In terms of plot, A Lion Among Men does little to move the overarching plot along. It starts out eight years after Son of a Witch and focuses on the Cowardly Lion's story.
There is a war brewing between the Emerald City and Munchkinland. Brrr finds himself caught in the middle of the war-zone when the book starts.
A Lion Among Men provides example of:
- Breather Episode: The book staunchly refuses to move the series' plot at all, and presumably covers all the loose plot holes that aren't important to the ending of the next book.
- Mature Animal Story: A Lion Among Men, is about the Cowardly Lion. It's a Darker and Edgier, very adult retelling of his story from cubhood.
- Named by the Adaptation: The Cowardly Lion is named "Brrr" (in-series due to it being the first "word" he says as a cub, but in a meta fashion after Bert Lahr, his actor in the MGM film).
- Parental Abandonment: Brrr grew up on his own the Great Gillikin Forest.
- That Man Is Dead: Traumatized from her ordeal in the previous book, Nor changes her name to "Ilianora" because she sees her carefree past self as dead.
