The third book in "The Wicked Years" series by Greg Maguire, A Lion Among Men was easily the weakest of the three books so far (Wicked, Son of a Witch). That's not to say it wasn't a good read.
More straight-forward than the previous two books, this one told the tales of the Cowardly Lion and Yackle, an oracle that has drifted along the edges of the series thus far. Where Wicked and Son of a Witch were much more nuanced with their religious and political sub-texts, this piece was much more blunt about it, though much more infrequent with its comments.
I don't know if it was me or the way Maguire wrote the book, but I couldn't care less about the Cowardly Lion (hereafter to be called Brrr). Especially with a mysterious, compelling character like Yackle--one more relevant to the overall series--standing on the edges of the limelight waiting to shine. Brrr's, well, a coward. A blatant one. One who isn't even ashamed of it. So why would I want to read about that?
The parts where Yackle is the center of attention was fascinating. Maguire throws some twists and turns at you throughout the story to keep this woman shrouded in mystery, which made the ending that much better.
The ending of the book seemed convenient to me, but I'm pretty sure that was because my reading of the book was so spread out. I don't think I remembered all the details I was supposed to remember. But the ending was satisfying. All the questions were answered in exciting, twisty ways that still made perfect sense.
Yeah. If you've read the other two, read this one, but if you haven't read any of the other ones, don't bother.
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