Son of a Witch

By: Gregory Maguire

Narrated by: Gregory Maguire

Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Ten years after the publication of Wicked, beloved novelist Gregory Maguire returns at last to the land of Oz. There he introduces us to Liir, an adolescent boy last seen hiding in the shadows of the castle after Dorothy did in the Witch. Bruised, comatose, and left for dead in a gully, Liir is shattered in spirit as well as in form. But he is tended at the Cloister of Saint Glinda by the silent novice called Candle, who wills him back to life with her musical gifts.

What dark force left Liir in this condition? Is he really Elphaba's son? He has her broom and her cape, but what of her powers? Can he find his supposed half-sister, Nor, last seen in the forbidding prison, Southstairs? Can he fulfill the last wishes of a dying princess? In an Oz that, since the Wizard's departure, is under new and dangerous management, can Liir keep his head down long enough to grow up?

For the countless fans who have been dazzled and entranced by Maguire's Oz, Son of a Witch is the rich reward they have awaited so long.

Listen to an interview with author Gregory Maguire.

©2005 Gregory Maguire (P)2005 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Masterfully imaginative....Ten years after Wicked (which is still on Broadway), fans will once again be clicking their heels with wonderment." (Publishers Weekly)
"A tale that adroitly mixes drama, humor, and political satire into a well-knit examination of good and evil." (Library Journal)

A little bit of a downer

What made the experience of listening to Son of a Witch the most enjoyable?

I really wanted the vibe that Wicked had to keep up here, but it winds down. The writing is excellent but he doesn't take you to a magical place, more like a musty cellar.

If you’ve listened to books by Gregory Maguire before, how does this one compare?

I've read all the books and this was not my favorite but the series is very well written and has a great overall theme.

Love this series!

Love the books in this series! Gregory Maguire's narrations started off somewhat bland but by the middle I was enjoying him!

More Please

If you LOVE the wizard of Oz & Wicked then you will love this book. I do not know why people do not like the narration, he reads & adds personality to the characters words. I LOVED it & so will you!

Fantastic

Loved it all day for some time when they started playing with them on my computer with the first few years and then the only thing I've been playing is

Good story, suboptimal narration

Compared to wicked, the narration was abysmal. I could hardly focus on the content due to the halting, choppy clipped way of speaking, never mind the nearly unintelligible character voices.

Already a fan

I am rereading the series which is not typical because I don’t love to revisit stories when I know what will happen. This series, however, continues to evolve in my mind as I get older and the world seems to become darker. The themes of resilience and compassion never cease to inspire. I see that others consider the narration abhorrent and I would have to agree that it certainly isn’t as good as the audiobook of Wicked but it is far from “impossible to listen to” or from the sort of audiobook that I stop listening to because of how bad the narration is. I adore Son of a Witch and I think more people should get into this series.

I wanted so much more for Liir

Liir is so much like his mother, Elphaba. I wish that she'd been more motherly and open with him. My heart broke for him throughout as he ventured on his unintended journey of self-discovery.

I love it!

I love being swept away in the mystical land of Oz with such great characters. I love the deeper story of such characters. I loved it.

Horrible narration

I am only going to finish this book so I can listen to the next one NOT narrated by the author. This is almost unbearable.

Horrible narration

Sorry but the author did a terrible job narrating his book :-( The variation in voices consisted of high for females and low then lower for males. The accents were terribly inconsistent.

The story was great though. - sigh.