Half Bad

I received this book courtesy of Goodreads Giveaway. This does not influence my opinion of this book in any way.

Could not finish: 61%

Look, when I received this novel, I was excited to start it. I liked the dark tones and some of the ideas. In fact, I thought this book might not be half bad (c'mon, you wouldn't expect me to pass up an opportunity like that, could you?) However, as the story went on, I discovered that major elements of storytelling were brushed aside for a character that had some dimension, but that was surrounded by underdeveloped ideas and characters in favor for a fast paced plot.

First, let's start with the good. This is a story of a boy and a community's bad judgement. Nathan is a boy whose father is a black (re evil) witch, and his mother is a white (re good) witch. Everyone in the community expects him to turn evil and hurt people, which he ends up doing because of his anger at everyone's pre-judgement of him. This is perfect story that can work for almost everyone, and can spark an excellent debate of nature vs nurture. I also like how some of the main characters are more than just two dimensional cutouts, with some (like Celia, Nathan's caretaker/mentor/prison guard) being quite deep in their relationship to Nathan. I also liked the fast pace of the story. The action was also written well.

Sadly, everything else takes a back seat. Firstly, let's discuss the world building. This novel is set in a contemporary version of England where Witches (both good and evil) live right beside the normal humans. Unlike in something like say Harry Potter, we get not idea as to what this means. Do they live together but separate, like in HP with their own systems of government, and keep the humans unaware of their presence? Do humans and witches interact with each other on a daily basis and everyone knows what magic is? Why are White witches good, and dark witches evil? How did this come to pass? What, specifically, is the difference between a white and black which, other than behavior? None of these ideas are answered.

The same goes for the magic system. I have no idea of how it works or what it means for each person. I have some idea that each witch receives a specific gift, but I do not know how this manifests, nor what its constructs are. All I know is that Nathan's sister can change into anyone else, Nathan's Grandmother can make potions well, and Celia can make a incapacitating brain noise because...reasons. Also, while all witches can heal themselves, Nathan's is particularly advanced because...reasons. AND Nathan's father, a major baddy of the story can steal other witches powers because...you get the idea. The rules governing magic is hardly explored here and is never defined by anyone.

Then there is the basic plot. Nathan is emotionally and physically abused by the White Council (the white witch's government) because he is expected of becoming a black witch just like his father. Then, he is taken and captured by Hunters (people who work for the white council to kill black witches) and used to train and get him in shape so that he will become powerful enough to kill his father, who has supposedly become a mass murder. This plot is so stupid on so many levels. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of how a government can become as evil as the people they are trying to fight, but it isn't handled well here. Whereas in other books, like HP, it is done subtly enough, here is has all the subtlety of an anvil being pounded into your skull. Also, another thing, what in any way makes the white council think that capturing Nathan and treating him horribly will make him want to help them? Also, why should he be as powerful as his father? What would make him have the same powers as his father, like is routinely suggested? By the time I decided to stop reading, I didn't know, and didn't care.

This story had a good idea, but it just wasn't explored enough. I think if you are a teenage boy, you might like this, as things are written well enough that it should be entertaining, but for me, I have to give this a two out of five.

Picked this up because a book about witches from a male POV is a rare find and relevant to my interests. It does have a lot of Harry Potter parallels as mentioned in many reviews but it's unique enough that you can easily forget about that and is less similar the farther you read.
In this world, there are white and black witches with a lot of violence between them with the whites being the governing side and blacks mostly being independent and solitary. Upon turning 17, both types are bestowed 3 gifts and blood from a relative in order for their specific gift to appear, though they exhibit certain magical abilities before that (namely faster healing). The main character is half black and half white and is heavily discriminated against because of it to the point of outright abuse. As his 17th birthday approaches, he is ripped from his grandmother and half siblings, experimented upon by whites, isolated from society - but eventually is able to escape and goes to seek out one that can give him his gifts for fear that he'll slowly die without the ritual completed. There are a lot of different rules the witches have to live by both governed by The Whites and by magic itself (example: Nathan can't sleep inside without weird headaches because of his Black heritage and can also sense/feel electronic pulses from cell phones and TVs for some reason).
The biggest issue I had with the book is that it switches between 1st to 2nd person POV between chapters though it's all from Nathan's POV. Also some of the rules mentioned above don't make a lot of sense. In this world, being born into magic seems like an awful violence-filled short life.

I loved every page of this. And the ending—SO PERFECT. Cannot wait to read the next book.

REVIEW:

Okay, so I'll start by saying I haven't read a book about witches that I really loved since Harry Potter. Not that there aren't any out there (there are), but one hadn't really caught my interest until Half Bad.

Well. I was on the fifth page when I realized this was very likely going to be a new favorite. And I was right.

