The Fire

December 15, 2011
Grades 6-9 The first two entries in the series, Witch & Wizard (2009) and The Gift (2010), were slapdash, hackneyed affairs involving hastily thrown-together characters and a generically totalitarian future government headed by the evil The One. Thankfully, this apparent conclusion benefits from having to tie together the various threads, resulting in a tighter, more coherent story line. With the teen Resistance in tatters, magical siblings Whit and Wisty are forced to split up to achieve two seemingly impossible goals: save their maybe-not-dead-after-all parents from the Shadowland and destroy The One once and for all. Though the duo's endless array of powers (healing, creating food, morphing bodies, reading minds, shooting flame, freezing people in place) drains most of the tension from otherwise decently constructed action scenes, Patterson's trademark short chapters at least keep things swift. Meanwhile, the series hits its highest point of interest when it finally gives a glimpse into the childhood of The One. A better-than-expected ending to a by-the-numbers trilogy. We can hope it's a trilogy, anyway. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Patterson, one of the best-selling authors of all time, is review-proof. The first two volumes set the tone: heavy advertising, graphic-novel supplementation, best-seller lists. Expect the same.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2012
Siblings Whit and Wisty complete their struggle against the oppressive regime that has taken power. Perspective switches back and forth between the siblings as the story progresses, allowing us to see events from both viewpoints. This sometimes meandering dark tale does not shy away from death and destruction as the heroes struggle to harness their powers without destroying themselves in the process.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)