A Lion Among Men

Description

A Lion Among Men (Wicked Years)
by Gregory Maguire

ISBN: 9780063398382
Softcover, new

Brief Description:
New York Times Bestseller Focusing on the Cowardly Lion, the third in the
Wicked Years series which started with Wicked, the multimillion-copy
bestseller and basis for the Tony Award-winning hit musical, soon to be a
major motion picture starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. In A Lion
Among Men Gregory Maguire continues to flesh out the world of Oz, seen this
time through the eyes of the Cowardly Lion–remembered from Wicked as a
tiny cub defended by Elphaba. While civil war looms in Oz, an ancient and
tetchy oracle named Yackle prepares for death. Before she can return to
dust, however, the Cowardly Lion–an enigmatic figure named Brrr–arrives
in search of information about Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the
West. As payment, Yackle who hovered on the sidelines of Elphaba’s life,
demands some answers of her own. Abandoned as a cub, Brrr’s earliest
memories are only gluey hazes. But his path from infancy in the Great
Gillikin Forest is no Yellow Brick Road. Seeking to redress an early
mistake, he tumbles through a swamp of ghosts, becomes implicated in a
massacre of trolls, and falls in love with a Cat princess. Sidestepping the
laws that oppress talking Animals, Brrr cannily avoids a jail sentence by
agreeing to serve as a lackey to the warmongering Emperor of Oz. A Lion
Among Men traces a battle of wits between adversaries distracted by the
armies approaching on either side of them. What does the Lion know of the
whereabouts of the Witch’s boy, Liir? What can Yackle reveal about the
auguries of the Clock of the Time Dragon? Is destiny ever arbitrary? Can
those tarnished by infamy escape their sobriquets–cowardly, wicked,
brainless, criminally earnest–to claim their own histories, to live
honorably within their own skins before they’re skinned alive?