It ended in 2016: Half Bad (series review)

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Book Review, Half Bad, Sally Green

Author: Sally Green

First book published: 2014

Synopsis (book 1):

Wanted by no one.

Hunted by everyone.

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?

The Short Version

To sum up this book series in two gifs:

 

But this series is still amazing, and you should ALL read it.

The long version may contain spoilers for the entire series. You have been warned.

The Long Version

There are no words to describe my love of this series.

But I’m going to try.

Book 1: Half Bad

When I first read this book, it completely blew me away.

Like, completely.

The second person POV at the beginning was brilliant, and the story itself was wonderful…in a horrible way.

The highlight was definitely the characters. Nathan was just so broken and angry, and most of the other characters were just so awful. And it was all presented just so well.

Absolutely loved it.

Book 2: Half Wild

After reading Half Bad, I hadn’t thought the series could get better.

I was wrong. It did.

Half Wild picks up where Half Bad left off…Nathan alone and thinking Gabriel is probably dead.

Nathan is also having to adjust to the fact that every now and then he turns a somewhat vicious animal.

Just like the first book, the characters were brilliantly portrayed in this book.

AND I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!

Book 3: Half Lost

This book in one gif:

That is all.

Conclusion

An amazing series by amazing author.

Seriously, guys, you need this series in your life.

May and June Wrap Up

Tags

A Court of Mist and Fury, Ally Condie, Amy Zhang, And I Darken, Atlantia, Confused, Deborah Biancotti, Girl Out of Water, Half Bad, Half Lost, Half Wild, Inbetween Days, Kiersten White, Lauren James, Let the Wind Rise, Lynette Noni, Margo Lanagan, Morgan Matson, Nat Luurtsema, Pittacus Lore, Raelia, Rick Riordan, Sally Green, Samantha Shannon, Sarah J. Maas, Scott Westerfeld, Shannon Messenger, Since You've Been Gone, The Bone Season, The Book of Pearl, The Hidden Oracle, The Next Together, This is Where the World Ends, Timothee de Fombelle, Trials of Apollo, United as One, Vikki Wakefield, Wanda Wiltshire, Zeroes

Ok, so June went by so fast that it was over before I realised I hadn’t yet done my May wrap up…

So today we’re going to have two wrap ups in one!

General Happenings

So, I realised that half my books didn’t fit properly on my bookshelf…

So, I decided that a complete bookshelf rearrangement was in order.

And this was the result:

I hit 300 Instagram Followers

YAY!

There was a lot of rain in Sydney

This was our backyard at around 9pm. We had to spend about an hour getting the sheep out of the paddock and into the backyard (which is higher ground). Our house is at the top of a rather decent sized hill, so we were fine.

Bookish Info

Books Read:

The Hidden Oracle, by Rick Riordan
Atlantia, by Ally Condie
Half Bad, by Sally Green
Half Wild, by Sally Green
Half Lost, by Sally Green
This is Where the World Ends, by Amy Zhang
A Court of Mist and Fury, by Sarah J Maas
And I Darken, by Kiersten White

Books Bought:

The Hidden Oracle, by Rick Riordan
A Court of Mist and Fury, by Sarah J Maas
Let the Wind Rise, by Shannon Messenger
And I Darken, by Kiersten White
United as One, by Pittacus Lore

Books Received for Review:

The Book of Pearl, by Timothée de Fombelle
Girl Out of Water, by Nat Luurtsema

(Both from Walker books Australia)

Books from TeenCon:

Inbetween Days, by Vikki Wakefield
The Next Together, by Lauren James
Since You’ve Been Gone, Morgan Matson
Confused, Wanda Wiltshire
Raelia, Lynette Noni
Zeroes, by Scott Westerfield, Margo Lanagan, and Deborah Biancotti
The Bone Season, by Samantha Shannon

TTT: Books I picked up on a whim

Tags

Abigail Haas, All Our Yesterdays, Brigid Kemmerer, Cristin Terrill, Dangerous Girls, Half Bad, Hex Hall, In The Skin of a Monster, Kathryn Barker, Rachel Hawkins, Sally Green, Storm

Top Ten Tuesday is a thing where we get given a topic, and we have to list our ‘top ten’ things for the topic. Pretty self-explanatory.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This Week’s Topic: Top Ten Six Books I Picked Up on a Whim

1. All Our Yesterdays, by Cristin Terrill
Saw this in the bookstore, picked it up, began reading the first page to see if it was any good.
4 chapters and a massive headache because TIME TRAVEL later I found myself buying the book.

