Joined: Mar 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 1,172 Location: Canada
Review: Leo Rising « Thread Started on Mar 30, 2009, 1:54pm »
BOOK: Leo Rising
AUTHOR: Paul Ruditis
NOTE: This review may contain plot spoilers.
For some time now, there has been an online campaign to get a Charmed Sons spin-off going. This spin-off would feature the adventures of Wyatt and Chris Halliwell (played by Wes Ramsey and Drew Fuller), the sons of Piper and Leo. While it remains a question as to whether that spin-off will ever materialize, fans can get a glimpse of what it might be like, thanks to this excellent book.
As the story opens, we find that Leo is having a hard time adjusting to being an ordinary human (this story is set after his fall from grace in Season Seven). He feels useless and in the way. When Demons attack, Piper is forever sending him on errands, or banishing him to Magic School. Leo loves his family, and wants to help out. The trouble is that now he really doesn't know how to.
When the Charmed Ones vanish, kidnapped by Demons, Leo at first doesn't know what to do. He tries to call for the Elders, but they ignore him (my opinion of the Elders, already very low, went even further down after this). Since it is a magical matter, Daryl really can't do anything. Finally, Leo does come up with an idea, he summons his grown sons, Wyatt and Chris, back from the future, hoping they can help him track down the missing Piper, Phoebe, and Paige.
As for the three girls, they have been kidnapped by a Demon scientist named Dr. Gnivik (and no, the G is not silent). Gnivik plans to experiment on the Charmed Ones, and hopes to create a vaccine that would permanently strip the Charmed Ones of their powers. This, of course, would leave them defenseless and wide open to Demon attacks.
With time running out, Leo, Wyatt, and Chris begin their plans to rescue their family. Can the guys succeed, before Gnivik completes his sinister plan?
In my honest opinion, this is one of the best books to come along in the Charmed series. The Charmed sons are very well written, and I could hear Wes Ramsey (Wyatt) and Drew Fuller (Chris) saying the lines. Also, Leo himself is more or less the star of this book. He has been somewhat overlooked in the most recent books, but this one makes up for it. It clearly shows that Leo is more than capable of carrying a story.
If you like continuity in Charmed, and I do, then this book is a must have. It actually mentions when it is set by referring to the last time grown up Wyatt visited. This places this story between that episode (Imaginary Friends) and the start of the final battle with the Demon, Zankou (Death Becomes Them and Something Wicca This Way Goes).
Speaking of Zankou, he himself appears in this story. He doesn't have a big part, but I did enjoy seeing him. He really was a great Demon, one of the best villains on Charmed in ages, and I was glad to see this story utilizing him.
There is another character in this story, a young witch from Magic School named Nisha Maksoud. She helps Leo out before he calls his sons back from the future, and she has some good scenes throughout the book. I really enjoyed this character, and wouldn't mind seeing her again. The name the author gave her made me smile, because I knew a girl named Nisha in high school (if you're reading this review, then hello Nisha).
Some other points:
- this books is peppered with references to events that have not yet occurred to the Halliwell sisters. Of course, Wyatt and Chris can't say too much, but they do sneak them in every now and again. For example, when the guys first appear in the present, Wyatt states: "We can't leave Mel..." Chris cuts him off at that point. This is no doubt a reference to Melinda, Wyatt and Chris's little sister, that was glimpsed at the end of the final episode of the show.
- Daryl Morris has some good scenes in this book. Like Leo, he has been greatly neglected as of late, and it was nice to see him get some good parts again.
- this book also addresses something that bothered me late in Season Seven. How did the human Leo (as well as Piper and Phoebe) get to and from Magic School when Paige wasn't there to orb them. This book explains that the Charmed Ones installed a magic portal somewhere on the second floor of the Manor, that let Leo get to Magic School (which would be very handy, considering he was running it at that point).
- Gnivik is a strange Demon. In many ways, he seems more like one of the villains from the old Batman show of the 1960's, rather than a Charmed villain. His lair is full of security cameras and laboratories, rather unusual for a Demon.
- there is a blooper, no doubt made when the book was published. Pages 130, 131, and 132 are out of sequence! To make sense of them, read 131 after 129, then read 130, and finally, read 132. Hopefully, this will be corrected in future printings of the book. However, it shouldn't take much away from enjoying the story. It didn't for me.
