Review: The Gift

The Gift by James Patterson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I don't quite have words. I'm not quite sure I'm sure I know what was going on in this book. There was a lot of attacking and there was a lot of strange analogies and a lot of strange things happen. But in the end, what exactly was going on? I'm not quite sure. Rather than being a fast-paced read (which it sort of was) that I enjoyed like I had the first book, this one, I constantly found myself loathe to continue. And when I DID continue, I found myself eager to get to the end.

Because in the end, we get back to square one, with no new developments really, with a lot of the same stuff happening that happened in the first book. Of course, there's a whole new mysterious occurrence that bugs me, because it makes me curious. But, honestly, I think I could live without knowing right away what happens next in this somewhat saga.

And the humor that I had found funny from the first book -- a lot of it just seemed rather cheesy this time around. And a lot of happenings just seemed nonsensical.

The best thing about this book: it was a fast-paced read and slightly entertaining.



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Review: The Angel Experiment

The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I guess being a popularly loved book doesn't necessarily make it a fantastic read. I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy it, but to be totally honest, there were a LOT of points throughout that I found myself wanting to find something else to do. In fact, when I finally hit the halfway point, I began to look forward to the ending. And when I consistently checked my progress to see how much further I had until the I could stop reading this book, I realized that the first Maximum Ride book was just NOT capturing my attention at all.

Sure, it was a fast-paced and simple read. I kept at it because there was always that lingering feeling of, "Something seems like it's about to get exciting." But nothing ever really happened. The first 75% of the book focused a little too much on the kids running and escaping and getting chased and running away and fighting Erasers (or getting shoved around by them) and mostly... well, did I mention running away? Okay, so there was that first story arc wherein the youngest of the Flock gets kidnapped and we must go and rescue her -- but even with that, it seemed extremely bland. On top of that "rescue Angel" story arc, each of the rest of the kids kept going into their own little tangents for about two milliseconds and so we spent a lot more time travelling to rescue Angel than we should have. After that, it just kept getting less and less exciting (much less than it had even originally been).

When something finally started coming into focus for the central conflict (aside from running away and escaping) I had gotten a little excited. But then that excitement ebbed pretty quickly and I really just wanted to know when the book would end.

Honestly, the story line isn't a bad one and there is so much potential and future fun to be had with the rest of Maximum Ride and her adventures with the Flock. But somehow, as it had taken so long to even get the central conflict underway, with so much dragged out "running away" and "being beat up" and the like that I'm not sure I'm even really looking forward to the pacing of the second book. I'm curious to see where the rest of the story is headed. I was ecstatic about reading Maximum Ride because of the concept. But there's just too much filler material that could have been cut out completely and STILL the story would have taken off just fine.

I will wait out the next book, but much like for Witch and Wizard, I'm in no hurry to get there. In an uncalled for comparison, I actually found Witch and Wizard much more appealing than Maximum Ride. At the very least, the story progressed very quickly and the humor was a lot more well-received in the former. In Maximum Ride, these kids get to being sarcastic, but it's the type that just makes you roll your eyes rather than laugh out loud (unlike in Witch and Wizard where I found myself chortling and chuckling so many times).



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Review: Witch & Wizard

Witch & Wizard by James Patterson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



It's hard to say how I actually felt about this book, but to be totally honest, I would file it under the short, fun, sweet, and witty category. Basically, it's something that I thoroughly enjoyed reading, but not something that I would boast about to friends unless they also wanted something short and fun to amuse themselves with.

The only reason I started reading Witch and Wizard in the first place was because it came to me from the library's e-book waiting list alert. I had put myself on the waiting list for this book out of curiosity one day and had forgotten about it; then I got the email alert and decided to go ahead and check the book out for 21 days and hope to have it read within that time frame. Well, apparently 21 days was a lot more than I really needed to finish this particular book. I knew that I was going to be done by the time I hit 50% after four hours.

This book is written in a very simplistic fashion as a first person narrative through the eyes of two different narrators: fifteen year old Wisty and her eighteen year old Whit. Brother and sister chronicle their tale of how they came to be a witch and wizard in a suddenly changed society, taken over by some whack-job who calls himself "The One Who Is The One" (which amusingly reminds me of those strange names I come up with for role-playing games whenever I can't think of something cooler, so I settle with stuff like "That One Person" or "That Other Guy").

While I'm not a big fan of first person narration to begin with, there are certain instances where it works and I enjoy it just fine. In this book, I'd say that it was fine; HOWEVER, there were certain points where the flipping back and forth from Wisty and Whit almost got confusing. Pretty much there were times when I had to conscious remind myself who's POV I was reading from in each chapter, though since the chapters were short, those moments of confusion were short-lived and usually settled themselves pretty quickly when the name of the other sibling was mentioned.

The story line requires quite a bit of willingness for suspension of disbelief, especially since the groundwork of this newly formed dystopian world is still in the making. But I don't mind it too much since the readers are learning about the new screwed up world that seemed to practically fall in overnight at the same pace that Wisty and Whit are learning about it. The magic system is still a bit sketchy and the ending drifts on a cliff hanger, so it seems that it's a must that you start reading the second book when chance allows. Of course, somehow, the ending also seems to give you leeway for not needing to IMMEDIATELY seek out the second book. At least for me, I can wait it out for the next available e-book library copy on yet another waiting list.

While not the best written book ever, the book DOES accomplish what it sets off to do with enough wit and humor to make me giggle and laugh out loud. I enjoy following a set of characters with a great sense of the laughs and both Wisty and Whit have their own dry sarcasm and strange humor that I can totally relate with.

I will look forward to the next book, but I'm not going to trample anyone to get to it. It was really just a fun, light read (which reminded me of Japanese manga at times); so I can say that I really DID enjoy it.



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