Follow Friday and Book Blogger Hop (4)

Another Friday has come and that means it's time for Follow Friday and the Book Blogger Hop!

To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host, Parajunkee.com and any one else you want to follow on the list
2. Put your Blog name and URL in the Linky thing.
3. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
4. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can
5. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the follower

In the spirit of the Twitter Friday Follow, the Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers  to connect and find new book-related blogs that we may be missing out on!  This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books!  It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs that they may not know existed! 

The Hop lasts Friday-Monday every week, so if you don't have time to Hop today, come back later and join the fun!  This is a weekly event!

RULES:  (in hopes of simplifying things for everyone!)

1.  Enter your book blog link in the Linky List at Crazy for Books (be sure to include what genres you review!).  If you post about the Hop on your blog, please link directly to your Hop post (don't forget to answer this week's question - see below!).

2.  Visit other blogs in the Linky List!  Make new friends!  Follow new book bloggers!  Talk about books!  Rave about authors!  (Please do not leave your link and not visit other blogs - it's just not cool and not in the spirit of the Hop!)

3.  Post about the Hop on  your blog!  Spread the word about the book party!  The more the merrier!

4. In your blog post, answer the following question (new question each week!):  Do you listen to music when you read? If so, what are your favorite reading tunes?

I usually read in silence, but every once in a while I need a soundtrack to go along with whatever I'm reading. The tunes all depend on what the book is, but I'm a big theater geek, so most of the songs are from Broadway shows or opera.

Book Review: Witch and Wizard

Witch and Wizard by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet

Publication Date: 8 October 2009

I purchased this book.


Description
Everything is about to change. The government has seized control of every aspect of society, and now kids are disappearing. For 15 year-old Wisty and her older brother Whit, life turns upside-down when they are hauled out of bed one night, separated from their parents, and thrown into a secret compound for no apparent reason. It's clear that the new government will stop at nothing to suppress Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Being a Normal Teenager.

For the sister and brother, the chaos started when Whit's girlfriend, Celia, was spirited away in a black van, never to be seen or heard from again. Locked inside their cells, the two fear that they have been taken to the very same complex that swallowed Celia and realize that a daring escape is their only hope of survival.

While imprisoned together, Wisty and Whit start exhibiting strange abilities and powers they never knew they possessed. Their new talents lead them to believe that maybe there is a reason they were singled out. Can this newly minted witch and a wizard master their skills in time to save themselves, their parents--and maybe the world?


My Review
Witch and Wizard is an entertaining book that introduces readers into the world of Wisteria (Wisty) and Whitford (Whit) Allgood, two siblings who are accused of being a witch and wizard and imprisoned.

I enjoyed reading this book, but felt there was very little character development. The action scenes are great, but I would have liked to learn more about Whit and Wisty personally. And there is virtually no background on how their society was formed. How was the totalitarian government created? What event or events made it easy for the government to subjugate the citizens? Most dystopian fiction has some starting point as to how the society changed from a democracy into what it is now. Not so with Witch and Wizard. I think the story would have had more depth if there was some explanation and greater character development.

The thing I did like was how the authors took current places and people and changed the names to fit into the idea of an alternate world. References were made to everything from books - The Pitcher in the Wheat (Catcher in the Rye) to music - The Groaning Bones (The Rolling Stones) to museums - POPA (MOMA). The humor behind some of the alternate names or places brought a smile to my face and added a little extra snark to the book.

Witch and Wizard is not a stand alone book. No conclusion was made, and in fact, it reads as more of an introduction into the Witch and Wizard series. While there was a lot of action, very little in the way of events occurred. The majority of the book details Whit and Wisty's imprisonment and subsequent jailbreak. I'm interested in seeing what occurs in the second book. I would hope that readers will learn more about Whit and Wisty, as well as the background of the society they live in. This series could have the potential to be really great if there is more of this in the second book. With the name James Patterson on the cover, I definitely expected a better story.


My Rating: 3 stars

Description and picture courtesy of Goodreads.



Witch and Wizard Book Trailer