The first in a three-book series spun off the iconic Wicked Years from multimillion-copy bestselling author Gregory Maguire, featuring Elphaba’s granddaughter, the green-skinned Rain.
Ten years ago this season, Gregory Maguire wrapped up the series he began with Wicked by giving us the fourth and final volume of the Wicked Years, his elegiac Out of Oz.
But “out of Oz” isn’t “gone for good.” Maguire’s new series, Another Day, is here, twenty-five years after Wicked first flew into our lives.
Volume one, The Brides of Maracoor, finds Elphaba’s granddaughter, Rain, washing ashore on a foreign island. Comatose from crashing into the sea, Rain is taken in by a community of single women committed to obscure devotional practices.
As the mainland of Maracoor sustains an assault by a foreign navy, the island’s civil-servant overseer struggles to understand how an alien arriving on the shores of Maracoor could threaten the stability and wellbeing of an entire nation. Is it myth or magic at work, for good or for ill?
The trilogy Another Day will follow this green-skinned girl from the island outpost into the unmapped badlands of Maracoor before she learns how, and becomes ready, to turn her broom homeward, back to her family and her lover, back to Oz, which—in its beauty, suffering, mystery, injustice, and possibility—reminds us all too clearly of the troubled yet sacred terrain of our own lives.
Amazon Link: The Brides of Maracoor (Another Day #1)
Author: Gregory Maguire
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5/5 stars
I was surprised to see a new story in the world of Wicked. This series is unusual because it finally steps out of Oz into a new area. You could read this book without any knowledge of the Wicked books or Oz at all. (But I will say that if you haven’t read anything by Gregory Maguire before, his books are dense and slow. He takes his time to world build and introduce characters gradually. I think it’s worth the time for the payoff in the end, but don’t expect a fast-paced book. It’s going to take some patience to get into.)
Even expecting the slow buildup, it was frustrating that Rain didn’t show up for quite a while and then she didn’t remember anything (like that she had come from Oz). But the new characters and world grew on me with time and I started to get more into the story.
After some patience to let it develop, there are interesting implications for future plots. I think it might get back to Oz in future books. It’s nice to know that Rain escaped what her father and grandmother never could. But unfortunate that she still faced prejudice and mistrust even in another land.
I’m looking forward to future books to see where it goes next.
