Review: Witch and Wizard by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The world is changing: 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 torn from their parents one night and slammed into a secret prison for no reason they can comprehend.

The New Order, as it is known, is clearly trying to suppress Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Being a Normal Teenager. But while trapped in this totalitarian nightmare, Wisty and Whit discover they have incredible powers they'd never dreamed of.

Can this newly minted witch and wizard master their skills in time to save themselves, their parents--and maybe the world?

Review:

Witch and Wizard by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet was somewhat interesting but overall, failed to grip me. The story follows the main characters Whit and Wisty Allgood as they are arrested for being a witch and wizard according to the New Order- N.O. for short.

Whit and Wisty struggle to understand what's going on; why they have been arrested, who they themselves are, what exactly the New Order is and how to escape from the prison cell which they find themselves in.

While it turns out that Whit and Wisty do have magical abilities, why they have these powers is never explained and the reader is never informed about the extent, limitations and rules of their powers. This means that anything goes and the reader has to accept it.

Witch and Wizard was humorous at times and serious at others. On occasion, the story was both humorous and serious simultaneously. This felt surreal and puzzling. For example, they exchange a lot of funny quips with the 'baddies', the main one being 'The One Who Is The One.' It seemed as though the story didn't know which direction to go in.

Though Whit and Wisty are seventeen and fifteen in the story, I believe Witch and Wizard would appeal more to younger readers mainly due to the fact that it's somewhat comedic and the plot isn't too complex. Furthermore, each chapter was only about two or three pages long which was off-putting for me, though it did feel like the story went by faster.

Additionally, the chapters alternate between Whit and Wisty. It was nice to read about both of them, but I didn't feel particularly attached to either of them or any of the other characters. The multitude of secondary characters were not developed and they all blurred into one for the most part.

Though the 'baddies' were very nasty and mean, they felt very one-dimensional and one-track minded. For example, they kept saying they wanted to kill the Allgood family, however, they kept wasting opportunities for just that.

Much more background information as to how the New Order came into power was needed as the explanation was lacking. I fail to see how Whit and Wisty wouldn't have some clue as to what the New Order was before they took over. I know new governments/dictatorships can spring up very quickly, but really, they should have had some clue. It isn't enough to let them have an excuse of being a teenager and therefore not knowing what's going on in the world.

However, Witch and Wizard did have some good points. It does have quite a lot of action which was enjoyable to read, some seriously disgusting description featuring rats and a trip through various worlds. While these 'worlds' weren't thoroughly described, it does give the authors more to build on in the next books. The ending did leave some questions unanswered and even though there weren't many surprising twists, it was a satisfactory ending.

Overall, Witch and Wizard was an okay book. It doesn't explore the dystopian element as much as I would have liked. I would recommend it to others who are looking for a quick, easy read with a few laughs along the way.

Rating: 3/5

Concept: 3/5
Cover: 2/5
Authors: James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet

This review is part of Dystopian February at Presenting Lenore.

Review: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a graveyard, being raised by ghosts, with a guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are adventures in the graveyard for a boy - an ancient Indigo Man, a gateway to the abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible Sleer. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, he will be in danger from the man Jack - who has already killed Bod's family.

Master storyteller Neil Gaiman returns with a luminous new novel about life and death, love and growing up, and finding family in the most unlikely places.

 

Review: (Contains Spoilers)

 

The Graveyard Book was very exciting. I was immediately gripped by its dramatic opening and avidly read about the way in which the protagonist, Nobody Owens or Bod, experiences life amongst the dead. The novel contains plenty of excellent description which vividly illustrates the narrative and brings the story alive.

 

The Graveyard Book is thrilling and action-packed. Bod moves from one adventure to another over his childhood, from escaping ghouls to facing an ancient malevolent creature called the Sleer. There is not a dull moment in Bod’s unconventional life. However, the book makes room for serious contemplation and also explores various relationships such as friendship and family. The characters are 3D and well-developed.

 

There are a range of interesting characters in the book including the strict Miss Lupescu, his adopted parents, Mr and Mrs Owens and his rather mysterious guardian, Silas. Bod’s own development can be seen through the various challenges he faces and show him to be brave, kind and to have a great deal of curiosity which is both a good and a bad thing as he is meant to keep a low profile for his own safety.

Although Gaiman does not explicitly state that Bod’s guardian, Silas, is a vampire, it becomes increasingly evident through the course of the book that he is, especially at the very end of the book when Bod sees that he has a trunk filled with the soil of his homeland.

