Son of a Witch: Volume Two in the Wicked Years

Son of a Witch: Volume Two in the Wicked Years by Gregory Maguire is the second book in the Wicked Years series. The novel follows Liir, the son of Elphaba (this is subtly mentioned a few times in Wicked, but Liir is unaware of his parentage). For much of the book Liir is actually in a coma and we see his journey through his memories: his search for Nor, his life as a soldier, and much else. Glinda makes a few appearances and so does Shell, Elphaba's younger brother. This book is not as good as Wicked, but it is good. This book has love, political corruption, betrayal, and more. Liir meets many interesting and sometimes dangerous people during the approximately ten years this book covers. If you loved Wicked, you must read Son of a Witch.

Wicked

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (normally referred to as simply Wicked) is the life story of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. It's written by Greg Maguire. He fashions the Wicked Witch of the West's name from the initials of the author of The Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum-->L. F. B.-->El-Fuh-Buh-->Elphaba). It begins with the day Elphaba was born and ends when Dorothy leaves Oz. It's a fantasy world that is so real you forget it's based on a children's book. This book has numerous themes: love lost, the nature of evil, leadership and its corruption, forgiveness, and destiny vs. free will, to name a few.
If you loved the movie The Wizard of Oz, you will get a whole new take on the land of Oz and its inhabitants... is the Wicked Witch West truly wicked at all or simply misunderstood, is Oz truly as idyllic as it seems on this surface or is just as (or possibly more) corrupted by greed and other evils as the world we live in? I guess you'll have to read Wicked for yourself to find out.