships of his charcters were complex and rich, the plotlines showed a depth of vision that exposed an Oz that was not divided along the lines of "Good" and "Wicked".

But "Son of a Witch," the sequel, is a pale shadow of that world. As a protagonist, Liir has the potential to be wonderful--he's a person stuggling to discover his origins while trying to carve out an identity of his own. He's without direction. Unfortunately, every time that he discovers a direction to follow, he abandons it mid-stream. Instead of this being a tragic flaw for a meaty character, it ends up reading as a disappointing lack of investment on the author's part. There are tons of really good beginnings to stories in his book--and really, most of the book is just beginnings, with no middle or end.

I've read Maguire's other stuff, and I'm curious to hear what others have to say.

I've read his retelling of the Snow White story -can't be bothered to look for the title- and I have to say I thought the concept was better than the realization. It was OK, not badly written or anything, but I kind of had to make myself keep reading.

Trying to read it too right now, and feel the same way. It is a good story but I have to force myself to pick it up. The book is called Mirror Mirror.

I have also read Confessions of a Stepsister. It's the Cinderella book w/ the Holland Tulip wars. Kept me up until the wee hours to finish. I think it's my favorite so far of all his books.

Keep in mind I'm just starting the third novel and have two more to go. Lost and Son of a Witch.

bump for stardream

I don't know why, but I've never been able to make myself read either of these. My brother-in-law loved them, and we usually agree fairly well on books (he loved American Gods, for example), but somehow, every time I think of reading them, I recoil from the idea.

I have a feeling that it's because they sound like they might appeal to the parts of my b-i-l's personality that I like less - he's far more cynical and pessimistic than I am.

- Cho

I've read Wicked and it didn't convince me to try any of his other books. He has potential as a writer, and the book had a pleasant enough style, there were interesting parts and characters, but I thought it lacked a global vision of where the character was going and what he wanted to say with her evolution.

A few things bugged me, like, the fact that she's sensitive to the way Animals are treated and everything, but she never does anything significant about it. Freeing a couple of them once doesn't count. Stuff like that. It felt like a lot of build-up without a worthy conclusion.

I like his books less and less as they go along. I read Wicked and enjoyed it. After that, I read Mirror, Mirror, and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. They were okay. I didn't like Lost at all, and couldn't be bothered to finish Son of a Witch.

I feel like his ideas have great potential, but the execution leaves a bit to be desired.

Well, to be honest, I really liked Son of A Witch.I thought it was really good, and the reason I think Maguire did that, is because he's gonna write another. THat's only my personal opinion. But, have you finished it yet? The very last sentence answers two crucial questions. It blew my away!

> Right now, I'm reading Confessions of an Ugly Step Sister, and it's rather intruiging!

>>>I really liked Son of A Witch.I thought it was really good<<<

The world would be very, very dull if we all liked the same things.

For pity's sake, don't worry about sounding apologetic for being enthusiastic about something others don't like.

- Cho

I finished all of his books except Son of a Witch. I tried to read it and it was, in my opinion, not very interesting.

I did like Lost, definately different.

I find this guy's work often too wordy and boring. I loved "Confessions," but I found Wicked odious and too worried about shocking the reader. Son of a Witch was the same way.