4.5 stars

Review: Half Wild (Half Bad #2)

17:07

Half Wild
By Sally Green

 Source: Bought the physical copy
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, 

 Goodreads Synopsis:
In a modern-day England where two warring factions of witches live amongst humans, seventeen-year-old Nathan is an abomination, the illegitimate son of the world's most powerful and violent witch. Nathan is hunted from all sides: nowhere is safe and no one can be trusted. Now, Nathan has come into his own unique magical Gift, and he's on the run--but the Hunters are close behind, and they will stop at nothing until they have captured Nathan and destroyed his father.
This book was amazing! Sally Green is a really talented author, and this book definitely did not disappoint. I liked it equally as much as I liked Half Bad, but this one had some more varied moments (there were some bits that I liked more, but some that I enjoyed a less).


The beginning of this book was slow-moving. I didn’t feel invested, because everyone was going to find Annalise - and I really dislike Annalise. I really had to persevere because I just knew that there was going to be some amazing action scenes later on in the book (and I wasn’t disappointed!).
It was action-packed and very gory, which some people might not enjoy (though I certainly did!). I really liked how fast paced most of the book was - it kept me excited, and definitely wanting to read on. The chapters were the perfect length, and everything was just long enough to keep me interested.
All of the characters felt very real and complex. Seeing more of Nathan’s darker side was something I enjoyed too. I especially liked Gabriel (but you know that from my review of Half Bad!), but all of the characters were really original, just like the whole book. I enjoyed reading about all of them (except for Annalise), and they were all really interesting.


Another thing I enjoyed was seeing development of Nathan’s relationships with his father and Gabriel. We didn’t see much of Marcus in Half Bad, but he was in Half Wild much more. He and Nathan had a really unique relationship which was refreshing to see.
Gabriel was definitely my favourite part of this book. I liked seeing more of his relationship with Nathan in this book, and if they aren’t together in Half Lost I will actually cry. This book would have been even better for me if all of the Annalise scenes were with him instead!

This book was left on such a cliffhanger! I don’t know if I can wait for next March, it just seems so long away...! Overall it was a great fast paced story, and I would recommend it to fans of Red Queen (though Red Queen is nothing compared to this) or The Mortal Instruments.

My reaction to this book:

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4.5 stars

Review: Half Bad

16:53

Half Bad
By Sally Green

 Source: Personal purchase, paperback
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal

 Goodreads Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Nathan lives in a cage: beaten, shackled, trained to kill. In a modern-day England where two warring factions of witches live amongst humans, Nathan is an abomination, the illegitimate son of the world's most terrifying and violent witch, Marcus. Nathan's only hope for survival is to escape his captors, track down Marcus, and receive the three gifts that will bring him into his own magical powers—before it's too late. But how can Nathan find his father when there is no one safe to trust, not even family, not even the girl he loves?
I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did! I fell in love with the cover instantly at Waterstones (so much that I knew I had to get it), but I wasn’t really sure what it was about (one reason for this is that my copy doesn’t have a blurb!), apart from it was about witches, but I heard great things from it, so I just thought why not? Half Bad turned out to be an amazing book, which I enjoyed immensely.


The style of writing really gripped me. I wanted to read more, and most of this is probably down to the writing - it was so unique, and made the story stand out from all the others at the moment. It was really well paced too. At times it was a little slow, but it soon picked up, and the slow bits were always followed by a really exciting action scene.


Probably the thing I enjoyed most about this book was the plot. It was so original, which meant I had no idea what was going to happen. There was lots of gruesome moments, but I quite like things like that, so it made me enjoy the book even more.


Another thing that made me love this book was the characters. They were so well developed, so felt even more real, and all had depth, meaning they were interesting to read about. Gabriel was definitely my favourite character (Team Gabriel forever!) - he was such a kind person, yet he really made me smile. He had much more to him than you could first see, so as he and Nathan got to know each other, my love for him grew.


I especially enjoyed the romance (or lack of). It also didn’t distract from the main storyline which I thought was good. I didn’t like Annalise, but there weren’t many scenes with her in, so I could tolerate her presence. But the thing I did like was Gabriel. He is just so cute, and he and Nathan together are just the cutest! I actually ship them so much, they just need to get together in the rest of the series...
All the characters in this book were really well developed, but Nathan stood out for me. I loved his dark side, and he was really interesting to read about as well. He didn’t moan at all - which I was really thankful for - and didn’t make stupid decisions, like lots of protagonists do nowadays.

Overall, I enjoyed this book lots. It had everything I enjoy - action, gore, a stunning cover, humour and a touch of romance. I would recommend it to fans of The Mortal Instruments or Red Queen.

 My reaction:

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