The New Teen Witches in Town

Shifting from Vampires into Witches (and Wizards), I headed in the direction of a fairly recent work which received plenty of publication. Promoted as being the next Harry Potter, and authored by one of the country's most prolific writer's, my curiousity was decidedly piqued. So let's see what I discovered:

Title: Witch & Wizard
Author: James Patterson
Year: 2009
My start date: 10/28/10
My finish date: 10/30/10
Book Count: 66

Well, Harry Potter it is not. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill. But I was surprised to admit that it wasn't horribly far off the mark. The story revolves around two teens, a brother and sister, who discover they can do magic, but only when the police of the new world order storm their home and arrest them.

There are a ton of different influences coming together here. It is a little bit of Potter meets a little bit of 1984. The dystopian descriptions of the New Order are pretty standard. You could also tell that Patterson is fairly well versed in the other "paranormal adventures" of the day and draws inspiration, or more often fodder for cynical references, from these.

Which brings me to the first point I loved about this book. Early on, I thought the vague reference to pop culture, which are only thinly veiled, were lazy. I thought that Patterson was trying to create a fantasy world without going to the effort of dreaming up real popstar and book names. Thus, when I read his references to the teens having favorite authors such as K.J. Meyer (clearly hinting at a combination of J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer), favorite popstars such as "Lay-Z" and favorite books such as "Gary Blotter and the Guild of Rejects", I was irritated at his lack of originality. However, as the story continued, I began to realize that these were very much intentional parodies, especially when I discovered the appendix elaborating on all of this banned culture, including descriptions such as popstar "Ron Sayer: This young blues-rock star somehow won awards, dated superstars, and wowed audiences with songs such as "Your Skin Is an Amusement Park"." This is clearly a joking reference to actual singer Jon Mayer and his song "Your Body is a Wonderland." Similarly, under the New Order banned books list, you will find everything from "The Firegirl Saga" which mocks Twilight, to The Thunder Stealer (Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief) and even Margeret's Pen (Charlotte's Web)and The Pitcher in the Wheat (The Catcher in the Rye), each with its own parody description. As soon as I realized the comical nature of these and the fact that they were very intentional, I discovered a whole new appreciation and actually spent several minutes laughing at them.

The story itself is fairly standard and somewhat predictable, but nonetheless engaging. The two teens are decently strong as characters, albeit a little too much. Patterson seemed to take the teen stereotypes a bit too far and subsequently Whit and Wisty are a little over-the-top in their teenagerly-ness. I would even venture to question whether today's actual teens would find them accessible or if they would come off as to cartoonish. But they grew on me.

Two complaints, one minor and one potentially damaging. The first is Patterson's utter inability to write a proper chapter. As in other books of his I have read, his chapters are never more than maybe three or four pages long; more often only two pages. While this means that they 300 page book reads a lot more quickly than one might anticipate, it is irritating for me because the chapters come off as too abrupt and not fully developped. Also, it means that you are transitioning to a new chapter at points that don't necessarily warrent a new chapter. But that is Patterson's style (and perhaps connected with his ability to push out several books a year??) and not entirely tragic.

What is more pressing if he intends to continue this series is the way he shifts voices. The novel is narrated by both teens, alternating at chapter points. You will have a few chapters narrated by Wisty and then the perspective will shift over to Whit for awhile, and then back again. This is interesting in many ways and will allow the book to grab a greater audience among its young readers because it has both a male and a female teenage with whom they can identify, but it becomes problematic in that you often forget who is narrating at any given point. The shifts are random, and because of the short chapter length, often quick. Patterson doesn't vary his character voice widely enough to make it obvious just by context (as mentioned, it all just comes across generic teen from him)and thus is you aren't on your toes you will read an entire chapter or several before remembering that the narrator had switched again. This can get confusing and needs to be corrected to make a strong showing. Right now they switches are only indicated by the character's name at the beginning of each chapter in font that is maybe two or three sizes larger than they rest. Very easy to miss or ignore, especially since the two names are so similar.

Overall, though, I grew to really like this novel and find that, although Patterson leans often toward the mega-cheesy in his attempts to portray teens, he works some strong material in and focuses on great messages. I think that is awesome in any book, but so important in YA lit. Take for example, his concluding thoughts from Wisty in saying: "So, how are you doing--wherever you are? Listen, please: seize the moment, however worried you may be about what's coming next. It's your brain, it's your life, it's your attitude...Go out there and fill up with sights, sounds and ideas that are bigger than yourself." (306) I like it.

So, to wrap it up, here are our two questions:
Would adults like it? It is great for YA and certainly meant for it. It has strong messages and catchy characters. That being said, most YA readers are likely to miss the humor in the parody elements and I think a lot of adults could appreciate that. It is worth a try for adults too. And, hey, it won't take that long to read with those short chapters!
Final grade? I would give this work a solid B, maybe B+. I can see myself reading the next installment.

Next up, some werewolves!! Happy Halloween!
Keep Reading!
Sarah