I think that it was very interesting that Silas said that he had done many terrible things in the past as he must have undergone a drastic transformation in order to become a member of the honour guard. Perhaps we will learn more about his past if there is a sequel.

The reader did not get a detailed enough explanation of how the Jacks of all trades gained supernatural powers by killing people and why they believed that Bod would be the one to destroy their order if he lived to adulthood.

Furthermore, I did not at all like the way in which Scarlett had all her later memories of Bod removed or suppressed in order to save her from acknowledging his supernatural abilities or having to come to terms with the climactic events at the end of the book.

Gaiman definitely leaves the ending of the book open so the reader may get a chance to read about the further adventures of Bod as an adult. I saw some of what the Honour Guard were dedicated to doing, ridding the world of evil beings such as the Jacks and the terrible sacrifices they were faced with but I would certainly like to find out a lot more about them.

Rating: 4/5
Concept: 5/5
Cover: 4/5
Author: Neil Gaiman
 
Thank you to my sister for reviewing this book.

Contest @ Paper Cut Reviews

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Contest @ Paper Cut Reviews

Steph from Paper Cut Reviews is having numerous giveaways on her blog in celebration of her first blogversary. Go and check it out. Enter here for the 1st YA Release Giveaway! Win from a great selection of books including Delirium. More followers mean more books!

International.

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Random Magic Tour: Vive L’Amour Entry

Velvet at vvb32 reads is hosting an amazing Random Magic Tour. What makes it extra amazing is that you can win this:

The Language of Flowers: A Treasury of Verse and Prose Scented by Penhaligon's Sheila Pickles


or this:

Love: A Treasury of Verse and Prose Scented by Penhaligon's Sheila Pickles                   
                                                         
Yes, you read right.

Scented.

All you have to do to enter is follow the easy to-do (Make a blog post and collect at least five Heart badges) and you're in! It's international and ends on Feb 14th! Two winners. Don't forget to leave a comment with the link to your post here.

1. Sweet Treat badge found at vvb32 reads: Left a comment.

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ARC Review: Memento Nora by Angie Smibert

Synopsis from back cover:

Forget your cares at TFC.

On an otherwise glossy day, a blast goes off and a body thuds to the ground at Nora's feet. There are terrorist attacks in the city all the time, but Nora can't forget. So Nora goes with her mother to TFC- a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic. There, she can decsribe her horrible memory and take the pill that will erase it. But at TFC, a chance encounter with a mysterious guy changes Nora's life. She doesn't take the pill. And when Nora learns the memory her mother has chosen to forget, she realizes that someone needs to remember.

With newfound friends Micah and Winter, Nora makes a comic book of their memories called Memento. Memento is an instant hit, but it sets off a dangerous chain of events. Will Nora, Micah, and Winter be forced to take the Big Pill that will erase their memories forever?

Review:

Memento Nora was a gripping, exciting and unique book. This dystopian world came about after numerous terrorist attacks. To keep people safe and to allow them to continue with their lives without constant memories of continuing terrorist attacks, everyone can take a pill and forget. Then, if they witness another terrorist attack or anything bad in general, they can take another pill and the unending process begins again. This leaves people feeling 'glossy'.  

Memento Nora was really inventive. This dystopian world was very believable as I am already seeing the beginnings of it in our current society. It reminded me of date rape pills. The forgetting pill allows anyone and everyone to completely forget terrible memories just by reciting what said bad memory is and then taking the pill. Realistically, this means that a really bad person (and that's putting it lightly) could go and do unspeakable acts on another person and then the victim could just take the pill and forget it. Where's the justice in that?

The realisation of this process left me absolutely horrified and more so because this could be the future. Who wouldn't want to forget all their bad memories and live in a 'glossy' world? All it takes is one pill. It's so convenient. On the surface, the answer might be yes, but delve deeper and in truth, those memories are useful and a part of us. We learn from them. They change us.

Nora was a fantastic main character. She was a strong, believable character throughout the book and I cared about what happened to her. I learnt shocking thruths as she learnt them and hoped she could change things for the better. She became increasingly brave as the story continued. I especially liked how she dealt with the truth of her mother's 'secret' as she proved to be very mature.

Micah, the love interest, was also a great character. Though the romance aspect was there, luckily, it didn't take over the main plot. It was very sweet nonetheless. Micah helps Nora to see the truth and it changes everything for the both of them. Winter was a creative character. Her entries were filled with the artwork she was making and left me with fantastic visual images. Overall, I liked all the characters, even the secondary characters, as they were all useful to the plot and I wanted to know what their role would be in the story. Furthermore, I wanted to know how this dystopian world had affected them and those that they loved.

