Son of a Witch

The best-selling Wicked, Maguire's adult spin on L. Frank Baum's classic, became a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical by contrast, this sequel is a typical middle book, a bridge to a better novel to come, perhaps. Maguire introduces powerful, whimsical, and cruel characters and adds ethical and sexual complexities to the original story-if you can keep all the characters, flashbacks, and plots straight. Although Son, which starts where The Wizard of Oz leaves off, has the same wit and complex moral themes of its predecessor, they fall flatter here. Finally, though some readers will welcome Dorothy's entrance, many will find the entire story too constructed for their taste. But the cliffhanger ending will keep them waiting for the third installment.