Customer Reviews

Adventures of Willy the Wizard: Livid Land No. 1

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Haven't read the whole book, and at $95 am unlikely to, but I have read all the online excerpts and the full text of the Harry Potter lawsuit. I see no resemblance other than a character solves a puzzle in the bathtub. Archimedes, anyone?

I'm betting all the alleged plagiarisms turn out to be common story elements. There certainly isn't any comparison in the plots or characters.

Just for fun I did a web search on underwater rescues and found a 1960 Tom Swift book in which Tom invents artificial gills and competes against the Bungarians. Harry, of course, gets artificial gills and competes against a Bulgarian.

I'll tell you up front I've not read this book. I wanted to, but then found that only seven libraries worldwide own this book. SEVEN! That's insane. A quality children's book will be owned by far more libraries than that.

So I searched and found the website by this author's estate. Please look for it. They have "extracts" of the book for you to read. Please read them and form your own opinion.

To me, they read like a bad English translation of a foreign work. The writing on the website itself is pretty bad too. This is simply not a well written work.

This tiny book is under 40 pgs long. The story can be read while waiting for a pot of water to boil. It is definitely a young children's book about young wizard with your typical plots and themes.

It will probably best be remembered as the story JK Rowling allegedly plagiarized for her Harry Potter novels (specifically Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire).

Why buy this book? Absolutley no reason to buy a book from someone claiming a lawsuit against another who has done well by her own right. This book has nothing to do with Harry Potter.

So save your money.

Before you scold me... I've never rated a book I didn't read. But, since this book is down to 2 stars by several reviewers who didn't read the book, I'm not feeling terribly guilty. If you can, read the ~A~ UK site reviewer comments for this book. The person who reviewed the book actually read it, rated it 5 stars, and said it resembles the Potter books - that reviewer's book was signed by the author, who died in 1998; though the review was posted in 2004.