Book Title: Half Bad
Author: Sally Green
Series: Half Life #1
Series: Half Life #1
Date Started: March 8th 2014
Date Completed: March 12th 2014
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Mystery, Thriller, Romance
Rating: Three stars
Review:
Half Bad was good, but didn't really compare to the hype I've been hearing. It took me a very long time to get into, and even longer to care about the characters. It just felt like one big prequel for the following books that wasn't entirely necessary until the last third of the book. I was disappointed, but that's more fault to the hype around the book rather than the novel itself.
Nathan is a Half Blood: his mother was a White Witch, but his father was a Black Witch. One of the most dangerous Black Witches in existence, and Nathan has been paying for his father's crimes for the whole of his life. But as his seventeenth birthday draws closer, Nathan starts to wonder if he'll be allowed to live as a White Witch, or if his father's legacy will prove everyone around Nathan right, and brand him a Black Witch.
The writing in this novel was very good, with an interesting narrative. There was generally a really good balance between monologue, description and speech. For most of the first half, Nathan is completely on his own with very little happening. In this time I found it harder to get on with the book, however the narrative actually included even mixed content to keep me reading.
However, there was a lot of information dumping at the beginning. And I'm not sure how half of it matters. Perhaps it's there for future purposes, but I've already mentioned how I feel this book was one big long prequel for the rest of the trilogy - and its harder for me to like a book that can't write one whole story on its own.
I'm not going to rant for too long because I don't want to make it seem liked I hated this book, because it improved immensely in my opinion in Part 4. I would honestly have loved to start at Part 4 and miss out the first two thirds of the books, but that's not how it works.
All I really remember about before Part 4 is torture. Over and over again and for no properly explained reason. I understand the dramatic plot twists of using such events, but I just felt like nothing else was going on and it was overused to the point where it actually made me a little uncomfortable.
However, once it started to pick up, I loved it. The characters became more interesting and the story started to go somewhere. And then, what I would call the climax scene, was absolutely awesome. I don't understand why Green didn't write an action thriller, because the writing in this part was amazing and I got so into the action. Ultimately, it went a little downhill again for the last twenty pages or so, but I've always been more engaged with events than suspense.
It took me a very long time to care about the majority of the characters, and even though I liked some of them, I didn't really care about them.
I liked Nathan, but I don't have much to say about him. There's definitely some character development, but nothing that shouts out at me.
Gabriel was most definitely my favourite character. I loved him right from the start, and I still love him now. I also saw where his story was going, but it was still adorable.
I also really liked Rose, strangely enough. I don't think the reader is supposed to like her very much, but I found her a nice breath of fresh air from the rest of the characters (expect Gabriel of course).
Annalise annoyed me because I never felt she proved herself as either useful or to actually be caring. I hope Nathan opens his eyes in the next book.
Looking back on the book, I really liked Arran at the beginning, but he's forgettable with the drama that happens later in the book.
I couldn't deal with the pacing of Half Bad. It was great at the end, but I would have happily skipped 220 pages in from the start. It was extremely slow at the beginning. I feel like the whole beginning could have easily been covered in ten pages instead of repeating itself over and over.
I want to mention, I did enjoy the last third of this book: I just found it hard to get along with the first parts. Therefore, I would recommend Half Bad to fantasy and young adult readers. I think other people probably get along better with the first part, however if you don't, try and be patient if you're intrigued by the concept.
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18621194-half-bad
Half Bad was good, but didn't really compare to the hype I've been hearing. It took me a very long time to get into, and even longer to care about the characters. It just felt like one big prequel for the following books that wasn't entirely necessary until the last third of the book. I was disappointed, but that's more fault to the hype around the book rather than the novel itself.
Nathan is a Half Blood: his mother was a White Witch, but his father was a Black Witch. One of the most dangerous Black Witches in existence, and Nathan has been paying for his father's crimes for the whole of his life. But as his seventeenth birthday draws closer, Nathan starts to wonder if he'll be allowed to live as a White Witch, or if his father's legacy will prove everyone around Nathan right, and brand him a Black Witch.
The writing in this novel was very good, with an interesting narrative. There was generally a really good balance between monologue, description and speech. For most of the first half, Nathan is completely on his own with very little happening. In this time I found it harder to get on with the book, however the narrative actually included even mixed content to keep me reading.
However, there was a lot of information dumping at the beginning. And I'm not sure how half of it matters. Perhaps it's there for future purposes, but I've already mentioned how I feel this book was one big long prequel for the rest of the trilogy - and its harder for me to like a book that can't write one whole story on its own.
I'm not going to rant for too long because I don't want to make it seem liked I hated this book, because it improved immensely in my opinion in Part 4. I would honestly have loved to start at Part 4 and miss out the first two thirds of the books, but that's not how it works.
All I really remember about before Part 4 is torture. Over and over again and for no properly explained reason. I understand the dramatic plot twists of using such events, but I just felt like nothing else was going on and it was overused to the point where it actually made me a little uncomfortable.
However, once it started to pick up, I loved it. The characters became more interesting and the story started to go somewhere. And then, what I would call the climax scene, was absolutely awesome. I don't understand why Green didn't write an action thriller, because the writing in this part was amazing and I got so into the action. Ultimately, it went a little downhill again for the last twenty pages or so, but I've always been more engaged with events than suspense.
It took me a very long time to care about the majority of the characters, and even though I liked some of them, I didn't really care about them.
I liked Nathan, but I don't have much to say about him. There's definitely some character development, but nothing that shouts out at me.
Gabriel was most definitely my favourite character. I loved him right from the start, and I still love him now. I also saw where his story was going, but it was still adorable.
I also really liked Rose, strangely enough. I don't think the reader is supposed to like her very much, but I found her a nice breath of fresh air from the rest of the characters (expect Gabriel of course).
Annalise annoyed me because I never felt she proved herself as either useful or to actually be caring. I hope Nathan opens his eyes in the next book.
Looking back on the book, I really liked Arran at the beginning, but he's forgettable with the drama that happens later in the book.
I couldn't deal with the pacing of Half Bad. It was great at the end, but I would have happily skipped 220 pages in from the start. It was extremely slow at the beginning. I feel like the whole beginning could have easily been covered in ten pages instead of repeating itself over and over.
I want to mention, I did enjoy the last third of this book: I just found it hard to get along with the first parts. Therefore, I would recommend Half Bad to fantasy and young adult readers. I think other people probably get along better with the first part, however if you don't, try and be patient if you're intrigued by the concept.
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18621194-half-bad
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