Half Bad by Sally Green (Review)

 

Series: Half Bad #1
Genre: Fantasy, paranormal
Book Length: 394 pages
Publication Date: March 4th, 2014
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Format: Hardcover

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Synopsis:

 Wanted by no one.
Hunted by everyone.

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?

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 If you have been with me for a long while, like for at least a year, you know that I tried to read this book when it came out almost a year ago. But it didn't happen. I started reading it, but it was just the wrong time for me to read it. Now, about a year after it's release, I finally tackled this book and read it. So, here are my thoughts:

First off, I want to discuss the writing. It was unique, especially for the author's debut book. It was mostly from Nathan's POV, in first person, but in the first part and at the very beginning of part three it was in second person, which was a little weird but I did enjoy it. However, I wished it would stay consistent in each part. Like, in Part 3, it literally only lasted two chapters before it switched back to first.

And speaking of the chapters and the pacing of this book, I absolutely loved Part 1, I loved how it feel a little mysterious with what was going on. Part 2, it was slow with the world building of the story, but I didn't hate it at all. Part 3 and 4 did slow down a little bit, but I was still engaged enough. With Part 5, even though it was short, I absolutely hated it; I thought that nothing happened at all and there could have been some excitement, but we didn't get that. In the beginning of Part 6 it was slow in the beginning, and I kind of felt like the climax/ending went by a little too quickly and seemed a little convenient in a way. Overall, I thought that this book was slow, but progressed too fast in the beginning and end.

I loved learning about the witches and their abilities and the white and black witches. I also loved the fact that, without question, the white witches were declared as good even though they are just as bad as the black ones from what we see in this first book.

Lastly, I want to discuss Nathan. I liked him for the most part. However, I thought that it was really annoying (especially later on in the book) where he firmly believed in what he thought and nothing else. Like, he keeps on believing his dad will take him away if he visits him,  and he also doesn't believe that he is a truly evil man when he is the most wanted black witch.

In the end, I would give Half Bad by Sally Green a 4/5 stars, maybe a 3.75. I enjoyed reading this book despite its flaws. Once I got into it, I just flew through it and, for the most part, didn't want to put it down. It was slow throughout the majority of the book, despite the beginning and end being a little too quick. I will definitely be picking up the sequel, Half Wild, later on this year.