The Wicked Years

I picked up Son of a Witch from the book exchange at the Black Cat Hostel, Asuncion. I already had Wicked at home, but had not yet read it. When I arrived in the States, I went to Barnes and Noble to buy another copy of Wicked, and found there was a third in the series as well, A Lion among Men. A fourth is in the pipeline, but wait for it to come out.

Wicked - This is the other side of the story, here we hear about Elphaba's life leading up to her being known as the Wicked Witch of the East. We go right back to her birth, a green-skinned baby, with her parents believing that she is some sort of punishment for their wrongs. Right from the start, Elphaba is pretty hard to love, she looks strange, she has teeth better suited for a crocodile and a personality to match.
I have never read Baum's books, just seen two films, but Maguire does seem to try and match up his version with the timeline of the original.
This is no book for weens, it deal with other issues, such as the treatment of animals and Animals (such as the Cowardly Lion), as well as the different peoples under the leadership of the Wizard.
The action also moves right around the different lands under the Wizard's control, bringing up the differences between the peoples. There was something rather First-Among- Equals-esque about Elphaba's time at Shiz University, where she meets those that will feature later in her life, including a few characters you will recognise from the film.
I really enjoyed this, but felt that the end was a bit rushed, I wanted to know more of what happened. Luckily I already had the next 2 books in the series.

Son of a Witch is the second book in the Wicked series, with the action continuing a few years after the end of the first. The protagonist is Liir, the possible son of Elphaba, who is found near death at the start. All is not well, the authorities are cracking down on the people in all of the lands. Liir starts as an innocent, but becomes involved in the darker side of life in Oz, especially in his spell in the army.
This is a more complex book, Liir is no hero, well not in the classic sense, he is complicated, but he is living in complicated times. As he journeys, he tries to sort out his feelings towards his mother, indeed trying to find out if she even was his mother, certainly it his relationship with Elphaba which colours all of his others.
Unlike the first book, which has a more definite ending, I felt this one was more of an interim book.

The third volume, A Lion among Men, has a new protagonist, this time it is Brrr's turn, or should I say the Cowardly Lion. Brrr is another ambiguous character, he thinks of himself as good, but his cowardice and complicity has further reaching effects than he would care to admit.
Part of his tale is his trying to find his family, he doesn't remember how he came to be living alone in the forest. We also read of his meeting and time with Dorothy.
I wasn't as enthused at this as with the previous 2, but probably more because I wanted to tell Brrr to grow a pair, rather than the writing.