HALF BAD review

Title: Half Bad

Author: Sally Green

Release Date: 3^rd March 2014

Publisher: Penguin

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 Annaliese,

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

Nathan’s mum was a white witch healer and his dad is the most dangerous living black witch. Despite growing up under the protection of his gran and behaving himself (well... almost), the witch council won't leave him alone, both concerned about his mixed heritage and convinced that Nathan holds the key to his father’s demise.  Defeating the most dangerous black witch is high on the council’s priorities but this comes at the expense of Nathan’s freedom. Will Nathan reach his seventeenth birthday safely and if he does, will he get his three gifts and complete the blood ritual to become a fully fledged witch?

I cannot believe how much I enjoyed this book. It was completely un-put-down-able and had me suffering from severe sleep deprivation in order to finish it (I am very bitter about this!) Nathan’s character is so well constructed and I could empathise with him throughout. The suffering he endures is horrific but I didn't find the novel uncomfortable to read, in fact, it was a really easy read.

Sally Green uses a non linear narrative; the book being split into six parts. This technique is really effective - setting the scene and showing the situation Nathan is in but only revealing what has happened bit by bit. The reader then gets to experience what Nathan did first hand while knowing that there isn’t a happy outcome. While this can seem a bit strange, I was so absorbed in what was going on in the story at that point that I forget that these are events from Nathan’s past. The entire novel (despite the non-linear narrative) is written in present first person which makes it even easier to slip into the drama at that point and empathise with Nathan. There are exceptions to this such as Part three’s ‘The choker’ which is written in second person but this means it is both inclusive (allowing the reader to feel that this is happening to them) but also allows Nathan to distance himself from the humiliation he is enduring at that time.

The chapters are short and are bluntly titled and for me this added to the character of the book and is indicative of Nathan’s literacy skills. The part titles and chapter titles also reveal drips of information to the reader about what is about to happen, just as the non-linear narrative does. Sally Green uses these effectively, revealing just enough for the reader to be hooked (I was throughout) but also ‘catching us out’ by occasionally offering information about Nathan’s story that was unexpected.

I cannot stress how much I enjoyed this novel. The story is engaging and brilliant. Nathan’s character is so interesting and believable and Sally Green really knows how to pull in her reader and keep them! Also, just a brief note to say I loved the cover art which was very clever and sophisticated.

5/5 Counting the days until the release of the sequel, Half Wild!