Memento Nora was very mysterious, but happily, a lot of my questions were answered throughout the course of the book. The plot was intriguing as I was continuously looking for clues and suspecting suspicious characters. The climax was really interesting and I couldn't put the book down by that point. 

Memento Nora ended well but I wished that it had been longer as it felt abrupt. The ending came about very rapidly and though I understood that events were moving very fast, it didn't satisfy me as much as it could have if some of the secondary characters had been more developed and there was a longer explanation at the ending. Furthermore, having a few more characters would have meant that there would have been more people to be suspicious of. As it was, there were only a few suspects.  

From the beginning, the reader knows an inevitable part of the ending because of the chapter subheadings and I wished that this hadn't been the case. This meant that when the inevitable incident occurred, I wasn't as shocked by it as I could have been if I hadn't known.

Overall, Memento Nora was an extremely great dystopian novel and I look forward to a sequel as it is a strong possibility. I believe Memento Nora could have been even better if it had been longer as I wanted to explore Nora's world in greater depth-the good and particularly more of the bad. It would also have been wonderful if there had been illustrations of Memento in the book as it was an important catalyst for the plot. Readers who enjoy the dystopian genre should enjoy this fantastic addition. However, I recommend everyone to read this as you won't be disappointed. 

Thank you to Marshall Cavendish for sending this to me for review.

Rating: 5/5
Concept: 5/5
Cover: 5/5- so glossy! 
Author: Angie Smibert

This review is part of Dystopian February at Presenting Lenore.

Review: Raised by Wolves (Raised by Wolves #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Synopsis from back cover:

He's in a cage, I reminded myself, but the words meant nothing to me, because I just couldn't stop staring into his wild eyes and playing the last words he'd said before he Shifted, over and over again.

 I got bit.

I got bit.

I got bit.

At the age of four, Bryn watched a rabid werewolf brutally murder her parents. She was rescued and taken in by the mysterious Callum, the alpha of his pack. Now fifteen, Bryn's been a human among werewolves, adhering to pack rule.

But the pack's been keeping a secret, and when Bryn goes exploring against Callum's orders, she finds Chase, a newly turned teen Were locked in a cage. Bryn needs answers, and she needs Chase to get them. Suddenly, it's Bryn and Chase against the werewolf world, whatever the consequences.

Raised by Wolves will leave you howling for more.

 

Review (Spoilery!):

 

I was really excited to read Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes because I had read so many great reviews for it. I am on a hunt for an excellent werewolf story (no pun intended) and I thought this one would be it. Unfortunately, that was not the case. While Raised by Wolves had a lot of potential at the start, it lost favour with me as it continued.

 

The first point at which I was significantly disappointed was when Bryn made numerous excuses to see Chase, the boy whom she believes can answer all her questions about what had happened to her when she was four. At this point, I was thoroughly confused by Bryn's actions and wondered why she didn't just ask Callum (her guardian) for the answers to her questions, rather going through the gruelling tasks that Callum put her through just to see Chase again.

 

At the beginning of the book Bryn knows that everyone is hiding something from her and so she defies Callum's orders and sneaks into his house- where the newly turned Were Chase is conveniently caged. Upon setting eyes on each other, Bryn feels a connection to him. I was annoyed by how quickly they formed a 'connection' because at this point Chase was a stranger to Bryn and he was already saying 'I miss you' to Bryn. How on earth could he have missed her if he never knew her before? This wasn't explained.

 

After her brief chat with him in which she learns that Chase 'got bit', she believes that Chase is the same as her and has all the answers. This did not make any sense because Bryn and Chase's encounters with rabid wolves were very different and I wondered two things. What were Bryn's questions anyway? She doesn't inform the reader. Also, how could Chase possibly have the answers to her questions?  

 

I disliked the constant repitition of sentences such as 'I got bit' and the continous utilisation of one word sentences which added nothing to the story and became irritating. I expected to read about how Bryn's parents were killed early on in the story, however, it was a long and drawn out process which wasn't effective. Most of the time, Bryn came up with 'solutions' to her problems in roundabout ways which lacked logic and left me confused.

 

For a story that was told in first person and present tense, I couldn't follow Bryn's logic sometimes because it was so jumpy. More often however, Bryn would repeat something she'd said before again and again which frustrated me. Furthermore, there was a lot of repitition which slowed down the pace of the story, with a favourite being 'I got bit. I got bit. I got bit.'    