 2. Dangerous Girls, by Abigail Haas
A similar situation here to All Our Yesterdays. I began reading it in the bookstore and decided I needed it.

3. Storm, by Brigid Kemmerer
The (Aus) cover was pretty. What was I supposed to do? Not buy it?

4. In The Skin of a Monster, by Kathryn Barker
I saw this in the bookstore and everything about it appealed to me…the cover, the title, the whole dreamscape concept. I regret nothing.

5. Half Bad, by Sally Green
This one had a lot more deliberation attached to it. I almost bought it several times after reading the first chapter in the store…in the end, I got a free copy at PTALive.

6. Hex Hall, by Rachel Hawkins
My history with obtaining this book is a long and somewhat complicated one. I’ll tell you all about it some time.

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 Which books made your list?

TTT: Books I’d Love to see as movies

Tags

Alexandra Bracken, Cynthia Hand, Half Bad, Kasie West, Kylie Fornasier, Legend, Maggie Stiefvater, Marie Lu, Masquerade, Pivot Point, Rachel Hawkins, Rebel Belle, Sally Green, Sarah J. Maas, The Darkest Minds, The Raven Boys, Throne of Glass, Top Ten Tuesday, Under the Never Sky, Unearthly, Veronica Rossi

Top Ten Tuesday is a thing where we get given a topic, and we have to list our ‘top ten’ things for the topic. Pretty self-explanatory.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This Week’s Topic: Top Ten Books I’d love to see as movies

1. Rebel Belle, by Rachel Hawkins
When they said ‘Legally Blonde meets Terminator’, they weren’t kidding. Honestly, the whole time I was reading this, I was thinking ‘how good would this be as a movie?’.

2. Pivot Point, by Kasie West

3. The Darkest Minds, by Alexandra Bracken

4. Masquerade, by Kylie Fornasier
Just for the costumes alone I would want this movie.

5. Half Bad, by Sally Green

6. Unearthly, by Cynthia Hand

7. Legend, by Marie Lu

8. Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas
Umm…because…Throne of Glass…duh.

9. Under the Never Sky, by Veronica Rossi

10. The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater
Ok, I was a little hesitant adding this to the list, because it is just so amazing, but I think that if it was done well, it could be just as amazing as a movie.

Review: Half Wild

Tags

Half Bad, Half Wild, Sally Green

Author: Sally Green

Series: Half Life (Book 2)

Rating: 5 stars

Genre: Fantasy

Synopsis: After finally meeting his elusive father, Marcus, and receiving the three gifts that confirm him as a full adult witch, Nathan is still on the run. He needs to find his friend Gabriel and rescue Annalise, now a prisoner of the powerful Black witch Mercury. Most of all he needs to learn how to control his Gift – a strange, wild new power that threatens to overwhelm him.

Meanwhile, Soul O’Brien has seized control of the Council of White Witches and is expanding his war against Black witches into Europe. In response, an unprecedented alliance has formed between Black and White witches determined to resist him. Drawn into the rebellion by the enigmatic Black witch Van Dal, Nathan finds himself fighting alongside both old friends and old enemies. But can all the rebels be trusted, or is Nathan walking into a trap?

How I got this book: Netgalley (and bought)

Release Date: March 25, 2015

The Short Version:

When I finished Half Bad, I asked myself if it was even possible for the next book to be half as awesome…

It WAS COMPLETELY POSSIBLE THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING AND I’M JUST GOING TO FLAIL FOREVER BECAUSE THIS SERIES IS INCREDIBLE AND EVERY SINGLE PERSON NEEDS TO READ IT!!!!!!!