First and foremost: THE VOICE. If you're a YA writer looking for a great example of powerful, immediate, raw voice, pick up this book immediately. Nathan's voice is so real and intense and I honestly could not have loved it any more.

Secondly: the second-person POV. There are indeed sections of second person POV, including the opening, which I was pretty surprised to read. But holy wow, it worked so well! Ms. Green broke the rules on this one, and it really really worked.

Now the characters and the plot. Half Bad has you question right from the start who the good and bad guys are. There isn't a clear-cut this person is good, this person is bad element, which I absolutely adore because gray characters, to me, are so much more realistic and interesting than morally 100% good/evil characters.

What made all of these even better was the pacing—even in the flashback sections that show us how Nathan ends up caged—are full of tension and conflict and events that had me racing through the book to find out what happens.

Overall, I absolutely loved Half Bad. It's now one of my favorites and I can't read to get my hands on the sequel, Half Wild. If you like dark, intense YA Fantasy, I couldn't recommend this one any more.

This was actually such a fun read. I know this will give him a big head but I have to say I am so glad that Wylan pushed me to pick this up.

Half Bad was such an addicting read. I found that once I began the very first chapter I struggled to put it down again. I instantly fell in love with the world-building.

I've seen a few people attempt to compare Half Bad to other books and I want to say that I don't think it's possible. I don't think there's any book or series quite like this.

This is me remaining quite cryptic when I give a review because I refuse to give any spoilers. Let's just say that the minute I started to get the feeling of the book, I was obsessed.

Half Bad is the perfect first book to a series and I can't wait to continue to emerge myself in this magical, brutal and fantastic world.

I suppose it's a good sign when the book ends and I can't believe I don't have anymore pages to turn! The story is left with a nice big cliffhanger, in fact right in the middle of a battle. Aside from the abrupt end I was captivated by this book and am looking forward to the next. The storyline dealt with the theme of mistreating people who are different. Nathan is a half black witch, half white witch and no one can see the white side. He is simply part black witch and assumed to be evil. He has a few people that see behind the labels that have been thrown at him, but too few to actually let him live his life free of torment. Nathan was a character I wanted to see progress, I wanted to see him become stronger and prove everyone wrong. The plot was a little disjointed, skipping around at first until the author finally decided to stick with a linear flow. It wasn't hard to follow though, as Sally Green labeled the points in time she was going to talk about; I think if it had been written any other way it wouldn't have been as interesting. Green made sure to lay out the events in a way that built my sympathy for Nathan and allowed the reader to begin connecting with him. Let's face it, who hasn't been bullied in their life? My heart broke for Nathan as the punishments grew worse and no one bothered to listen to him. In a way I hope he strikes back at those who hurt him in the next novel, even though it means Nathan will become a different person.

This is one of those books where I read this all in one day because I couldn't put it down, but now I'm like, “Was it even good?” I DON'T KNOW I just had to find out what happened, so that's something, anyway? It's...I don't know? A great start to a trilogy (I checked out the other 2 but haven't started them yet), an interesting magical world...not totally fleshed out but it is the series starter after all, so I'll see where it goes. It's got kind of a hurt/comfort fanfiction vibe to it, which I'm not at all opposed to.

Seri ini memberikan cerita yg agak berbeda tentang para penyihir. Ada 2 jenis penyihir, penyihir putih & penyihir hitam. Sesuai namanya penyihir putih merasa jadi pihak yg baik sedang pihak yg jahat itu penyihir hitam. Ada pula namanya blasteran (anak penyihir & bukan penyihir/faint) dan bastar (anak penyihir putih & penyihir hitam.
Nathan adlh bastar, seumur hidupnya orang2 mengasumsikan dia hitam karena separuh hitam & kebetulan ayahnya adlh penyihir hitam paling kejam saat itu. Berkali2 mendapat perlakuan tdk adil karena asumsi itu hingga membuat dia hidup di kerangkeng. Dia pernah mendapat petunjuk untuk mencari penyihir bernama Mercury spy dia bisa mendapatkan anugrah di ulang tahunnya ke 17.
Sebenarnya bagus sih, namun sayang ada sempilan konten LGBT sedikit.

Ah, Half Bad.

This really was a good book. I liked many aspects of it, and the sequel should be arriving any day now (maybe even today!). I suppose I'll start off with the bad, just to get it over with.

Overall, the pace was a bit slow. It was very exciting at the beginning and the end, but then it slowed down for a bit. I didn't get bored, however.

Now for the good...

The characters were executed brilliantly. Each had their own personality and were well distinguished. The main character wasn't 2-dimensional, and you just kept wanting to learn more about him.

As for the relationships, they were very interesting to read about. Each one wove around the others to create an intricate web of relationships that affected each other. Not to mention, each and every one of the relationships were developed in some way throughout the novel.

Overall, Half Bad was a fantastic fantasy read, and would be great read for many, many people.