Here is a very typical teen dystopia novel by a very popular author. In this book a brother and sister, age 17 and 15 are dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and thrown into prison. A new government has taken over and Whit and Wisty have been accused of being a wizard and a witch. As it turns out, they really do have magical powers. Their parents are captured at the same time, and they spend the rest of the book looking for them. There are things I like about the book. There are some funny references to pop culture. They take familiar names and twist them a little. So Woodstock becomes Stockwood. I also like that the teens have really good relationships with their parents. Still, this is really B level fantasy. The writing is melodramatic and the magic system is undefined. The kid's magic works in amazing ways when it needs to for the plot, and then at other times, it doesn't work at all, when the plot demands. There is no rhyme or reason to it. I kept rolling my eyes while I read it, but I also know the exact type of teen who would totally eat it up. As Ranganathan says, "Every book its reader, Every reader his/her book". Caveat, this first book is not terribly dark, but they get darker as the series goes on. (314 P)
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