James Patterson’s Witch and Wizard: The Gift takes younger audiences on a thrill ride as he portrays the problems of corruption, autocracy, and censorship in a unique fashion. He takes elements from other bestselling books such as Nineteen Eighty-Four and Fahrenheit 451 and then combines it with characteristics from today’s fantasy novels.
The novel depicts a world closed off by the “Shadowland” and therefore has limited boundaries. Most of this “over-world” has fallen at the hands of the New Order, that seeks to create a chaos-free society. At first, that idea sounds pretty good. But the N.O. (as it’s commonly referred to by the main characters) does this at the expense of several of the things we take for granted: books, movies, art, music, and even people’s imaginations. Creativity is now frowned upon in the society. The controlled areas begin to run on an extremely systematic schedule, and the populace starts to become more machine-like and monotone.
The story is told through the points of view of two people (alternating between characters every few chapters): Whitford (Whit) and Wisteria (Wisty) Allgood, who are on the run for supposedly possessing magical powers (only Wisty really possesses said powers, which would prove useful in several parts of the story). Both are members of “The Resistance”, a rebel group based in Freeland (the area of the over-world that has not yet been conquered by the New Order) mostly made up of young adults. The two narrowly escaped execution and were able to make it back to the base unharmed.
They and the other members then attempt to plan out their next operations against the New Order, one of which includes a concert at the Stockwood Festival in order to obtain new recruits for the Resistance. But they face major problems: a spy may be inside the Resistance and another may be posing as a musician in an unrelated act. Things instantly take a turn for the worse as aforementioned band member sets a trap to fool Wisty. In the process, Whit attempts to save her, but the two other band members take him down.
Both of them are now at a special facility back in New Order territory. The spy inside the Resistance served as their guide through the facility, which turns out to be a futuristic college. It is designed to produce the next generation of workers through a special, rigorous program. Whit and Wisty instantly become used to their new environment, all the while formulating an escape plan. They were almost successful until someone spots them, and they are sent into a cold, Death Row-style room. But the spy from earlier ends up helping them! Wisty turns Whit and herself into fish through a spell, as the spy ends up flushing them down a toilet.
The two end up in a river somewhere near the Freeland border. They manage to avoid detection, even as the spell wore off and they were back to their former selves. But they were aghast as they saw what happened to the Resistance. Some members were missing, gains from earlier operations were lost, and there were little hiding places. It seemed as if all hope was lost. But they end up receiving a tip from a friend back in New Order territory. Only Whit and Wisty advance to the ally’s location while the rest agree to stay behind.
The two make it to their friend’s house and stay there for a while. However, they were unable to completely avoid detection. The One, the supreme leader of the New Order, finds them. Now it is revealed that he has magical powers as well! He controls air, earth, and water, but Wisty controls fire. There’s only one problem: Wisty hasn’t grasped full control of her “gift”, but The One uses his mastery of the other three elements in order to prevent the two from escaping. Wisty is forced to “give up” her gift to The One, and they are taken to the public execution.
But instead of a gruesome execution description, Whit and Wisty are instantly whisked off to the Shadowland, in which the spirits of the deceased roam. There, they are reunited with the spirits of their previously executed parents, and they eventually find solace there.
I found this story to be one of the few truly amazing sci-fi stories. It contains aspects from both real life and fantasy, but there’s really no over-thought sections, and there is a good balance between the two, unlike some other stories. Sure, the plot becomes hard to follow at times, but overall, this book was one of the best I’ve read so far.
- 4/24/2011 -
