I am choosing the third book in a series for the March Online Book Club choice, but I am hoping enough people are familiar with Wicked and the plot involved in the story that they will enjoy A Lion Among Men. This is the story told from the view of the Cowardly Lion. I’ve found these books give more of a nod to the Wizard of Oz books than the movie.
In this much-anticipated third volume of the Wicked Years, we return to Oz, seen now through the eyes of the Cowardly Lion – the once tiny cub defended by Elphaba in Wicked. While civil war looms, a tetchy oracle named Yackle prepares for death. Before her final hour, an enigmatic figure known as Brrr – the Cowardly Lion – arrives searching for information about Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West. As payment, Yackle demands some answers of her own. Brrr surrenders his story: abandoned as a cub, his earliest memories are gluey hazes, and his life’s path is no Yellow Brick Road. A Lion Among Men chronicles a battle of wits hastened by the Emerald City’s approaching armies. At once a portrait of a would-be survivor and a panoramic glimpse of a world gone shrill with war fever, Gregory Maguire’s new novel is written with the sympathy and power that have made his books contemporary classics.
Plan to join us in the discussion of A Lion Among Men on March 28 here on the blog and on Facebook.
