A Lion Among Men

September 1, 2008
The entertaining third installment of bestseller Maguire's Wicked Years series, a revisionist chronicle of L. Frank Baum's classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
, examines the tragically misunderstood life of the Cowardly Lion before and after his adventures with Dorothy and company. As all-out war looms between the Munchkinland guerrillas and the emperor of Oz's Emerald City soldiers, Brrr the lion, now working as an imperial spy, must somehow glean invaluable information from a crone named Yackle before she dies. But during his interrogation of the irritable oracle, Brrr, the proverbial loner and outsider, uncovers insights into his own mysterious past—and finally begins to understand what it feels like to belong. As usual, the author mixes some relatively weighty existential themes—the search for self, faith, redemption—into his whimsical story line. Newcomers to Maguire's Oz should probably begin with Wicked
, the first entry in this darkly enchanting saga. 11-city author tour.

Starred review from December 22, 2008
Always outspoken (and so-called “Dr.”), Denis Leary returns with this hilarious look at sucking; why we suck, how not to suck and how to help others who suck become suck free. Pulling no punches, Leary storms his way through everything from skinny jeans being for skinny people to vegetarians, and never fails to make listeners laugh out loud. Reading in his trademark self-deprecating and hard-nosed manner, Leary plows through his book at such a strong and commanding speed that listeners will think his well-polished rants are off-the-cuff. Leary is almost performing stand-up; his tone is so unrelenting and unabashed that listeners will beg for more. A Viking hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 15).

October 15, 2008
Elphaba is dead; the Wizard and Dorothy are gone; the Witch's assumed progeny, Liir, is missing and so is the most magic book in Oz, the Grimmerie. Brrr, more commonly known as the Cowardly Lion and always in the wrong place at the wrong time, has been coerced into service to Shell Thropp, younger brother of Elphaba and the current Emperor of Oz. Perceiving a potential threat to his throne, the Emperor has dispatched Brrr to discover the whereabouts of both Liir and, more important, the Grimmerie. More exposition than action, Maguire's latest series entry (after "Son of a Witch" and "Wicked") deftly presents his fresh perspective to elaborate on the history of Oz while setting up for yet another installment. Maguire more than makes up for what the book may lack in riveting action with his signature skilled wordplay and profound philosophies on life. A rich reading experience and a worthy addition to the Oz saga. Recommended for all fiction collections.Leigh Wright, Bridgewater, NJ

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2008
The further adventures of L. Frank Baum's beloved characters are more fatefully connected with the political history of Oz in this third installment of Maguire's justly praised revisionist series.

In Wicked and Son of a Witch, we were treated to engagingly comic melodramas that followed (respectively) Baum's heroine Dorothy and the fugitive son (Liir) of Wicked Witch Elphaba Thropp through an endangered fantasyland blighted by mad power struggles. This time around, the major conflict is engineered by an intellectually challenged puppet emperor addicted to waging multiple wars (hmmm …). And our protagonist is the Cowardly Lion (named Brrr) —bereft of his family, Brrr is traveling through Oz undercover as an imperial spy, in exchange for immunity from draconian Animal Adverse Laws that target talking animals. Brrr's investigations take him to the Mauntery (i.e. cloister) of St. Glinda, where a moribund seeress (Yackle, who's presumably too ornery to die) unfurls information in a narrative neatly juxtaposed with Brrr's unhappy memories and compromised present plans. The cast of characters also includes a clan of forest bears, a beauteous maiden or two, the rebellious citizens of Munchkinland and a surly dwarf who (in quite Wagnerian fashion) guards an ancient book of magic (the Grimmerie) and the Clock of the Time Dragon. Most of this is superbly entertaining, but Maguire has bitten off more complex interactions than he can chew, and his story's seams frequently show. No matter. Brrr and his acquaintances are irresistible company, and issues of legitimate and responsible rule are herein really rather subtly grafted onto the venerable free will vs. predestination conundrum ( "With so much written in magic, how can we hope to become agents culpable for our own lives ? ").

Maguire's inspired world-building strides from strength to strength.

(COPYRIGHT (2008) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

October 1, 2008
Maguire, author of runaway best-sellers Wicked (1995) and Son of a Witch (2005), has so richly reimagined the classic tales of L. Frank Baum that he has created an Oz wholly and uniquely his own. Readers who have eagerly anticipated the latest installment in this compelling saga will not be disappointed by the Cowardly Lions tale. Brr, the Cowardly Lion first introduced as a helpless lion cub saved by Elphaba in Wicked, is now an imperial spy assigned to perform a delicate task as civil war looms in the Land of Oz. As Brr attempts to ferret out information from a mysterious oracle before she dies, he reaches back into his own past, remembering the bizarrely convoluted events that foreshadowed his current circumstances. As usual, Maguire, a seasoned fabulist, populates his version of Oz with a cast of utterly fantastical characters who must face their own inner demons while tumult and uncertainty rages around them. An absolute must-read for fans of this ever-evolving dark fairy tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)