Witch and Wizard by James Patterson

Audience: Young Adult

Genre: Distopian / Fantasy?

Worldcat Summary: 

A sister and brother, along with thousands of young people, have been kidnapped and either thrown in prison or turned up missing after accusations of witchcraft were made against them, and the ruling regime will do anything in order to suppress life and liberty, music and books.

Bookskoetter Rating: 1/5

Bookskoetter Review: 
I disliked this book so much that I couldn't even finish it.  I almost NEVER read a book without finishing it.  It's just part of my philosophy that I should give the author and the book a fair chance. However, I simply could not finish this book.  I disliked this book for the following reasons:

1. Bad beginning. Most books begin by laying a solid foundation for readers with background information and character development.  Only AFTER laying that foundation do they introduce conflict.  This story began with the conflict and attempted to randomly slip in the background information and character development.  The result was not positive.
2. Story not believable.  The author did not succeed in his attempt at encouraging a willing suspension of disbelief. I did not fall for the increasingly irritating and unbelievable fantasy-related events.
3. Horrible dialogue. It can be entertaining to read novels written in a casual manner. However, I felt that the dialogue in this book was just plain dumb.
4. Author in wrong genre. James Patterson is very popular in his usual genre - Adult murder mysteries.  I think that his attempt to write a distopian/fantasy novel for young adults was a mistake.  If an aspiring author submitted this book to a publisher, I don't think it would have been accepted.  However, this is James Patterson, who has published between 5-8 novels a year for the past few years.