Witch and WizardBy: Conlan Beaux

Summary

Whit and Wisty Allgood are imprisoned and sentenced to be executed for their being

magic users, albeit unknowingly, by a new totalitarian government regime hell-bent on

controlling all aspects of society.

What is Going On? The New Order, also referred to as N.O., has managed to take over most of

the Overworld. The Overworld is the level of reality that the living occupy, in contrast to the underworld and the in-between area known as the Shadowland.

The leader of the New Order, dubbed “The One Who Is The One”, has taken over by winning every election and creating new laws.

Anyone who is thought to possess magical abilities is taken away, imprisoned, and likely executed.

Who’s the Hero? Wisteria “Wisty” Allgood

A fifteen year old witch with the power to burst into flame, along with several other various powers

Has a very rebellious kind of personality, but was rather a normal teenager before the start of the book.

Whitford “Whit” Allgood Wisty’s older brother and a wizard with various powers including

healing and conjuring, he is also known to be a star athlete The girl he was in love with was taken by the N.O. and since then he

has been struggling with depression, although not projecting these issues outwardly

In contrast to his sister he used his powers sparingly unless needed

Whit

Wisty

What Happens? Whit and Wisty are locked up in a prison that is “spell

proofed” where they begin to discover their powers. They are helped to escape from the prison by Whit’s

“missing” girlfriend, she died and is now what is known as a Half-light. She takes them through the shadowland, which is in-between the

over and underworld, and there they meet a boy named Sasha who takes them to a place uncontrolled by the New Order called Freeland.

They are told of a prophecy saying that they are to end the N.O., and from then they assist in a plan to free the other children from the prison they were originally locked up in. The mission is successful, ending with the prison being set on fire,

but they are then betrayed by a friend from Freeland.

What Happens Cont. The traitor, named Jonathan, sells Whit and Wisty out to the villains. Luckily Whit and Wisty are able to come out on top, only for the head of N.O.

to show up and relay the whole prophecy to Whit before taking his leave. In the epilogue the siblings find their way to where their house once stood,

now an empty lot. There their parents communicate with them through magical means.

The book ends with the two about to be hung, but Wisty states her confidence that they will make it out ok.

Reflection Much like The Giver; this book is part of a series. As such the overall conflict

is not resolved. However, from their actions in the first book the siblings have stated their intent to correct the wrongness done to society by the New Order.

In the end Wisty says something I find really interesting, as they are about to be hanged she talks about how people like “The One Who Is The One” get put in positions of power too often. A possible connection to this would be Hitler and his control over Nazi Germany,

and in many ways reflects the fear that we have of people like him coming into power again.

Reflection There are modern day countries where we can observe similar kinds of

totalitarian practices, such as North Korea, and I believe that this books message can be taken as a warning to not let society be controlled in this kind of manner.

The New Order in the book was also very threatened by certain traits, so they would “remove” these traits from society as a way to keep everything and everyone in check. This is why they would incarcerate and even execute anyone with magic. While we don’t have “magic” to worry about there is still a

huge stigma against many people for certain traits they possess; whether it be race, religion, or different ideologies.

The American Hero fights for the rights and freedoms of individuals, and I believe the heroes from this story to really fit that mold.

Conclusion From this story I believe that modern day society should learn to be careful of

who we chose to lead us. At many points throughout history we can see that there has been so much damage done by evil people in high positions.

We need to be smart about what's going on around us, and if the situation arises we need to be able to stop the problem before it consumes us.