Book: Son of a Witch
Jun. 17th, 2011 10:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
holytoastrI didn't like this book as much as the previous one, "Wicked." And it was primarily because of the main character, Liir.
Liir is the son of the wicked witch of the west. However, while the reader is sure of this, Liir himself is not. Elphaba never called him her son nor did she ever treat him like a son. In fact, she mostly ignored him.
The story takes places after the events of Wicked. Elphaba had been killed, so Liir travels with Dorothy to the Emerald City to figure out what he should do next with his life.
About three quarters of the book later, he still hasn't figured that out. It was mind-numbingly boring to follow around a character that was too paralyzed with uselessness to ever actually do anything. He constantly made excuses to just go with the flow and refuse to contribute to his own story at all.
Eventually he gets talked into going to a Conference of Birds, but on the way he gets attacked by a dragon and goes into a coma. Good job at failing to do anything yet again, Liir. At that point, the novel introduces the second main character, a young girl named Candle who RAPES LIIR WHILE HE IS UNCONSCIOUS. Seriously!? Was I supposed to feel any sort of attachment to this character after that!? Then Candle manages to fill all the Mary Sue tropes as she so selflessly helps Liir escape and hide. And of course it turns out she's pregnant with his child. But then, as a good little mary sue, she encourages Liir to go off on adventures and not worry about her.
The only good thing about that is that Liir FINALLY goes off and does stuff. In the last few chapters, Liir manages to accidentally blow up some dragons and convince the conference of Birds to fly with him to the emerald city to create the image of a witch in the sky. Oh Liir, even your attempts to do something are pretty lame.
When he returns to Candle, he instantly realizes that she has the magical powers to help a princess he had met on his journeys. Of course Candle would, right? So she plays her magical instrument (that she only recently learned to play and is a natural expert at) in such a way to help the princess. Oh please. Then she gives birth and disappears, leaving Liir with the baby. The baby is green. *yawn*
At first I didn't like the book because it didn't seem to have as much connection to the original Oz books. (Aside from one brief encounter on the road where Liir meets Tip!) But after reading something like 85% of the book and NOTHING happening, only to have mary sue nonsense for the final few chapters, I decided I didn't like this book because it wasn't a good book.
Other people must have liked it though. A third book was written about the cowardly lion. I am hesitant to read that one because I feel it will be a lot like this one. Can much happen in a story about a lion too afraid to do anything? And I learned a fourth book is currently being written! I probably won't finish this series. Life's too short and there are too many books out there to waste time on the bad ones.
I am not sure what I will read next. I want something light. Maybe a lemony snicket story? I'll have to see what my library has.
Liir is the son of the wicked witch of the west. However, while the reader is sure of this, Liir himself is not. Elphaba never called him her son nor did she ever treat him like a son. In fact, she mostly ignored him.
The story takes places after the events of Wicked. Elphaba had been killed, so Liir travels with Dorothy to the Emerald City to figure out what he should do next with his life.
About three quarters of the book later, he still hasn't figured that out. It was mind-numbingly boring to follow around a character that was too paralyzed with uselessness to ever actually do anything. He constantly made excuses to just go with the flow and refuse to contribute to his own story at all.
Eventually he gets talked into going to a Conference of Birds, but on the way he gets attacked by a dragon and goes into a coma. Good job at failing to do anything yet again, Liir. At that point, the novel introduces the second main character, a young girl named Candle who RAPES LIIR WHILE HE IS UNCONSCIOUS. Seriously!? Was I supposed to feel any sort of attachment to this character after that!? Then Candle manages to fill all the Mary Sue tropes as she so selflessly helps Liir escape and hide. And of course it turns out she's pregnant with his child. But then, as a good little mary sue, she encourages Liir to go off on adventures and not worry about her.
The only good thing about that is that Liir FINALLY goes off and does stuff. In the last few chapters, Liir manages to accidentally blow up some dragons and convince the conference of Birds to fly with him to the emerald city to create the image of a witch in the sky. Oh Liir, even your attempts to do something are pretty lame.
When he returns to Candle, he instantly realizes that she has the magical powers to help a princess he had met on his journeys. Of course Candle would, right? So she plays her magical instrument (that she only recently learned to play and is a natural expert at) in such a way to help the princess. Oh please. Then she gives birth and disappears, leaving Liir with the baby. The baby is green. *yawn*
At first I didn't like the book because it didn't seem to have as much connection to the original Oz books. (Aside from one brief encounter on the road where Liir meets Tip!) But after reading something like 85% of the book and NOTHING happening, only to have mary sue nonsense for the final few chapters, I decided I didn't like this book because it wasn't a good book.
Other people must have liked it though. A third book was written about the cowardly lion. I am hesitant to read that one because I feel it will be a lot like this one. Can much happen in a story about a lion too afraid to do anything? And I learned a fourth book is currently being written! I probably won't finish this series. Life's too short and there are too many books out there to waste time on the bad ones.
I am not sure what I will read next. I want something light. Maybe a lemony snicket story? I'll have to see what my library has.
