Review: Half Bad - Sally Green

Where I got it: Library
Rating: 4 stars  
Cover Rating: 4 stars (I like it.)
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: March 4, 2014
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Page Count: 380 p.
Add it: Goodreads

Nathan is a witch, this they can tell. What they aren't sure about is if he is a white witch or a black witch. He's half of each, but they aren't sure if that makes him good or not. Nathan has been raised by white witches, but this doesn't put the council at ease. When Nathan turns fourteen the council decides that he is more likely to be dangerous and they take him away and lock him in a cage. He is then held prisoner by a woman who is trying to keep him in line. Nathan knows he must escape though. It's his only chance. He has to escape before his seventeenth birthday.

Definitely a fan of this one. Such an interesting witch story. Yes there were themes that we've all seen a million times before, but there was a lot of new and fascinating details in this novel that make it well worth the read.

Sally Green creates a lot of new witch mythos and I for one, love it. Nathan is an interesting narrator for the tale too. He's not great at a lot of things that others are good at, but he's excels in other areas. He is incredibly strong-willed and that's a great thing to see in a character forced to endure such nonsense.

Nature versus nurture plays a large role in this novel, it's pretty much the thing the council is trying to decide on. Nathan is raised as a white witch, but they are worried that his father's blood will infect him and cause him to go dark. This is only mildly amusing seeing as what the white witches seem to be capable of. They seem far more terrible than any black witch, because they pretend to take the high road.

I'm very eager to see where Nathan's journey takes him in the next book. I would definitely recommend this if you're looking for a novel about witches that has action to it.

First Line:
"There's these two kids, boys, sitting close together, squished in by the big arms of an old chair."

Favorite Line:
"Never underestimate the enemy."