Review: Half Wild by Sally Green

* This review may contain spoilers for the previous book, Half Bad.

Half Wild (Half Life Trilogy #2)
By Sally Green
Publisher: Viking
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased

To Sum It Up: Nathan may be on the run from the Hunters who want to kill him, but there’s a life that he values more than his own. He’ll do anything, even risk death at the hands of the hated, merciless Hunters, to wake Annalise, one of the few people to touch his heart, from the deep sleep that only another witch with highly dubious motives can release her from. Nathan himself must warily join forces with some rather suspect “allies” in order to even have a chance of saving Annalise, and their assistance comes in exchange for playing a key role in furthering an agenda that will impact all witches, both Black and White, across Europe.

Review: Half Bad turned out to be a neat surprise when I read it last year. At first the narrative style, which often has a stream of consciousness feel to it, made me a little hesitant, but my doubts were quickly squashed by the utterly compelling story of Nathan, a witch persecuted for most of his life by the Council of White Witches for being a Half Code, the son of a White Witch and England’s most dangerous Black Witch. Half Wild finds Nathan now in possession of his Gift, the special ability that every witch has and which varies from witch to witch. Nathan’s Gift, which is the same as that of his notorious father, Marcus, is powerful and a struggle for him to control; he has zero memory of turning into an animal, and a predatory one at that because sometimes he wakes up covered in blood.

Quite a bit of blood gets spilled in Half Wild, as the Council of White Witches steps up its efforts to eradicate Black Witches as well as punish any of its own who are not 100% loyal to the Council. The developing resistance movement recruits Nathan to join against an organization that he’d love to pulverize, but it’s an uneasy allegiance, with mistrust lingering on both sides. I’m not always into the political aspects of a novel, but this particular plotline, coupled with a ton of action, is potent.

I think my favorite thing about this series so far is the complexity of Nathan’s character. He knows he’s far from being a hero, and he’s not trying to be one, either. And that’s what I find truly appealing about his character—that there’s so much gray to it. I love that his narration consists of his unfiltered thoughts and that he often doesn’t have a filter when interacting with other characters. Nathan’s slightly unconventional narrative voice may not hit the right note with everyone, but for me, it’s made both books in this series extremely difficult to put down. I wasn’t sure if Half Wild would match the excellent pacing of Half Bad, but it absolutely does.

I loved Nathan’s friend Gabriel in Half Bad, and I love him even more after reading Half Wild. His devotion to Nathan is completely unwavering; even when Nathan fails to appreciate this fact, Gabriel is still there, still ready to do anything to help him. Of the new characters introduced in Half Wild, I took an immediate liking to Nesbitt, a witch whose snark rivals Nathan’s. Nesbitt takes great joy in winding Nathan up, and their verbal volleys provide some welcome comic relief.

Overall, Half Wild delivers all of the progression a reader could ask for from a sequel. I even about almost started crying at one point because a particular scene was so perfectly written. I’m glad that Ally urged me to pick this up because I hadn’t realized how much I missed the series until I stepped inside Nathan’s world once again.

All in All: No sequel disappointment here—at. All. This is an awesome series if the narrative style is a fit for you. It was for me in Half Bad and continues to be very much so in Half Wild.

Review: Half Bad by Sally Green

Half Bad (Half Life Trilogy #1)
By Sally Green
Publisher: Viking
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased

To Sum It Up: For his whole life, Nathan Byrn has faced increasing persecution from the Council of White Witches, ultimately leading to his imprisonment in a cage. Nathan is a Half Code, the son of a White Witch and a notorious Black Witch. Nathan’s prospects for escape are bleak, as the Council has taken every precaution imaginable to maintain its grip on the only possible leverage it may have against Nathan’s father, whom the Council is determined to kill.

Review: Half Bad is not your run-of-the-mill witch book, not when the protagonist starts off the story by recounting how he wound up shackled inside a cage. It’s a story that I quickly became engrossed in and read in every spare moment I could find because the need to know what happened next was so strong. This is not a joke: my head nearly slumped forward onto the book a few nights as I attempted to fight off sleep in order to read a few more pages (I failed, by the way).

The tone of Half Bad is quite dark. Our MC Nathan has been treated with horrible cruelty by the Council of White Witches, which claims to protect its own from the evil committed by Black Witches. Nathan’s late mother was a White Witch, but his father, Marcus, is the most dangerous and vile Black Witch, at least according to the Council. What the Council subjects Nathan to, and this is even before his imprisonment, is abhorrent. Nathan’s maternal grandmother, half-brother Arran, and half-sister Deborah care about him and do their best to protect him, but the Council is ruthless at pursuing its objectives. Nathan is a pawn, a means to a much bigger target, and totally expendable once he’s no longer useful to the Council.

Nathan is a fascinating character. With the nonstop misery he’s experienced throughout his life courtesy of the Council, it’s no wonder he’s an angry, bitter young man. There’s also a part of him, though, that actively seeks trouble and keeps his smartass mouth running when he should have shut it a while ago. Then again, you can’t help but wonder how much of his character has been shaped by his circumstances and how much, if any, is a consequence of being his father’s son. Nathan cuts an intriguing figure, one who also wants to keep the Council and its lethal Hunters away from his family and who feels a genuine affection for his half-brother, Arran. Arran doesn’t see Nathan as a Half Code (the Council’s designation for a witch with only one White Witch for a parent) or a half-brother. Nathan is just his brother, and the relationship between the two is very touching.

The novel’s writing style is a little different from the norm, as well as a little difficult to describe. The book opens in the second person, as though you, the reader, are in Nathan’s shoes. This doesn’t go on long, however, and then the book settles into Nathan’s first person point-of-view for good. His narration has a bit of a blunt feel to it, in that he’s a to-the-point kind of guy and doesn’t launch into a song and a dance with his descriptions. This works very well for the book and gives it a brisk pace that spurs you on reading.

With its complex protagonist, quirky minor characters, and fresh take on witches, I enjoyed Half Bad a lot. The sequel is a must-buy for me, and I can’t wait to have it in my greedy hands.

All in All: A very strong start to a promising new series. I’m extremely eager to see where the story heads next.