Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Review: Half Bad

HALF BAD
Half Life #1
Sally Green
Paranormal Young Adult
416 pages
Viking Juvenile
Available Now
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Amazon)
In modern-day England, witches live alongside humans: White witches, who are good; Black witches, who are evil; and sixteen-year-old Nathan, who is both. Nathan’s father is the world’s most powerful and cruel Black witch, and his mother is dead. He is hunted from all sides. Trapped in a cage, beaten and handcuffed, Nathan must escape before his seventeenth birthday, at which point he will receive three gifts from his father and come into his own as a witch—or else he will die. But how can Nathan find his father when his every action is tracked, when there is no one safe to trust—not even family, not even the girl he loves?

MY THOUGHTS
Half Bad is one of those stories we enter into with a certain set of expectations based on the limited amount of information provided by the synopsis, but, as is sometimes the case, once we crack the spine we find a very different type of novel than we'd anticipated. It’s not the story’s fault we'd prepared ourselves for an entirely different direction than it ended up taking, but it does take us a bit of time to reconcile where we thought we would be headed with where Nathan’s journey actually takes us. A story about witches has visions of magic–light and dark–dancing in our heads, and the mention of a girl in the same sentence as the word “love” has the romantic in us rubbing our hands together in glee, but what we find is a tale largely absent both magic and romance, leaving us just a touch off kilter even as we start to fall hard for young Nathan.

The format of Half Bad plays a large role in our initial disconcertion, starting us off in second person for the first couple chapters as we join Nathan in his cage before switching to first person and taking us back in time to when Nathan was just a boy. We follow Nathan from boyhood to age sixteen where we’re reunited with our timeline from the first few chapters, but just as we’re brought back to Nathan’s time in the cage, we’re once again shifted to second person for a chapter or two before returning to first person and staying there for the remainder of the book. The second person perspective doesn’t seem altogether necessary unless it will serve some greater purpose in the coming installments, so the switch back and forth becomes more jarring than it might have been otherwise if we understood the reason for it.

Though the perspective switch is off-putting, Nathan himself is an extraordinarily interesting young man, someone we’re rooting for from the moment we find ourselves locked in that cage with him. He’s treated abominably from a young age for being half Black Witch and half White, but though he suffers gut-wrenching abuse both emotional and physical, he never truly allows himself to be beaten. His fire burns brightly throughout, flaring up when he’s at his most defensive but staying coolly banked the remainder of the time, showing us he knows how to play the game the White Witches force upon him better than they ever dreamed he would. The true highlight of this story is Nathan’s beautiful relationship with his brother Arran, the bond between them both heartwarming and heartbreaking as they find themselves torn apart by the cruelty of those who, to our knowledge, are more monstrous than those from whom they claim to be protecting the world.

Though Nathan is attracted to a White Witch named Annalise before he finds himself imprisoned, there’s no real romance to be had in this story, something that’s not a true complaint as the addition of such would have detracted from the intense loneliness radiating from Nathan. He’s on his own in every way in this story, fighting battles both internal and external, and his nearly total emotional isolation (with the exception of Arran) creates an intriguing intimacy between he and us as readers. We don’t get to learn much about this world or the witchcraft that dominates it–Nathan’s ability to heal almost the only magical aspect throughout–leaving us hoping for both more history and more magical gifts in the next installment. Overall, Half Bad is a slower read than we might expect going in, Nathan’s story more of a straight line than a jagged one with lots of peaks and valleys, but the potential for future greatness is undoubtedly there and is more than enough to have us eager to pick up book two.

Rating: 3.5/5

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review
I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

29 comments:

  1. The change in perspective would totally throw me off! Although I'm not one to complain when books take a break from romance.

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  2. I forgot to mention the second person in my review. I really should have because it really set the book apart when I was reading it (didn't stick in the memory apparently). I really enjoyed this yet at the same time I do see its flaws. I think the unusual writing style elevated my opinion of it because at least it was different from my normal reads. Isn't it funny that you, me, and Danny all reviewed this within a day of each other?

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  3. Ha!!!! We are review twins today :))
    We talked about this book and I the more I think about it the more I like it - I think this is one of these books that is going to stay a little longer, that are just a little harder to grasp. It's definitely not a book to read when you want to simply get lost in a paranormal story.

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  4. A slow beginning might make me drop it :(

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  5. my friend and I was talking about this book yesterday. and she said that the book stand to its title, Half Bad! :(

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  6. With all the things I've heard about how painful this book is, I think I'm going to wait until the series is finished to start it. I know that's the chicken thing to do, but like you, I have certain unavoidable expectations when I read books like this, and if they aren't met, I'm less inclined to pick up the next book when it comes out a year later, and I really want to give this series a fair shot. Great review!

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  7. The POV switch and timeline switch are making a bad impression to me, but I still need to read it first to tell. Lol. I've been seeing this book on my goodreads feed and I was like "are you all reading this??!? :O" HAHA. Great review!

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  8. I'm not a fan of POV switches that don't make sense, though the story does sound intriguing. I can forgive a slow start (I think) if I know that going into the book.

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  9. Half Bad was just too slow-moving for me. I couldn't get through it at all! The beginning was actually my favourite part, but I kind of lost focus when he found himself in the cage, and after that the story never really recovered for me.

