Liz Currently Loves….Half Wild by Sally Green

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Publication Date: 26th March 2015 from Penguin.

Source: Netgalley

In a modern-day England where two warring factions of witches live amongst humans, seventeen-year-old Nathan is an abomination, the illegitimate son of the world’s most powerful and violent witch. Nathan is hunted from all sides: nowhere is safe and no one can be trusted. Now, Nathan has come into his own unique magical Gift, and he’s on the run–but the Hunters are close behind, and they will stop at nothing until they have captured Nathan and destroyed his father.

I was a HUGE fan of “Half Bad” the first novel in this trilogy, with its extremely addictive story and magical elements, it was definitely one of my favourite reads of 2014. So I was so very happy to get a copy of Half Wild, the sequel and boy was it a good ‘un.

I’m always nervous with middle books  – the phenomena known as “middle book syndrome” can strike and you wonder what happened. That is absolutely NOT the case here, Half Wild is fantastic, a brilliant follow up, adding great depth to both the mythology and the characters and taking you on a wild reading rollercoaster ride with some thrills, some spills, some real emotion and an ending that will drive you beautifully insane.

Here we find Nathan, trying to find Gabriel, work out a way to save Annalise and stay one step ahead of the hunters at the same time. When he joins up with a rebel group of Witches who want to change things, he finds his loyalties tested and will be taken to the limits of his own powers and feelings.

Sally Green has done some terrific world building here over the course of the two novels so far. Taking our world and populating it with Witches and others and giving it a hugely intelligent and authentic political landscape, there are some emotional and highly topical themes explored within some wonderful storytelling,  using some resonant and extremely well drawn characters to help us along the way. I adore Nathan but my heart and soul are with his best friend Gabriel – I certainly do not seem to be alone in that.

One of the huge strengths of this series is the dynamic between these two friends . Much more so than the love story between Nathan and Annalise – although that is done with flair and has a unique streak to it – the relationship between Nathan and Gabriel is the one that keeps you hooked into ALL the characters and the tale. In this instalment Ms Green has thrown a lot of obstacles in the path of these two, not the least of which is the fact that they could die at any moment and it is probably one of the best drawn friendships I have found in YA for a while.

Putting the character interactions aside, the world they live in is both horrific and wonderful – a morality tale which entertains, it is beautifully constructed and will often have you changing sides, first to one then to another. Marcus is a brilliant “anchor” for this, Nathan’s father is the most feared of the Black witches and yet he is not entirely evil. The more dystopian elements of the story – the council and the dehumanizing of one section of society over another, are also extremely well done and all in all it is a truly truly magnificent read.

I loved it. How the heck I’m going to wait for book 3 I do not know. Highly HIGHLY recommended.

Find out more here: http://www.halfbadworld.com/

Follow the author on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/Sa11eGreen

Pre-Order information:

Special edition: http://www.goldsborobooks.com/books/half-wild-sally-green-signed-first-edition-4306.html

Other pre-order info: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Half-Wild-2-Bad/dp/0141350881/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1424534815&sr=1-1&keywords=half+wild+sally+green

Available Now: Read First:

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http://www.amazon.co.uk/Half-Bad-Sally-Green/dp/0141350865/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0XEKQ3ZV7SH9KZEJZNNJ

 

And to wet the appetite for Half Wild

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http://www.amazon.co.uk/Half-Lies-Bad-story-ebook/dp/B00NUMV162/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1424537736&sr=1-1&keywords=half+lies+sally+green

Happy Reading Folks!

 

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