Book Review (321): Half Bad (Half Life Trilogy #1) - Sally Green

Half Bad (Half Life Trilogy #1)

by Sally Green

Publication: 3rd March 2014

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 400

Genre: Paranormal

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

Half Bad by Sally Green is a breathtaking debut novel about one boy's struggle for survival in a hidden society of witches.

You can't read, can't write, but you heal fast, even for a witch.

You get sick if you stay indoors after dark.

You hate White Witches but love Annalise, who is one.

You've been kept in a cage since you were fourteen.

All you've got to do is escape and find Mercury, the Black Witch who eats boys. And do that before your seventeenth birthday.

Easy.

My Thoughts.

I've heard nothing but great things about this book, the hype has been very well deserved, this book was amazing, and I can almost certainly say a shoe-in for book of the year!

I've read so many witch books over the years, but there's something about Sally's writing that makes this one stand head and shoulders above the rest.

Told from the perspective of our male lead Nathan (not very common to have a male lead in YA, but very welcome all the same), we follow him as he grows up edging ever closer to his seventeenth birthday, where he will receive his powers and become a fully fledged witch, and to eventually, hopefully seek out and find his Father.

You see Nathan is no ordinary witch, he is also the son of a white witch Mother (good witch) and a black witch Father (bad witch), but not only is he an outcast and shunned for being a half caste, from mostly everybody for being the only half blood, but he also has the distinction of being the son of the evilest witch around in his Dad.

Showing no signs of succumbing to his evil side, doesn't stop anybody from treating him as if he had even his older sister.

With no friends to speak of, except for his older brother, he's lonely, never expecting any bit of kindness from anyone, so it's a shock when after starting high school a girl named Annaliese starts paying him attention, but unfortunately for Nathan he will end up bearing the brunt of her brothers anger once they discover their friendship.

The Council (who oversee all witches) decide that Nathan's Grandmother is no longer responsible  enough to be his guardian after she defy's the Councils orders by not informing them of Nathan's constant trips to Wales to get away from it all, this all leads to him being caged being let out only to exercise and do chores.

Nathan must find a way to escape, to find his father by his seventeenth birthday to receive his gifts to officially become a witch otherwise he will die.

I really enjoyed the world-building that happened in this book, I look forward to continuing on with this series and to see what happens next with Nathan, and to see what power he has received now that he's a fully fledged witch.

One of my favourites of the year, highly recommended.

I give this 5/5 stars.

Hi - I'm Sally Green, author of Half Bad. It's my first book - and the first in a series of three, to be published by Penguin in March 2014.

I've had a whirlwind 2013, submitting Half Bad to an agent in January (and getting an agent - the wonderful Claire) and then agreeing a deal with Puffin (UK) and Viking (USA) in March. In April I agreed a film deal with Fox 2000 with Karen Rosenfelt as producer (google her!). Since then Half Bad has been sold to more countries, and I've been busy editing Half Bad and have started work on the second book of the trilogy. 

I live in north-west England. I love to read, walk in the country and would like to drink less coffee (but I know it's impossible - I'm an addict)!

My online world will be based at www.halfbadworld.com from November 2013 onwards, but until then, you can find me and Half Bad on Wattpad.

Follow me on twitter@sa11eGreen