Book Review Discussion: Half Bad by Sally Green

Book: Half Bad by Sally Green
Genre: YA Paranormal/Horror
Rating:★★★★★
For: Review
From: Received for free from the publisher through Big Honcho Media. All opinions are my own. 

Short Synopsis: Nathan is half White witch and half Black witch. The White witch community appears to be in charge of things and they are determined to figure out which half of him is dominate. Meanwhile, they are watching him closely. He pretty much scares the crap out of them. His grandma takes care of him until he's about 15 or so and then one day, he is basically kidnapped and whisked away to be held by one of the White witch people while they watch him closer. What she does to him is... terrible. Really really terrible. And then he escapes and things get even crazier as he goes on a search for his Black witch dad to find out more about himself and to hopefully get the three gifts all witches get on their 17th birthday.

My Response: This book killed me. I mean. I really really loved it, but I had to take breaks in order to handle it. I loved the short sentence, simple, matter of fact style. But wow. There is some hard hard stuff in this book! Many of the hard parts are written in second person, because it's even too hard for the narrator (Nathan, the boy himself) to tell us the readers about. I loved that the author choose to do that. It was perfect. Such awesome writing all around.

Bottom Line:  I totally enjoyed it. I was randomly sent this book to review and it worked. The second book (Half Wild) comes out soon and I'm totally hooked. You go Nathan! You get 'em!

Let's Talk About: Here's the thing. Even as readers, we don't really know if Nathan is good or bad. I mean, we totally feel like he's good and we are on his side, but, BUT, he does some pretty bad things. He has a HUGE temper. His black side is volatile and we, all of us, aren't sure what that means. It's awesome. I love it so much. What do you think about this particular literature device,  to create a character that could be both the hero and the villain? The good guy and the bad guy? And which part of him would you root for? I love this mash up of things. Brilliant. (Speaking of, this book is also thoroughly British. So many British-isms that I totally ate up loved with all my heart.)

Other Reviews:

There is something refreshing about the lack of definitive answers, unclear paths, and and hints at future reveals that diminishes the impact of any similarities and allows readers to focus on Nathan and Half Bad as a unique and exciting story in its own right. From That's What She Read

His “voice” as narration was brilliantly written, and his strength even in what can only be described as a bleak existence was admirable. He is a strong character yet at the same time is incredibly vulnerable and isn’t afraid of showing pain From Book Nerd Reviews

I loved Nathan’s character, and his will to survive (he personifies the phrase, “What does not kill you, makes you stronger!” From Bart's Bookshelf

Oh WOW. This book is SO GOOD! I was hooked instantly and had trouble putting this down. Nathan is just such a perfectly imperfect main character. From Sarah Reads Too Much