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.

We Were Liars - e. Lockhart

We are liars
We are beautiful and privileged
We are cracked and broken 
A tale of love and romance
A tale of tragedy  

Which are lies?                  
Which is truth?
You decide. 

★★★★

When I first approached this novella I had no clue as to what it was about and whether in fact I would enjoy it at all because of the meager amount of information written in the blurb. Lockhart is not a familiar author for me and this is the first book of hers I have ever read. Not only is it full of secrecy and mystery, it creates a sense of curiosity which for me personally, drew me in. 

The novella starts quite confusing with a map of the island (the key feature throughout the story) and leads us no clues as to what could/might happen. Straight away we are introduced to Cadence, the protagonist and who's point of view the 1st person is perceived from. In my opinion, she is a strong character who has been through so much distraught and sadness, she doesn't quite know what/who she wants from life. Cadence is completely in love with a colored boy named Gat whom we never truly find out his true meaning, although Gat is such a key character, I struggled trying to understand his morals and personality. Cadence's family (the Sinclairs) do not approve of Gat, and their element of disapproval isn't shown until at least half way through the book, because of this, a strong sense of racism occurs which is a key feature of the narrative itself. 

It wasn't until I was at least halfway through the novella when I started really enjoying it, to the point where I didn't want to put it down (which for me is a sign of a really good book) however even towards the end I was still extremely confused as to what was really going on. There were so many twists and turns in the tale which made it quite hard to understand and connect to the characters within the story. At the end, there is a complete and utter twist which is terrifyingly well thought out, beautiful and mind-blowing. I remember feeling so shocked I re-read the page over 5 times, purely to somehow get my mind to re-focus and carry on reading. The impact of this huge surprise sends the whole story spiraling out of control and it almost made me feel disappointed as the ending I had hoped would now never happen.

Even now I am still trying to get my head round why the book is called 'We were Liars' as to me, it has no relevance to the story. Maybe my metaphorical mind isn't quite working and it will come to me when i'm not thinking about it however I can think of many different titles which would of suited the novella also. 

Overall, I would rate 'We were Liars' 4/5 stars purely for the fact of how much e. Lockhart captivated me with thrilling and gripping words which quite frankly, are words of beauty and talent. I look forward to reading more of her books in the future.