Waiting On Wednesday: Half Wild

Tags

Half Bad, Half Wild, Sally Green, Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a thing where we talk about the books we’re waiting for. Pretty self-explanatory.
Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine

Author: Sally Green

Release Date: 25 March, 2015

Synopsis (from Goodreads): “You will have a powerful Gift, but it’s how you use it that will show you to be good or bad.”

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.

Why this book?

Why NOT this book? HALF BAD WAS AMAZING I NEED MORE!!!!!

TTT: Books I want to read with my non-existent book club

Tags

All Our Yesterdays, Amy Zhang, Cristin Terrill, Divergent, Falling into Place, Half Bad, Kasie West, Kylie Fornasier, Lauren Oliver, Maggie Stiefvater, Markus Zusak, Masquerade, Neal Shusterman, Panic, Pivot Point, Sally Green, The Book Thief, The Raven Boys, Top Ten Tuesday, Unwind, Veronica Roth

Top Ten Tuesday is a thing where we get given a topic, and we have to list our ‘top ten’ things for the topic. Pretty self-explanatory.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This Week’s Topic: Ten Books I’d Love to Read with my Book Club if I had a Book Club

1. Falling into Place, by Amy Zhang

2. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

3. The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater

4. Panic, by Lauren Oliver

5. Divergent, by Veronica Roth

6. All Our Yesterdays, by Cristin Terrill

7. Half Bad, by Sally Green

8. Pivot Point, by Kasie West

9. Masquerade, by Kyle Fornasier

10. Unwind, by Neal Shusterman

Stacking the Shelves: The Yearly Edition

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A Discovery of Witches, A Thousand Pieces of You, Aimee Carter, Alexandra Bracken, Amy Ewing, Amy Zhang, Anna Dressed in Blood, Are You Seeing Me?, Beautiful Darkness, Blood Of Olympus, Blood Promise, Bloodlines, Blue Lily Lily Blue, Boundless, Bram Stoker, Brigid Kemmerer, Captive, Cara Lynn Shultz, Claudia Gray, Corruption, Crown of Midnight, Cynthia Hand, Dangerous Creatures, Darren Groth, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Days of Blood and Starlight, Deborah Harkness, Debra Driza, Demonglass, Disruption, Dracula, E. Lockhart, Endless Knight, Endlessly, Evernight, Falling into Place, Four: A Divergent Collection, Frostbite, Gayle Forman, Half Bad, Hallowed, Heir of Fire, I Was Here, Into the Still Blue, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Jessica Shirvington, Josephine Angelini, Julie Kagawa, Kami Garcia, Kasie West, Kendare Blake, Kiera Cass, Kiersten White, Kresley Cole, Kylie Fornasier, Laini Taylor, Last Sacrifice, Legend, Leigh Bardugo, Let the Sky Fall, Let the Storm Break, Maggie Stiefvater, Margaret Stohl, Marie Lu, Masquerade, Michelle Hodkin, Mind Games, Never Fade, Obsidian, Onyx, Opal, Opposition, Origin, Paranormalcy, Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Pittacus Lore, Pivot Point, Poison Princess, Rachael Craw, Rachel Hawkins, Raising Demons, Rebel Belle, Renegade, Revenge of Seven, Richelle Mead, Rick Riordan, Rick Yancey, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sacrifice, Sally Green, Sarah J. Maas, School Spirits, Secret, Shadow and Bone, Shadow Kiss, Shannon Messenger, Silver Shadows, Sinner, Sister Assassin, Spark, Spell Bound, Spirit Bound, Split Second, Stacking the Shelves, Supernaturally, Talon, The 5th Wave, The Assassin's Blade, The Dark World, The Darkest Minds, The Eternity Cure, The Fiery Heart, The Forever Song, The Goddess Test, The Golden Lily, The Immortal Rules, The Indigo Spell, The Infinite Sea, The Jewel, The Lost Files: Hidden Enemy, The One, The Retribution of Mara Dyer, The Selection Stories, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Young Elites, Throne of Glass, Through the Ever Night, Trial by Fire, Under the Never Sky, Uneartly, Vampire Academy, Veronica Rossi, Veronica Roth, We Were Liars

Stacking the Shelves is a thing where we talk about the books we’ve collected in the past week. These can be bought, delivered, ARCs, ebooks, etc.. Pretty self-explanatory.
Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tygna’s Reviews

This week, in honour of the new year, I’m doing things a little differently.

