Half Bad

 Sally Green

Rating: ⭐⭐ Genre: Fantasy + Young Adult

This is the first book of the series in this dark young adult fantasy. The world in this fantasy is mainly about witches and how they are either good witches or bad witches. Nathan is a young half-blood witch who thinks he is cursed because he was born to a powerful witch father who is considered bad. His mother is a human, though. 

Nathan’s dilemma is that he is not accepted by anybody, as he does not fully belong to any group of witches. Each group will consider him from the other. What makes things worse for this young boy is that the reputation of his father as the evil witch is just too strong to be ignored. 

When Nathan is captured by the Council and held as a prisoner, his life takes a significant and uncontrollable turn. He tries to escape from his jail, and during his mission, he uncovers many secrets about the witch world. The novel focuses heavily on the main character's growth and his efforts to defend himself. His journey is marked by numerous losses, betrayals, and painful situations.

Although all that I have written might sound interesting, it did for me when reading about this book. I remember watching a YouTuber who has praised this series a lot. To be honest, it is interesting, especially if you like reading about witches and magic. However, the book suffers from many shortcomings. The pacing is too slow for my taste and for such a subgenre. I feel the author might’ve stretched one story over three books. I wouldn’t know that for sure, because I have no intention of continuing the series. I have all three books, but since I didn’t enjoy this one, there is no point in continuing. 

The main character is difficult to connect with. I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t warm up to him or feel compassion for him in the various situations he faced. I think this book might appeal more to younger audiences. It seems like it has sat too long on my shelf to be appreciated now. This is one of those cases where it’s me and not the book.

Note: I had no idea that this was turned into a TV show! I just found out while looking for the cover picture for my blog! It seems the show was cancelled after only one season, despite the positive reviews.