 

There were quite a lot of characters and rightly so, as this was a story featuring werewolf packs, however, many of the characters were flat. At the beginning I was hoping that the characters would develop throughout the story, however, I  soon realised that I didn't care about what happened to Sora, Lance, Casey, Lake, Devon, Chase and even Bryn. Sora and Lance (Devon's parents) only had a few lines, Lake was an okay character. Devon was an okay character. Chase was boring. I didn't understand why he and Bryn were connected anyway. Their relationship developed mostly through their mind conversations, rather than physically being next to each other and holding a conversation.

 

There were quite a few conversations about Ali's (Bryn's adopted mum) and Casey's marriage and the breakdown of it but once again, I didn't care because first of all, Casey had perhaps two lines in the entirety of the book and second of all, Ali's arguments, much like Bryn's, were illogical. 

 

Bryn apparently has a 'Resiliency'; an instinct to survive. That's how she always gets out of bad situations. She's scrappy. Chase has it too. This explanation came out of nowhere and left me shaking my head in disappointment due to the sorry explanation. 

 

The most interesting thing would have to be how Bryn can re-do other werewolves' 'pack-bonds'. This means that she can change their connection to their pack. Bryn moves Devon's and Lake's pack-bond connection away from Callum's pack and onto herself so that they only have a pack-bond with her and Chase. 

 

For something that is almost impossible to do, this was just too, too easy for her to do and had me scoffing. Furthermore, Devon and Lake accepted the fact that Bryn re-did their pack-bonds without one word of complaint, even though she hadn't gotten their permission in the first place. Realistically, they would have been somewhat angry at the very least. They had been connected to Callum's pack for all their lives and now she just changed it. They should have gone through some kind of trauma. But they didn't.

 

At one point, Bryn says that she had siblings, however, they are never mentioned again. Another time, she says that she closed off her mind from Callum's pack when she was four, but in another section, she says it was when she was six. While she states that she's closed her mind from Callum's pack, Callum was able to read her mind like a book. Furthermore, 'Callum' is a very modern name for someone who's supposedly lived for a thousand years. I was expecting something a bit more archaic.

 

The plot of Raised by Wolves was simply comprised of two things: Find Rabid. Kill Rabid. The 'Big, Bad Wolf' just wasn't that big and he wasn't as bad as he could have been. This is due to the fact that we didn't get to see the attacks on the children firsthand. I won't say what exactly happened at the end, but the plot was just too simplistic and there weren't any surprises.

 

I guessed a lot of what happened before it did, largely because Bryn took ages to explain anything and she was slow on the uptake. The ending was undramatic and anti-climactic. It was slightly rushed and everything was wrapped up very nicely and unrealistically at the end.

 

Overall, while I expected great things from Raised by Wolves, I was left disappointed. It didn't leave me 'howling for more' as the back cover promised. I wouldn't recommend this book but perhaps if you liked Shiver, you'll like this. I won't be reading the next book in the series, Trial by Fire.

 

Book Rating: 2/5

Concept: 4/5 

Cover: 3/5 

Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Review: Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo

Blurb:

Washed up on an island in the Pacific, Michael struggles to survive on his own. With no food and no water, he curls up to die.

When he wakes, there is a plate beside him of fish, of fruit, and a bowl of fresh water. He is not alone...

Review:

Kensuke's Kingdom is a powerful story centring around the themes of friendship, family and adventure. Having read this for the first time when I was in primary school, I did not believe that the story could effect me in the same way now in which it did then. However, I was proven wrong to a certain extent. Kensuke's Kingdom, though aimed at younger readers, was a very enjoyable story. I wondered whether the ending would have the same effect on me as it did in the past. In that instance, I found the ending highly emotional. This time, though I knew what was coming, I still shed a few tears.  

After eleven year old Michael's parents lose their jobs, they decide to set off on their yacht, the Peggy Sue, for an around-the-world adventure. Their dream finally becomes a reality as they visit numerous countries such as Brazil and Australia. However, after an unfortunate accident, Michael is thrown overboard and the next time he wakes up, he's on an island. Unable to find food or water, he believes he will die. Luckily, someone helps him.  

I appreciate the simplicity, honesty and visual imagery of the book. I liked Michael and cared about what happened to him and needed to know how his story would end. My favourite character is Kensuke. He was wise, mysterious and a puzzle that Michael needs to solve. They were at first strangers, then enemies, then friends and finally developed a father-son bond. Though the book was only 161 pages, it packed in quite a lot of events which younger readers will enjoy. Kensuke's Kingdom is funny, sad, contemplative and always visually delightful.