Summing up, this book was a wonderful read. I think Charmed fans will greatly enjoy it. I give it a 10/10.
Joined: Mar 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 1,128 Location: Germany
Re: Review: Leo Rising « Reply #1 on Apr 11, 2009, 6:10am »
Oh yes!!
Got it and read it!! Was wonderful to read and certainly a good Leo story as he's concerned about his wife and in-laws as well as his sons who already at this young age seem to understand what's going on around them. This Dr. Gnivik is really weird and you forgot, Tim, he works for Zankou who was the best formidable enemy for the CO. After Cole, of course. LOL
As for the strange sides: I've got one, but at first I certainly didn't notice that fact. Thanks for reminding me, Tim!! Overreading it now, it does make the sense the way you described it!!
What I was and still am looking for is a book where future Chris was mentioned, too. Otherwise this book wouldn't exist, right?
Sometimes when you're Charmed, it means your name is Halliwell Sometimes when you're a son, your mom is one of the powerful Charmed Ones and your dad has been a whitelighter, Elder, and Avatar Sometimes when you're a brother, your brother's birth was prophesied to be twice blessed and you were just born Sometimes when you're Christopher Perry Halliwell, the shoes you have to fill...are your own
Re: Review: Leo Rising « Reply #3 on Oct 25, 2009, 7:58pm »
I got the book and i thought it was amazing! I love how the author made Chris powerful (like the scene with the lightening bolts). The only thing I didn't like was Melinda. I don't think that Wyatt and Chris have a little sister. I just don't like the idea and if a spin-off is ever made I don't want her to be on it. Besides for the mention of Melinda, this was a really good book!!!
Re: Review: Leo Rising « Reply #4 on Dec 3, 2009, 10:11pm »
So I haven't read this yet, but I do plan on it. I don't remember any references in the show about the boys having a sister in the future. I know Piper had a little girl when she went to the future that one time, but that was all changed. I just don't remember anything in the last episode about the boys possibly having a sister. At the end it showed the boys working together on a potion, but no sister. I just can't picture them with a sister.
Well aside from that I can't wait to read the book. It sounds like a good one. I don't even know when this book was written or when this review was posted, so I am sure my comments here are way too late. I found this book on Amazon a few days ago and decided I wanted to read it, so anywho...thanks for the great review.
Re: Review: Leo Rising « Reply #6 on Dec 14, 2009, 7:02pm »
When Leo looks into the potion right after he says the spell to bring the boys to the future, he gets a glimpse of what is going on: Wyatt and Chris fighting a couple of demons with a girl. Leo thinks that the girl moved like Piper, so I assumed it was supposed to be their little sister. I don't think they should have a little sister, though.
Re: Review: Leo Rising « Reply #7 on Dec 14, 2009, 7:03pm »
When Leo looks into the potion right after he says the spell to bring the boys to the future, he gets a glimpse of what is going on: Wyatt and Chris fighting a couple of demons with a girl. Leo thinks that the girl moved like Piper, so I assumed it was supposed to be their little sister. I don't think they should have a little sister, though.
I don't remember any references in the show about the boys having a sister in the future. I know Piper had a little girl when she went to the future that one time, but that was all changed. I just don't remember anything in the last episode about the boys possibly having a sister. At the end it showed the boys working together on a potion, but no sister. I just can't picture them with a sister.
I agree with you about it not being right about Wyatt and Chris having a little sister. In the last episode, there is a sense where Piper gives out lunch boxes to three children: two boys (Wyatt and Chris) and a girl. No one knows who the girl is, though.There is the possibility that this girl is their little sister, but Piper makes no mention of having another child in her monologue, which you think she would talk about.
Check out the thread i started "Melinda: Wyatt and Chris' Little Sister" on the Board about the Spinoff. I have a list of my reasons for there not being a little sister.
Sometimes when you're Charmed, it means your name is Halliwell Sometimes when you're a son, your mom is one of the powerful Charmed Ones and your dad has been a whitelighter, Elder, and Avatar Sometimes when you're a brother, your brother's birth was prophesied to be twice blessed and you were just born Sometimes when you're Christopher Perry Halliwell, the shoes you have to fill...are your own
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