All the girls are furiously demanding this book in the library right now, so I picked it up and gave it a read before bringing it in to the library. Basically, imagine Harry Potter had a sister, his parents were alive, but they lived in a world where Voldemort rules therefore no Hogwarts. On top of that, give it the sense of energy and fast pace from the Hunger Games and you have Witch and Wizard. I didn't think this book was as good as either of those two series but I was able to read all 300 pages of it in two hours so it definitely kept me hooked. There were some terms that the main characters don't even know and I kept expecting the other characters to finally tell them what they mean but it never happened. The book was also told in the perspective of the brother and sister, switching at random. This device doesn't bother me, but the fact that their voices and personalities were so similar, I didn't really see the point. We're told the brother is well-mannered and the sister mis-behaves, but I don't see it in their actions or in the way either of them tell the story. They both seem like the sister and I had to check to see whose section it was based on from the name on the top of the chapter just to tell the difference. But anyhoo, here's the story:
Whit and Wist are taken from their home in the middle of the night by guards of the New Order, or N.O. They are told that they will be put on trial for being a witch and wizard, but they have no idea what they're talking about until Wist suddenly burst into flames that hurt everyone but herself. In prison, they find that their emotions cause them to do other things like turn a boy they hate into a weasel, glow, float, stop things mid-air and sink into other dementions. Led on an escape mission by Whit's ethereal girlfriend, they enter other dimensions and learn that there is more to this world than they thought and more to who they are.
I will say this for the book. It definitely wasn't marketed just for girls or boys, which is nice and I think this is the reason for the two narratives from both a female and male character. So smart on their part. Even though the cover looks like it's for older readers, it would be fine for fourth graders or third even. At least for this first book.
Interest level: Grades 5-8 Reading level: Grade 5
Genre: Fantasy, Action
First in series.
Comparable Titles: Akata Witch, Hunger Games, Gregor the Overlander
Book Connections: Wiccan principles, Totalitarian regimes, theories about the afterlife
No comments:
Post a Comment