As my first post-uni read I was exceptionally excited to delve back into the world of Half Bad, written by Sally Green. I sat on the sofa, opened my book … and completely forgot what had happened in the last book! Doh! Considering I read Half Bad in around September last year, this was unsurprising, but I do remember loving it. So this ended up turning into a marathon, and it was great!
One of the things I love about Half Bad is that it’s a really original concept. I was a little confused at first when it turned out the male protagonist was a witch, not a warlock/wizard. But it works. Sally Green creates her characters magnificently. Nathan, the protagonist in question, is lovely, confused, young and knowledgeable all in one. As the first book begins with Nathan as a young boy, Green guides you into this unique world, set in England with some witchy changes to it in a remarkably Harry Potter-esque way, but consistently remains different. There isn’t a Dumbledore or a Voldemort, but there is good and evil… and there’s those in between that we have to figure out ourselves (I’m still unsure about the female focus of Nathan’s attention… is she bad, is she good?!).
The magic elements are wound into the novel well but remain differentiated from the fain world (Green’s version of a muggle), and it just makes the novel even more likeable because your transported into a different world that you can relate to at the same time!
Hald Wild is definelty Half Bad‘s grown up sibling, taking on more serious ideas and themes, and yes there’s some swearing! Something that I loved about this novel, which I sort of didn’t expect, was the introduction of a homosexual relationship that was totally normalised. In Half Wild, Nathan’s relationship with his best friend, a black witch named Gabriel develops but begins to change… but it isn’t weird! There’s no ‘BUT IT’S A BOY! THIS ISN’T RIGHT. I THOUGHT I LIKED GIRLS’ it’s more ‘I thought I liked this PERSON but maybe i like this PERSON’ (and personally i’m team Gabriel).
But, there are also a couple of things I would like to address. One of the focuses of this novel in particular is the father-son relationship between Nathan and his father, Marcus. Whilst I won’t go into detail about what happens in the novel so as not to give spoilers, an integral aspect of their relationship is that Marcus was an absent father. My problem with this is that Nathan, for some reason is desperate to know his father at times, more so in Half Bad. I, personally found this extremely unrealistic on a couple of levels. In the story realm Marcus is a renowned evil witch, famous for killing both White (good) witches and Black (bad) witches. Yet Nathan wants to get to know a man that viciously kills others with little care? Coming from a boy who has experienced a bad childhood by being an outcast in his own home and school, I find this unlikely. He’s a caring boy, shown as Half Bad opens with a touching scene between Nathan and his younger brother Arran. Secondly, I’m going to introduce personal experience. I was brought up in a 1 parent family. My father didn’t make an effort to contact myself or my brother for various reasons and I have no desire to meet someone that I have no connection. As a single parent child with an uncaring father, Nathan became unrealistic again when considering this.
But whilst I do have these criticisms, I loved the book(s). I was hooked. I wanted to know what happened next, and Sally Green has a particular talent for creating cliff-hangers, characteristic of both parts of the trilogy so far. The world she creates is great, the intricacies are inviting and the actual story line is very interesting. It’s constantly action packed with a range of characters, but I didn’t once get lost. I knew who each character was and their relationship to Nathan because of the way Green had built the story and her writing style. It kept my attention throughout and managed to get me over my reading slump HOORAH!
So, overall, I really, truly enjoyed this book! I give it 4 out of 5 stars and encourage you all to go and buy it now! Half Bad was Sally Green’s first novel (which I think at times you can tell by her writing style) but towards the end and throughout Half Wild, Green has developed her talents as an author and created something beautifully unique.
Links
Half Wild on Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20814989-half-wild
Me on Goodreads- https://www.goodreads.com/JulesBailey14
Sally Green Twitter – https://twitter.com/Sa11eGreen
My Twitter – https://twitter.com/julesbailey14
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