Witch & Wizard - Book One (Excerpt)

By: James Patterson, Gabrielle Charbonnet

Narrated by: Spencer Locke, Elijah Wood

Length: 1 hr and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

The world is changing - the government has seized control of almost everything, and kids are disappearing. For 15-year-old Wisty and her older brother, Whit, life turns upside-down when they are hauled out of bed one night, separated from their parents, and thrown into a secret compound for no reason they can comprehend, except that the new government is clearly trying to suppress Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Imprisoned together in a decrepit cell, Wisty and Whit cling to the only things they have left - a blank book, a drum stick, and each other. While searching for ways to escape, both begin exhibiting strange abilities. Maybe there is a reason they were singled out!

Can Wisty and Whit, a witch and a wizard, master their skills in time to save themselves, their parents - and maybe the world?

From James Patterson, the creator of the best-selling Maximum Ride and Daniel X novels, comes Witch and Wizard, his most terrifying and awe-inspiring series yet.

©2009 James Patterson (P)2009 Hachette

Good

Where does Witch & Wizard - Book One (Excerpt) rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It rank at a 5 I liked this story

Who was your favorite character and why?

I don't have a favorite character from this story

What does Spencer Locke and Elijah Wood bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Not sure

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

SMile

Unfairly rated

Reading the reviews from the original book and not the excerpt, I find them to be unfair. The biggest complaint being it’s written like a kids book and the girl tries too hard. The thing is….this is a kids book and therefore kids have to be able to relate . I think the narrators are on point as girls are typically more dramatic and boys are typically lower key. Lastly, I wonder what kind of an adult would look at the title Witch and Wizard and not have an inkling of an idea that this could be a kids book.
My recommendation is to listen to the preview of any book, as they are typically long enough to give you an idea about the storyline, how it’s written and the narrators especially since they can make a break a book.

Childish

I normally love teen books but this one felt like it had no “meat” to it. The narrators were ok the maritime of the book was from a guy and girls point which was hard to follow and the woman who spoke just didn’t do it for me. Unfortunately I wasn’t intrigued enough to finish the series.

Intriguing

Grabbed me good so now I have to know what happens next! I enjoy it when a story does that... great job!

I like it

the story telling is good
the story itself is good until now, I would like to finish it

Love love this

cant wait to get the full book James Patterson has done it again wonderful reading/listening

Great Story

Loved the storyline. Hated the fact 2 ppl shared the speaking for the whole excerpt.

Witch & Wizard

I found this story to lack connetivity. who was the boy that betrayed, them.. Who was the one ruler, and why weren't they given lawyers?

Liked It

I thought this book was a bit interesting. This the first book I've listen to by James Patterson, even though I own one book by him. But I do like thew Witch and Wizard book. Had my attention from beginning to end. I never listen to books a like this before. I thought it was good, to be honest.

So not what I had hoped for

Narration: Spencer and Elijah take turns doing the narrations; it appears every other chapter is in first person but 1 the sister, the other the brother. There is also some radio theater type musical in the background. It’s all nicely done.

So this is an excerpt from Book One of the Witch & Wizard series – It was free, and I’m pretty certain I would never purchase the book based on the cover jacket alone. If anything was going to change that fact would be this free excerpt – but all it did was prove to me that this series just wasn’t for me.

It’s not really bad, it sounds interesting, the concept is scary to the point it’s not really an enjoyable topic for reading for relaxing. The “new order” has taken over and they are rounding up anyone that might be going against the new world order and killing them, this includes all people of faith, artists, and those that practice the “foul” arts such as witchcraft. All in the name of the great good, etc.

In this book, we get the back and forth first person perspective of a brother and sister who have been arrested for being a wizard and witch. They are taken from their home in the middle of the night. They are allowed to take one item each and their parents give one a book that appears blank and the other a drum stick.

(Pardon the pet peeve type rant below)
Side note on this taking one item with them – I can see, as a government attempting to round up those that might cause problems and in this case suspected of being a witch/wizard(should really be warlock but hey, whatever) – allow them that 1 item since they are likely to take something of power with them. Then don’t allow them to have it. But these kids are allowed to keep the item. Say What?!?

Also, their parents manage to get away and appear to have known their kids were powerful, but didn’t actually manage to explain to them who/what they were. How stupid can we get? They can see what is happening with this new order growing in power until people are killed in public hangings, but they don’t teach/tell their children what to do if the government ever comes for them? The whole lot of them deserves to die just for being stupid.

Have a listen if you have considered purchasing it – it might give you that extra push to purchase – it was however enough for me to realize that I wouldn’t like the story, there isn’t anything that could come after this excerpt to make me want to listen or read the entire book or series.