1.22.2011 | Saturday

The Gift

category: Book Reviews
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The Gifttitle: The Gift
author: James Patterson
series: Witch & Wizard #2
published: 13 December 2010
genre(s): dystopian, fantasy, sci fi
pages: 336
source: bought
format: eBook
buy/shelve it: Amazon | B&N | BookBub | Goodreads

rating: four-stars

the blurb

When Whit & Wisty were imprisoned by the wicked forces of the totalitarian regime known as the New Order, they were barely able to escape with their lives. Now part of a hidden community of teens like themselves, Whit and Wisty have established themselves as leaders of the Resistance, willing to sacrifice anything to save kids kidnapped and brutally imprisoned by the New Order.

But the One has other plans in store for them: He needs Wisty, for she is "The One Who Has the Gift." While trying to figure out what that means, Whit and Wisty's suspenseful adventures through Overworld and Shadowland lead to a jaw-dropping climax and conclusion: the highly-anticipated fulfillment of the heart-pounding opening prologue of book one... The Execution of the Allgoods.


my review

The Gift is the second novel the young adult series, Witch & Wizard.  The cliffhanger from the first novel led neatly into the second novel, the ongoing adventures of Whit and Wisty Allgood in their changing world.  Freeland (the outlying areas populated by children who have managed to avoid being kidnapped, imprisoned, and brainwashed) is growing smaller as the New Order scouts delve farther and farther into the territory.  The leader of the New Order, The One Who Is The One, is on obsessive quest to seize control of the Allgoods and their undeniable gifts.  In this novel, the dystopian theme is further developed as we learn more about how the New Order operates.  Magic isn’t magic, but energy.  Children that they want to brainwash and use for New Order purposes are not witches and wizards, although those they don’t want are labeled as such.  The characters of Whit and Wisty were further developed in this novel, more as individuals than in the first.  Whit is almost obsessed with his need for his now-dead girlfriend, and Wisty has some romantic entanglements of her own.  Patterson’s writing style translates well to the young adult demographic with the dialogues between the characters.  It was humorous and witty at key points with the story.  Once again, the chapters were fairly short, shifting the point of view of each chapter between Whit and Wisty.  That technique kept the story interesting, adding texture to it. I think The Gift may have been my favorite of the two so far.  The next book in the series, Witch & Wizard:  The Fire, will be out in December 2011.

About James Patterson

It is no surprise that in January, 2010, The New York Times Magazine featured James Patterson on its cover and hailed him as having “transformed book publishing,” and that Time magazine hailed him as “The Man Who Can’t Miss.” Recently, NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams profiled Patterson’s prolific career, AARP named him one of the “50 Most Influential People Who Make Our Days a Little Brighter,” and Variety featured him in a cover story highlighting his adventures in Hollywood.

In 2013, it was estimated that one-in-five of all hardcover suspense/thriller novels sold was written by James Patterson, his books have sold over 300 million copies worldwide, and he holds the Guinness record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers of any author. And his success isn’t based solely on thrillers like the perennially popular Alex Cross, Women’s Murder Club and Michael Bennett series. Patterson is now also the current bestselling author in the young adult and middle grade categories.

He’s been called the busiest man in publishing, and that’s not just because of his own books. For the past decade, James has been devoting more and more of his time to championing books and reading. From the James Patterson Pageturner Awards, to his website ReadKiddoRead.com, to his College Book Bucks scholarships and his regular donations of hundreds of thousands of books to schools here in the states and troops overseas (see interviews on Fox & Friends, The Dennis Miller Radio Show and CNN.com), Patterson has passed on his passion of books and reading and supported those who do the same. Jim personally funded a major ad campaign re-printing a recent opinion piece on CNN.com about how it is our responsibility to get our kids reading. The ad has run in the New York Times, The New Yorker, and USA Today. Those ads are a call to action to parents to make their kids reading a top priority; and were featured by USA Today here. Patterson believes that we cannot rely on schools, teachers or the government to get our kids reading; only parents can make this crucial change in the reading habits of our kids. Here are links to some interviews on his first-ever dual lay down (two books, one for parents and one for kids, in one day): AOL’s You’ve Got, NBC’s “Today Show” with Hoda and Kathie Lee, USA Today and Family Circle, NBC’s “Today Show” with Al Roker, as well as an interview with AARP.

::spread the love::

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