I’m doing a post on ALL the books I bought this year!

It’s going to be epic.

Also, please note, I have actually been working on this post since October. This thing has taken me 3 MONTHS to create.

Enjoy.

Books Bought:

And here’s what you’re seeing in the picture

Whole series bought:
Unearthly Trilogy, by Cynthia Hand
Obsidian Series, by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Blood of Eden Trilogy, by Julie Kagawa
Pivot Point Duology, by Kasie West
Under the Never Sky Trilogy, by Veronica Rossi
Vampire Academy Series, by Richelle Mead (incl. Movie companion & Ultimate Guide)
Paranormalcy Trilogy*, by Kiersten White
Sister Assassin Duology, by Kiersten White
Disruption Duology, by Jessica Shirvington

Whole series currently available bought:
Bloodlines, by Richelle Mead
The Arcana Chronicles, by Kresley Cole
Let the Sky Fall, by Shannon Messenger
The 5th Wave, by Rick Yancey
Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas

Other:
Secret/Sacrifice, by Brigid Kemmerer
The Selection Stories/The One, by Kiera Cass
The Goddess Test/Captive, by Aimee Carter
Raising Demons/Spell Bound/School Spirits, by Rachel Hawkins
The Dark World, by Cara Lynn Shultz
Four: A Divergent Collection, by Veronica Roth
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson
Sinner, by Maggie Stiefvater
Masquerade, by Kylie Fornasier
Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods/Blood of Olympus, by Rick Riordan
Renegade, by Debra Driza
Legend, by Marie Lu
Dangerous Creatures*/Beautiful Darkness, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Talon, by Julie Kagawa
Revenge of Seven/Hidden Enemy, by Pittacus Lore

*Not pictures because I forgot that I bought them this year and I didn’t remember until after I put all the books back

Special Mentions (ordered, not received):
Rebel Belle, by Rachel Hawkins
The Retribution of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin

Books Won:

Now, I didn’t have to pay for all my books last year…rafflecopter was kind enough to allow me to win several books, plus bookish events enabled book winning.

Won from blogs:
Are You Seeing Me?, by Darren Groth (Thank you Notebook Sisters!)
Falling into Place, by Amy Zhang (Thank you Book Nerd Reviews!)
Blue Lily, Lily Blue, by Maggie Stiefvater (Thank you Miss Page Turner’s City of Books)
The Jewel*, by Amy Ewing (Thank you Genie in a book!)
Spark*, by Rachel Craw (Thank you again, Notebook Sisters!!)

*Not received yet

Won at events:
A Thousand Pieces of You, by Claudia Gray (BTCYA)
The Mortal Instruments series, by Cassandra Clare (CoHF Book Launch) (I gave these to my sister…she loves me)

Miscellaneous:

Presents (Birthdays, Christmas, etc.):
We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart
The Young Elites, by Marie Lu
Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo
The Darkest Minds/Never Fade, by Alexandra Bracken
Trial By Fire, by Josephine Angelini
Days of Blood and Starlight, by Laini Taylor
Dracula and Other Horror Stories, by Bram Stoker

Books I got for free (through various means):
Evernight, by Claudia Gray
A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness
Anna Dressed in Blood, by Kendare Blake
Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor
Half Bad, by Sally Green
I Was Here, by Gayle Forman (ARC)

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So…that was all the books I got my hands on 2014.

How was every one else’s year?