As an adult reader, I wanted more detailed descriptions and a more thorough ending, however, the story was brilliant nonetheless. I would recommend Kensuke's Kingdom to everyone; readers of all ages. It was a quick and easy book to read but is one of those stories that stays with you long after you've put it down.

Rating: 5/5

Concept: 5/5

Cover: 5/5

Author: Michael Morpurgo

Haven Cover Contest @ Imagination In Focus

Amelia at Imagination In Focus is holding a Recreate The Cover Contest for Haven by Kristi Cook! Be sure to enter by the 8th of February to be in with a chance to win the book! Yes, it's international.

Synopsis:

One month into her junior year, sixteen-year-old Violet McKenna transfers to the Winterhaven School in New York’s Hudson Valley, inexplicably drawn to the boarding school with high hopes. Leaving Atlanta behind, she’s looking forward to a fresh start--a new school, and new classmates who will not know her deepest, darkest secret, the one she’s tried to hide all her life: strange, foreboding visions of the future.

But Winterhaven has secrets of its own, secrets that run far deeper than Violet’s. Everyone there--every student, every teacher--has psychic abilities, 'gifts and talents,' they like to call them. Once the initial shock of discovery wears off, Violet realizes that the school is a safe haven for people like her. Soon, Violet has a new circle of friends, a new life, and maybe even a boyfriend--Aidan Gray, perhaps the smartest, hottest guy at Winterhaven.

Only there’s more to Aidan than meets the eye--much, much more. And once she learns the horrible truth, there’s no turning back from her destiny. Their destiny. Together, Violet and Aidan must face a common enemy--if only they can do so without destroying each other first.

***

my entry:

                        

Review: Turnabout by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In the year 2000 Melly and Anny Beth had reached the peak of old age and were ready to die. But when offered the chance to be young again by participating in a top-secret experiment called Project Turnabout, they agreed. Miraculously, the experiment worked -- Melly and Anny Beth were actually growing younger every year. But when they learned that the final treatment would be deadly, they ran for their lives.



Now it is 2085. Melly and Anny Beth are teenagers. They have no idea what will happen when they hit age zero, but they do know they will soon be too young to take care of themselves. They need to find someone to help them before time runs out, once and for all....

Review:

I read Turnabout around seven years ago, really enjoyed it and felt like rereading it a few days ago. It explores the very interesting concept of 'unaging'. Melly and Anny Beth, the two main characters, are injected with PT-1 which reverses the aging process. At the start of the story, Melly and Anny Beth, along with 98 other elderly people, are offered the 'cure'. The cure ends up being effective for half of the patients and the others die unfortunately. 

As time goes on, the patients become younger and begin to be able to to things which they had lost the ability to do such as sit up in bed. However, the dilemma occurs when they realise that the doctors responsible for their unaging haven't figured out a way to stop the process at a specified age (such as 75) and so, Melly and Anny Beth run away from The Agency. 

The first time I read Turnabout I thoroughly enjoyed it because it felt so unique. Melly and Anny Beth were interesting, likeable characters and I cared about what happened to them. Reading it a second time was interesting because I had forgotten so many of the details. This time though, I realised that the science behind the cure wasn't explained fully and though I may not have understood it even if there were a proper explanation, realistically, the doctors would have given a fuller one.  

I wanted to know much more about Melly and Anny Beth's past because Turnabout was about reflecting on their lives to an extent. I believe that including flashbacks and dreams would have made me like them more on an emotional level. I enjoyed the way the chapters alternated between the year 2000 (when Melly and Anny Beth are around 100 years old) and 2085 (when they're teenagers again). 

The book could have been longer and some scenes could have been extended because there was plenty more that Haddix could have explored. The ending felt somewhat rushed and everything was settled very nicely, neatly and unrealistically. At the end, there were some questions that remained unanswered and I really did want to know for certain what exactly happened. However, I understand that 'uncertainty' was one of the themes of the book.

Turnabout did make me feel sad at points such as when a son doesn't recognise one of the patients as his own mother after she escapes the Agency to see him. The plot wasn't as complex as I would have liked it to be but it certainly did have potential. It explored moral and ethical questions and asked how far people would go for science and in the name of science. The future as depicted in 2085 didn't seem too different from 2000 and I wished Haddix could have developed it more.

I liked Melly and Anny Beth as they actually got on and tried to work out their problems. Overall, I enjoyed Turnabout as it was insightful and made me think mor deeply about the aging problem and wonder if this could happen in the near future. I would recommend this to people interested in the aging or 'unaging' process and sci-fi. If you liked The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald or Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, you may like this.

Rating: 4/5

Concept: 4/5
Cover: 5/5
Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix