Half Bad - Sally Green

Half Bad

★★★

Sixteen-year-old Nathan lives in a cage: beaten, shackled, trained to kill. In a modern-day England where two warring factions of witches live amongst humans, Nathan is an abomination, the illegitimate son of the world's most terrifying and violent witch, Marcus. Nathan's only hope for survival is to escape his captors, track down Marcus, and receive the three gifts that will bring him into his own magical powers—before it's too late. But how can Nathan find his father when there is no one safe to trust, not even family, not even the girl he loves?


This book is probably one of the weirdest books I've ever read and when i first started it i couldn't get my head around how/why it had been written in that specific way. It's the sort of book you would have to read yourself to understand what i'm talking about however i'm not sure i would completely recommend it as a good read.

I thought the initial idea for the book was brilliant, not something i'd ever heard of before but it was almost too weird for me to understand. The book is set in a Dystopian world based around black & white witches. The black and white witches contrast each other and are enemies, Nathan unfortunately is a half- blood ( half white, half black ) this causes him so much trouble and basically makes his life like a living hell. Despite this, Nathan pushes through and manages to survive, his dad is the 'ruler' you could say for the black witches and he has never met his father. A lot of the book is Nathan searching for his father and searching for the 3 gifts which will save his life when he turns 17, i never quite understood this and i thought it was quite a random, almost unnecessary factor to the book however you desperately want Nathan to find the 3 gifts and just to live a normal life. 

I enjoyed the book but i didn't LOVE it, and i definitely wouldn't read it again, i didn't realize till afterwards that it was part of the 'half bad trilogy' (i love a good trilogy) but i'm slightly gutted with myself that i wont read the other books. Sally Green is a very talented author and her other books look amazing, i will definitely read another of her novels however 'Half Bad' for me didn't quite cut it but i'm sure other people might have read the book and absolutely loved it.

Please read and let me know what you thought :)

Forbidden - Tabitha Suzuma

Forbidden

★★★★★

After reading this captivating novel, I can honestly say it is the best book I HAVE EVER READ.

The book itself has quite a disturbing/sickening idea, the idea of a brother and sister who fall in love and engage in sexual activity. Incest is a controversial, sinister topic which you wouldn't want to read about but it really does make a brilliant novel. You almost forget the fact that they are brother and sister.

Towards the middle of the novel, we begin to understand why they feel the way they do about each other. They are two teenagers, already at a sensitive stage in their lives with a mother who quite frankly doesn't care about their well being and a father who left for abroad with his new family. Left to look after 3 younger also troubled siblings, they become the parent roles. If you started reading the novel half way through, you would genuinely not believe they are brother and sister, as they become the mother and father of their younger siblings, almost like they are their own children. There is nothing more to say as you must read it yourself.

PLEASE READ.