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  10. I've read some really poor reviews for this book lately and based on what you have said, I think I may skip this one. I don't think I can get past the second person POV and then the switch to first. That kind of thing drives me nuts. I may pass on this one or get it from the library. Thanks for the honest review, Jenny!

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  11. I'm not a huge fan of witch books - they do little for me. Based on your review, I'm glad I passed on this one. I know plenty of people who read it and enjoyed it, but I'm pretty certain this one isn't for me.

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  12. I didn't realize this switched from second to first person! Thanks for the heads up.

    I did hear that this wasn't so much about witches as it was about Nathan so I think (and hope) that going into this one knowing that I will like it more. At least I really hope so because for whatever reason, I really want to read this one.

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  13. I've been avoiding reading this book because of the switch in perspective. I already struggle with 3rd person POV, so I know I'm most definitely not going to enjoy the 2nd person POV. Also, it seems from your review that it doesn't really add much to the story.
    At least the characters were strong enough.
    I'm glad you liked parts of this, Jenny. Lovely review!

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  14. I was surprised at the lack of magic and romance too, but I ended up liking this story in spite of my wildly different expectations. I do hope the next book makes better use of magic though! I'm still wondering myself why the POV switch was used, but I guess it might come in handy in the next books like you suggest. I'm glad you enjoyed this enough to continue with the series. Lovely balanced review Jenny!

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  15. I like how this isn't your run of the mill paranormal romance. As readers we are use to expecting the ordinary with familiar terms like paranormal and I'm glad that this book defies that. I'm really curious to find out why the author chose the second person narrative. I have this on my reading pile and will hopefully get to it soon.

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  16. I enjoyed this one, despite the flaws, but I can definitely see why you docked some points. It did read slower than most stories I love to read. I think my main love was the fact that Ms. Green really challenged the YA bound...that's awesome. Lovely review, Jenny :)

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  17. Oh, I have this one and have high hopes for it. I can handle no romance if I'm prepared. I wish the blurbs fit the books better. But with your review I am prewarned. I remember Melissa's review as well. So I will remember it is slow and the isolation. But that you want to read the second one is a good sign.

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  18. Wheeeee!!! I'm glad you enjoyed this as a whole. Funny thing, this is already translated into Estonian and on shelves in every bookstore and that doesn't happen a lot here that a book is purchased for foreign rights before the release date so I need to get a copy from the library soon:) Anyhow, I'm so intrigued by this story. Then again, I'm so werided out by the 2nd person narrative for some reason, but luckily, as you mentioned, it shifts into first person which suits me more. Can't wait to meet Nathan:) Oh, and some bromance? YES, PLEASE. Realy excited to start this and I'm glad you enjoyed even though it wasn't perfect for you. Great review, my love!

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  19. I agree completely, Jenny - I think this novel has an incredible amount of potential for the future. It's such a complex world and set-up, particularly the social class structure, and I'm curious to see where these characters go. Fantastic review, Jenny!

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  20. I've read mostly negative reviews for this so I'm glad to see you did enjoy it. I've been curious but I think I'll wait until the next book is out and see what people are saying. The shifts in perspective sounds like something that would bother me though. Thanks for the review!

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  21. I just didn't love it. Didn't hate-hate it but felt pretty bland about everything, sadly. I wanted to like it. I did. I like witch books but...meh. Good for the book for garnering a variety of reactions, though. I don't trust books that get all positives or all negatives!

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  22. I have read several reviews for this one and I just don't know what to think. I am drawn to the idea of a male witch, but everyone seems to have some issues with this one. I will wait until the next book and then decide.

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  23. Well maybe it's a good thing that I actually have no idea what to expect here and I'm getting into it blind-folded. I'm so glad you enjoyed this one because of negative reviews I though about giving up. Now I'll get to it. Great review, Jenny :)

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  24. Wonderful review, Jenny! I think you should be in charge next time for the blurb.;) You have eloquently stated what the book is about and what the book is not about. It really does sound like a wonderful story, if you go into it not expecting romance nor much magic, but rather a character driven story. And Nathan's story sounds like the beginning of something complex and wonderful. Thanks for the great review, Jenny :)

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  25. I'm super looking forward to reading this book. It's hard as I haven't read a witchy book that I've enjoyed in a while. I'm hopefully going to see the author at a YA panel at Comic Con in London this year. Lovely review, Jenny! :)

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  26. Switches from 2nd to 1st person and back sound so very odd! I wonder how on earth that works. Second seems like a weird narrative choice, but to each his own, right? It makes me curious though.
    However, I'm not sure I can forgive the absence of magic and romance, that's pretty much what I would expect from this one too.
    As always, a wonderful review, my friend.

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  27. Hmm ... this is one of those books that I just get a good read on because the reviews are all over the place. I know I'm going to have to read it just to satisfy my curiosity of where I would stand with it.

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  28. Hi Jenny! I read this book and I have to admit at times I wanted to punch people! My emotions went hay-wire reading this one.

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  29. I agree about the switching narration and time periods. It felt chaotic to me and unnecessary. I really grew to love Nathan in this story. That poor boy suffers a lot. And Arran stole my heart! Though I liked many other of the secondaries. I loathed Annalise. I hope she dies soon. I know that's mean. But I truly dislike her. This story felt a tad directionless, but I still enjoyed it. Hoping that book 2 will be even better!

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