Half Bad by Sally Green A review discussion with Jen @ YA Romantics

You all know that one of my favorite things is discussing books with people. Jen from YA Romantics and I had such a lively conversation about Half Bad, that we decided to share our thoughts with you in interview form. 

We've split our discussion between our blogs. On her site we talk about our general reactions, thoughts on the world building and literary comparisons. You can see that portion HERE. 

Below, Jen and I discuss the characters, romance and of course, love triangles. If you scroll all the way to the bottom, we've also included some predictions and hopes for book two. As they're spoilers, they've been whited out for those who want to avoid them. Just highlight the text with your cursor and you should be able to read those parts. 

Half Bad
by Sally Green
Read: February 10 - 11, 2014

Published: March 4, 2014 by Viking Juvenile (Penguin)

Source: ALA

Category: Fantasy, witches, boy protagonist, YA
Series: Half Bad #1
Find: Goodreads | Amazon

A stunning, magical debut. An international sensation.

In modern-day England, witches live alongside humans: White witches, who are good; Black witches, who are evil; and fifteen-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 sixteenth 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?

In the tradition of Patrick Ness and Markus Zusak, Half Bad is a gripping tale of alienation and the indomitable will to survive, a story that will grab hold of you and not let go until the very last page.
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Half Bad Joint Review Part 2 
Main character: Nathan

JEN: What I liked about Nathan is that he isn't the typical fantasy hero: clever and brave and resourceful. He's illiterate. His only talent – thus far – is drawing and having a stubbornness of personality that helps him survive all the horrors that his half-blood status forces him to endure. I rooted for him, but at the same time, I found some of his motives and decisions hard to understand.

LAUREN: I agree with your assessment. I enjoyed being inside Nathan’s head. It was hard for me to watch him suffer as much as he did, though certainly character building for him. I definitely felt a sense of protectiveness about him and a strong desire to see him succeed and figure out his path (though we aren’t even sure of that at this point). The sleeping outside thing I found to be really interesting, especially the way it's a bit of a vulnerability. But, like you, it was hard for me to connect to his unflappable devotion to certain characters.

The Romance

LAUREN: Speaking of Nathan’s unwavering devotion to certain characters, almost as soon as we met her, I had very strong negative feelings for Annalise. It’s not too much to say that I loathed her. 

JEN: Me too. Well, at first I thought that I was supposed to loathe her. I thought she'd be a villain, a female Draco Malfoy. So I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong about that. But I was also disappointed that she didn't seem to have much of a personality.

LAUREN: Her being a villain would have been interesting, at least. Or it would have defined her more. At first I thought Annalise was supposed to be a Hermione – because she’s good at school. But NO.  She’s both a weakness for Nathan and rather weak willed herself. I do get that she’s the first girl/person outside of Nathan’s family who was nice to him, and he had no one else for his fantasies when he was stuck in the cage. But I don’t get how his devotion and blind faith is still going YEARS later. It just made me cringe. 

JEN: Their relationship didn't make sense to me. Their attachment to each other and the risks they took for one other weren’t supported in this part of the story.  The only people I felt that Nathan had an emotional connection to were his grandmother and his brother, (highlight for spoiler>>) and to my disappointment, both of them were pretty much eliminated from the story by the end of the first book.(end spoiler)

LAUREN: I’m not even convinced at this point that Annalise is reciprocating Nathan’s devotion. I was sad that we didn’t get more of his grandmother.

Secondary Characters

JEN: I think we both felt that the secondary characters were sometimes more vivid and compelling than the primary ones. Celia, Clay, Mary, Trev, Nikita -- all of them were unique, well-drawn characters. 

LAUREN: YES to all the characters you mentioned. The secondaries stood out so strongly in this book, even the ones that Nathan only interacts with briefly. My favorites were Gabriel and Arran. But even Bob was memorable. Too bad Nikita is so young. She’s a much better match for Nathan and had a far stronger interaction with him than any of Annalise’s. 

JEN: Agree! I loved her and I thought they had great chemistry, even just as friends.

LAUREN: In each of the sections of this book we meet new characters, but left most of them behind as the story continued. I was hoping that they’d link back to each other a little more, especially, Mary and Celia. But hopefully, we’ll see that happen throughout the series.

Love Triangle Factor

LAUREN: Let’s talk about my favorite topic: the love triangle factor.  On the positive side, this book has a rating of NONE for love triangles. Nathan decides who he wants very early in the story, and sticks to that decision like glue. On the negative side, we’ve established a mutual dislike of his love interest, and not understanding why he stays so devoted to her. Annalise either needs to do something amazing to wow us, which seems unlikely. Or I’m hoping for a Linear Love Progression, so that Nathan will move on to someone else.

JEN: I agree with your assessment. I’m not always opposed to triangles, but adding a third character to the mix would just make the situation worse. Nathan moving on to someone else seems like a good idea. Or maybe he’s too busy for romance right now…

LAUREN: That’s a wise thought. The romance portion was possibly our least favorite part of this book. Maybe the story will back away from that element in the next installment and focus on Nathan’s friendships with some of the fabulous secondary characters. I’d like that.  

Love Triangle Factor: None

Cliffhanger Scale: Low - Medium - Definitely some set up for the next book. But no immediate danger. This conclusion didn't feel stressful to me. 

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Predictions and Hopes
Jen and I also spent quite a bit of time discussing our future predictions and hopes for the next book in the Half Bad series. These comments are SPOILERS for the first book. Please read ahead with caution. We've also split this section between our blogs, don't miss Jen's portion HERE. 

Gabriel 

LAUREN: I think Gabriel is a female witch. Or Nathan will decide he’s bisexual. Anyway, I'm now shipping 
Nathan/Gabriel or Nathan/Nikita, but NOT Nathan/Annalise.

JEN: Why do you think Gabriel is a girl? That would be amazingly cool.

LAUREN: Gabriel states that he can turn into any human any gender but got stuck as a Fain. So I think it’s 
possible he’s really a she. Plus he mentions Wuthering Heights as a favorite book. That’s a dead giveaway. (Just 
kidding! Guys can like that book too.)

JEN: Definitely a dead giveaway -- isn't that the favorite book of all paranormal romance heroines? But in all 
seriousness, a gender-shifting character would be very interesting to me. Make room for me on the Nathan/Gabe 
ship!

LAUREN: I’m hoping it’s one of those reveals that is supposed to come out later in the series. 

Annalise 

LAUREN: I think Annalise is a spy, or at least she’s suspicious. Do you think her desperate act at the end was 
real? I see no real connection between her and Nathan to prove his faith in her.

JEN: I think the only way to make Annalise interesting is to make her a traitor. But I suspect she's just a pawn. 

LAUREN: Agree. But it would make me mad if it was true and Nathan fell for it. Though a big lesson for him. I thought it would come out at the end of the book and affect him going forward. But it’s just an uncomfortable 
loose end.   

JEN: Exactly. When she showed up at the end I was expecting some sort of revelation about her motives, at 
least.

LAUREN: As was I! Unfortunately, we've deliberately been left in the dark about her, which always makes me 
suspicious. So far, she’s shown us nothing to make us trust or like her.
 

Please be careful to label any comments that directly relate to the spoilers!