Waiting on Wednesday: Witch & Wizard: The Gift by James Patterson & Ned Rust

 Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by

Breaking the Spine.

My first and second WoW posts were about my guilty pleasure choices (mostly mass market paperbacks with romantic and/or paranormal themes). I'm proud to finally introduce my first Young Adult (YA) WoW post!

Shop Indie BookstoresWitch & Wizard: The Gift
by James Patterson & Ned Rust
9780316036252, $17.99, Little, Brown (Hachette), Pub. Date: December 13, 2010

This book is the sequel to Witch & Wizard published last year, co-authored by James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet. He (James Patterson) has started doing this co-authorship thing; I'm inclined to be somewhat skeptical, but I don't know much about the process, so I'm hesitant to give an uninformed opinion.

For instance, I really enjoyed book 1 in this series. Will I enjoy book 2 as much with a different co-author? Will the voices remain the same? Will the tone of the book remain the same? Will I be able to tell the difference? While I admire, to an extent, what I presume to be one of the inspirations for co-authorship - lesser-known authors gaining greater recognition within the industry by having their name attached to the big J.P. - I'm curious to know who does the bulk of the writing. Do they write chapters back and forth? Do they discuss plot and characterization together? Or does J.P. come up with an idea, the co-author writes it, and J.P. edits it before it gets published? How does it all work, really?

Either way, I'm looking forward to book 2. Here's the synopsis:

When Whit & Wisty were imprisoned by the wicked forces of the totalitarian regime known as the New Order, they were barely able to escape with their lives. Now part of a hidden community of teens like themselves, Whit and Wisty have established themselves as leaders of the Resistance, willing to sacrifice anything to save kids kidnapped and brutally imprisoned by the New Order.

But the One has other plans in store for them: He needs Wisty, for she is "The One Who Has the Gift." While trying to figure out what that means, Whit and Wisty's suspenseful adventures through Overworld and Shadowland lead to a jaw-dropping climax and conclusion: the highly-anticipated fulfillment of the heart-pounding opening prologue of book one... The Execution of the Allgoods.