Witch & Wizard

I absolutely love dystopian, end-of-life-as-we-know-it, type of novels. George Orwell's 1984 (Signet Classics) and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale happen to be two of my favorites. This novel started with great promise...And then it fell short. Very short. The novel is about Wisty and Whit Allgood, two teenage siblings who are kidnapped by the New Order, a form of government that has taken over the world. During this time, Wisty and Whit discover that they have magical powers, and that is why the New Order considers them a threat. The story opens up with Wisty and Whit being led to the gallows in a sports arena, with thousands of people cheering on their hanging. As the proceedings commence, Wisty and Whit take us into the backdrop of the story, how they found themselves condemned to death.

In a trite and oversimplified manner, we learn that our political system crumbled overnight and was replaced by the New Order headed by "The One Who Is the One." As Wisty and Whit continue to battle some of their challenges, they become more aware of the magnitude of their supernatural powers. The story crosses over from Wisty and Whit's time in prison, over to other worldly dimensions (such as the Shadowland where spirits dwell) back to an unrecognizable world overwrought with despair, war, and hopelessness. But none of this is captured with any depth.

What I thought would be a great dystopian story seemed more like a cat-and-mouse fantasy under a dystopian backdrop. I do enjoy fantasies and stories of magic along with mayhem, but there was something missing in this story. It was entertaining in some areas but it lacked the thrilling suspense I would expect in a novel written by Patterson.

This is the first book in a new series and unfortunately, it leaves readers with a rather weak cliffhanger. This series may have some promise and hopefully, the next book will delivery on that.

My daughter loves the Maximum Rides stories so I put this latest book by James Patterson at the top of her Wishlist. After reading it though, I'm feeling bad for the giftgiver -- it's just not good. The plot is skeletal and overly simplistic, and there is none of the sarcastic humor that peppered the Maximum Ride stories. It feels like it was written over a long week-end while the author was thinking of something else.

I am a big fan of James Patterson - Alex Cross, Maximum Ride, you name it. However, Witch and Wizard was a big disappointment to me. I tried to keep an open mind as I read it, but I found it disjointed and not well thought out. I would go so far as to say this may be the worst book i've read in years. (Sorry, Mr. Patterson!) I will not buy any more of this series...

I love the author's writing, usually, but this book would fail a junior high writing course....terribly trite and shallow...I couldn't even finish it. I gave it away to a used book store...maybe someone will get some good from it. Very disappointed.

Why oh why, do I keep on reading Patterson books?? You'd think I'd learn, but I don't I keep telling myself that his books have to be getting better, they just have to. I mean, can they keep getting worse? Um, yes they do, and Witch and Wizard is just another example of what he and his co-author is churning out.

It seems that overnight, the world has changed. That fast, overnight. Go to bed and everything is fine, then BANG, go to bed and wake up and everything you know is changed. That's what happened to Whit and Witsy, brother and sister witches (and Wizards) who are now arrested by the government for being a witch and a wizard. They're taken away to a jail and then sent to death. They break out, and now are in search of their parents. Along the way, they meet some people that help them, buy taking them to the shadowlands. I'd say, if you want to know what the Shadowlands are, take your best guess and that's what Patterson came up with.

This has a lot of problems, I'll just hit on a few. You have two main characters: Whit and Witsy. At anyone point of this book, the story is told from their point of view. The problem is that there names are so similar, I found it impossible to keep track of who was the brother and who was the sister. Did he have to make their names so similar? Speaking of names.... the main bad guy name was "The One Who Is The One"..... oh come on! What a stupid name for a bad guy. Give me a break! Patterson could have come up with ANYTHING....and he came up with The One Who Is The One?? UG! That just reeks of laziness, and they pretty much sums up Patterson's writing for this one: Lazy!

Another part that drove me nuts was that Whit and Witsy teamed up with their number one enemy. Yeah, you heard it right.... they joined forces. UG! Whit and Witsy could have ditched their enemy so many times, but they never did. That just wasn't realistic.

Patterson's writing style is weak at best. I honestly didn't care about the kids as I was reading. The more I read, the less I cared what happened to them.

Normally, I'd say if you want to read it, go to the library. Heck, trust me, don't waste your time with this one.