Top Ten Tuesday

Tags

Amy Zhang, Bloodlines, Blue Lily Lily Blue, Books I Read In 2014, Bram Stoker, Cara Lynn Shultz, Disruption, Dracula, Falling into Place, Four: A Divergent Collection, Gayle Forman, Half Bad, If I Stay, Jessica Shirvington, Julie Kagawa, Kasie West, Kiera Cass, Kiersten White, Maggie Stiefvater, Mind Games, Pivot Point, Richelle Mead, Sally Green, Sarah J. Maas, Sinner, The Dark World, The Immortal Rules, The One, Throne of Glass, Top Ten Tuesday, Vampire Academy, Veronica Roth

Top Ten Tuesday is a thing where we get given a topic, and we have to list our ‘top ten’ things for the topic. Pretty self-explanatory.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This Week’s Topic: Top Ten Books I Read In 2014

I’m going to start by saying this is a cruel topic…HOW am I supposed to pick 10?

1. Vampire Academy and Bloodlines, by Richelle Mead
The whole of both series. Seriously, WHY did I wait so long to read these? They are so amazing!!!

2. Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas
Again, whole series. Just so awesome!

3. Sinner, by Maggie Stiefvater
An unexpected extra story featuring Cole and Isabelle from Shiver…IT WAS AWESOME!!

4. If I Stay, by Gayle Forman
Oh, this made me cry! It was a 4 hour long audio book that I started at midnight and finished at 4am. So worth it.

5. Dracula, by Bram Stoker
I’ve wanted to read this for YEARS! And it did NOT disappoint.

6. Four: A Divergent Collection, by Veronica Roth
After the less-than-fantastic book that was Allegiant, I am SO GLAD Veronica Roth wrote this. It made me remember why I loved Divergent and Insurgent so much.
Even if I did spend most of it going “this person’s dead, this person’s dead, that one is still alive, but crippled, oh look, another dead person…”

7. Pivot Point, by Kasie West
Both books. Seriously loved these.

8. The One, by Kiera Cass
Great ending for the series. Seriously, fantastic.

9. Mind Games, by Kiersten White
Loved it. Seriously. I’ve loved all of Kiersten White’s books.

10. The Dark World, by Cara Lynn Shultz
I loved Spellbound and Spellcaster, so naturally I bought this as soon as I could..
I loved it!!

And because there is NO WAY I am sticking with 10, here are some more…

11. Half Bad, by Sally Green
ASDFGHJHGF! Amazing.

12. The Immortal Rules, by Julie Kagawa
Another book I’d been meaning to read this for years. And again, I was not disappointed.

13. Blue Lily, Lily Blue, by Maggie Stiefvater
Yes, two Maggie Stiefvater books, but they were both JUST SO GOOD!!

14. Disruption, by Jessica Shirvington
I can’t believe it took me so long to getting around to reading this author. This book was amazing, as was its sequel.

15. Falling into Place, by Amy Zhang
There is one reason this is so far down the list is because I only finished it on Sunday.
Oh my goodness, I TOTALLY get why people love this book.

Top Ten Tuesday

Tags

All Our Yesterdays, Ambelin Kwaymullina, Brigid Kemmerer, Cara Lynn Shultz, Crash, Cristin Terrill, Elementals, Half Bad, Kady Cross, Kylie Fornasier, Let the Sky Fall, Lisa McMann, Masquerade, R. J. Anderson, Sally Green, Shannon Messenger, Spellbound, The Girl in the Steel Corset, The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf, Top Ten Tuesday, Ultraviolet, Underrated YA

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This Week’s Topic: Top Ten Underrated books/series in YA

So, basically I interpreted this as ‘books/series that are not as popular as they should be’.

1. All Our Yesterdays, by Cristin Terrill

2. Ultraviolet, by R.J. Anderson

3. Elementals (series), by Brigid Kemmerer

4. Masquerade, by Kylie Fornasier

5. The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf, by Ambelin Kwaymullina

6. Let the Sky Fall, Shannon Messenger

7. Crash, by Lisa McMann

8. Spellbound, by Cara Lynn Shultz

9. Half Bad, by Sally Green

10. The Girl in the Steel Corset, by Kady Cross

Now, this one was hard, because I find it hard to tell what’s popular, and what’s not. So, basically, my rule was to look at the number of ratings on Goodreads. If it had under 20000 ratings, it made the list.
Interesting note: some series had a high number of ratings for the first book, but books 2 and 3 often had significantly lower numbers.