Yet another one of James Patterson’s series of books meant for young adults. How many such series books has he got going on right now?
Witch & Wizard deals with brother-sister teens Whit and Wisty. They are suddenly grabbed from their house in the middle of the night and put in prison. Why? The world has now come under the control of the New Order headed by The One, who is the One. He fears the magical powers of this duo, and hence, they are in prison before they can unleash their powers against him.
In prison, the pair somehow manages to strengthen and control their magic. They escape from prison and join a bunch of other kids who are all outlawed for some reason or another (the New Order also does not like art in any form—writing, painting, whatever). They then decide to rescue more children who are suffering in prison and fight against this new totalitarian government.
My Review
Does the premise above interest you? To me, it doesn’t quite work. Maybe I have read too many books, but nothing about the book’s synopsis really says anything new to me. Unfortunately, neither does the book.
I could barely control my eyes from glazing over while reading this one. The ridiculously short chapters and the nonstop action holding together a barely there plot were just not enough to capture any serious attention.
The lack of quality writing also shows. One chapter is actually just a bullet-point recap of the novel so far! I have never, I mean never, seen bulleted lists in fiction. I couldn’t believe what I was reading.
It’s also unfortunate that there are so many better young adult books out there that deal with similar themes much better. Suppose you’re looking for books about two young protagonists fighting a totalitarian nightmare of a government. Why would somebody choose to read Witch & Wizard, when you could read Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy?
Overall, Witch & Wizard isn’t a hard read; it’s just lazy writing for somebody interested in a lazy read.
After reading this book, I’d say that of all James Patterson’s young adult series, the Maximum Ride books seem to be ones with the best writing and plotting.
James Patterson is a bit of a mystery… he churns out books in less time that it takes to eat a pizza. I can’t help thinking that he writes so many novels that quality goes down the drain – or that they’re simply written by different people (ghostwriters) with varying skills…
I agree with you, there’s many young adult books out there to choose from before worrying about James Patterson.
Bullet points!! I have never read James Patterson but mean to try sometime soon! And I am a huge fan of Philip Pullman!
@Vaishnavi: If you do want to try out James Patterson, then I suggest you start with the Alex Cross books. However, his books are average to above average at best…I only pick them up if my library is particularly bereft of books
I am going to give this book a miss ..
I recently started getting into YA fiction so it’s good to know the ones I can safely avoid.
I have never read this author but the plot sounds so so so juvenile!!!
You’re right, it is. I actually struggled to write this review without sounding juvenile myself 😀