Review: Half Bad
16:53
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:
My rating:
Hello! I'm D - a dog-loving feminist from the UK. You'll probably find me with my nose in a book or playing my clarinet
4 comments
Hmm, you make this sound pretty interesting. I spent a lot of time on Goodreads today looking for books to read after my "self-pub only summer", and although this one caught my eye I was hesitant. Maybe I'll add it to my to-read list after all.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I nominated you for the Liebster Award! Please check out my blog post to see what it's all about! :) http://allwritethen.blogspot.com/2015/04/liebster-award-nomination.html
You really should read it! I enjoyed it so much, but if you're not sure, I would say wait a while to read it, because Half Wild leaves on such a cliff-hanger, and the next book in the series is out in March!
DeleteAnd thank-you very much for the nomination! I'll check now :)
This caught my eye at a bookshop, too! I wasn't sure about the blurb, though. But there are so many great reviews that now I feel I really have to read it!
ReplyDeleteYou really should read it! I loved it so much, and loads of other people think this too :)
DeleteThanks for commenting! I read and respond to every comment, so make sure to check back to see my reply. Have a nice day! ☺♥