Customer Reviews

A Lion Among Men (Volume Three in the Wicked Years)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This third installment takes you deeper into the world of Oz developed in the two previous stories. The LION has a unique perspective of events that explain a lot of things that were a bit murky in the other two books. If you have read "Wicked" and "Son of a Witch" you will also enjoy this novel. Not for a plot alone type reading as to many of the story devices are written to expand further story plots in the first two books. Be sure to read these books in order as they are pretty much usless in entertainment value if you do not continue to follow the story lines.

I really can't believe I read this book after the almost unreadable Son of a Witch. It was a gift from Mom and I was ready for another book. I'm glad I read it.

In fact, you can skip Son of a Witch and go right to A Lion Among Men since it eventually makes everything that happened in in SoaW make more sense.

The Cowardly Lion from the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (as retro'd in Wicked) has led a luckless life. Every path stumbled upon by the Lion after Elphaba released him into the wild ends poorly. He is the constant victim of his own desire to belong. In the end he has a serious decision to make, perhaps his first ever.

There are many great moments in this book. My favorite may be the parts where Dorothy appears, as told by the Lion. Dorothy has been taken down a few tiers from the original Oz books and is shown with more warts than anything else. But she's honest and direct and fun.

After Son of a Witch, I had assumed Maguire was, like the Lion, a victim of his own success. He had been pressured into more books and kind of flung Son of a Witch at us, continuing down Wicked's dark yellow brick road.

Now, I see there is a story of intrigue and military maneuvers and purpose and heroism and destiny that was being built by SoaW. It's a shame that I was almost lost like Liir before reading this book.

I was in love with Wicked and Son of a Witch so when I heard that A Lion Among Men was coming out I was so excited. I impatiently waited for it to arrive in the mail and then started reading it as soon as it arrived. I found that I couldn't get through 20 or 30 pages without being bored. I just never was able to get into the book. I made it through maybe half of it before I gave up and it has been sitting on the book shelf collecting dust since. The lion was not one of my favorite characters in any of the books so maybe I should have seen my dissapointment coming. My advice is that the book is lame and you shouldn't waste your money on it.

I am probably in the minority in that I only began reading the "Wicked" series a couple months ago. I thoroughly enjoyed "Wicked" and - although to a lesser degree "Son of a Witch." The end of the latter had such a "tune in next week" feel to it that I actually was compelled to order "A Lion Among Men" and have come up a bit on the disappointed side, having finished it. Yes, there was a bit of closure, but far more was left open. Perhaps this was a cash-grab by Maguire setting up even more cash-grabs. After all, so many of us are hooked now.
The fact that neither Liir, nor Candle, nor their green-skinned offspring were mentioned in the entire tome, outside of a small handful of sentences, left me wanting, and I have to believe I'm far from alone. In fact, I almost feel cheated. Yes, Maguire, like any author, is free to take his stories in whichever direction he chooses. That said, that we as readers have built him his fortune, he ought to feel at least a little bit like he owes us a bit more than what came forth in the third book.
So I join the list of those who feel a bit let down by "A Lion Among Men," and who are hoping a fourth installment (if not more) will be forthcoming. I'm not holding my breath, though.

It was satisfying to finish the series begun by Wicked, but although A Lion Among Men promises to fill in the blanks in the life of the Cowardly Lion, it went too far afield for my taste. The usual pleasure I find in Gregory Maguire's books is in how they are anchored to the known story, and this one didn't leave enough of those touchstones. Like a baked potato, you don't really mind eating it, but you don't savor every bite and feel a little lost when it's gone.

Product came sooner than expected and was in better condition than seller stated. Book looks brand new!!

This is a good read. You will like the tie in to the previous books, and you need to read it to go on to the (hopefully coming out soon) fourth book.