Sally Green (1)Recensioni

This is a review of the whole Half Bad trilogy, by Sally Green. I enjoyed it. It's a YA fantasy story with interesting worldbuilding and characterization.

It takes place in a contemporary setting, where there are magical people who live in parallel with the mundane world and hiding from it, kind of like in Harry Potter. These magical people are called witches (there are both male and female witches, but the powerful ones tend to be females, although not all of them). Witches are divided into white and black witches, plus several kinds of half-breeds. Black witches tend to be chaotic and wild, which is not necessarily the same as evil although in some cases it may look like it, and have other unsettling characteristics. White and black witches have traditionally inhabited separate areas, and usually but not always ignore each other. However, at the time of the story, the white witches are governed by fascist-like leaders who cruelly persecute black witches and any other witch who dares oppose them. There are some very powerful black witches, but it's not in their nature to cooperate with each other.

Perhaps the most powerful among the black witches is Marcus, a wild man with the charming habit of devouring his victims' hearts to steal their gifts. Needless to say, the leaders of the white-witches and the hunters (their elite police force) would very much like to capture him and torture him to death.

The trilogy tells the story of a teenager called Nathan, who is the son of this Marcus with a white witch woman. Although he has never had contact with his father, his condition of half-black and Marcus' son results in his being viewed with suspicion and treated in an appalling manner. In the meantime his coming of age ceremony is getting near, and at that time Nathan, like any other young witch, will have to drink blood from an older relative and receive three symbolic gifts in a ceremony that will unlock his magical gift, or he will soon die. His white-witch grandmother, one of the few people who don't hate and fear him, is willing to be the one to give him three gifts, but it's not clear at all that the authorities will allow it.

And that's all I can say without spoilers. The tone of the trilogy is quite dark and bloody, but with plenty of action and wondrous things and powers. The author doesn't shirk from having Nathan show unsettling traits. All in all, a very readable and entertaining read.

This is a review of the whole Half Bad trilogy, by Sally Green. I enjoyed it. It's a YA fantasy story with interesting worldbuilding and characterization.

It takes place in a contemporary setting, where there are magical people who live in parallel with the mundane world and hiding from it, kind of like in Harry Potter. These magical people are called witches (there are both male and female witches, but the powerful ones tend to be females, although not all of them). Witches are divided into white and black witches, plus several kinds of half-breeds. Black witches tend to be chaotic and wild, which is not necessarily the same as evil although in some cases it may look like it, and have other unsettling characteristics. White and black witches have traditionally inhabited separate areas, and usually but not always ignore each other. However, at the time of the story, the white witches are governed by fascist-like leaders who cruelly persecute black witches and any other witch who dares oppose them. There are some very powerful black witches, but it's not in their nature to cooperate with each other.

Perhaps the most powerful among the black witches is Marcus, a wild man with the charming habit of devouring his victims' hearts to steal their gifts. Needless to say, the leaders of the white-witches and the hunters (their elite police force) would very much like to capture him and torture him to death.

The trilogy tells the story of a teenager called Nathan, who is the son of this Marcus with a white witch woman. Although he has never had contact with his father, his condition of half-black and Marcus' son results in his being viewed with suspicion and treated in an appalling manner. In the meantime his coming of age ceremony is getting near, and at that time Nathan, like any other young witch, will have to drink blood from an older relative and receive three symbolic gifts in a ceremony that will unlock his magical gift, or he will soon die. His white-witch grandmother, one of the few people who don't hate and fear him, is willing to be the one to give him three gifts, but it's not clear at all that the authorities will allow it.

And that's all I can say without spoilers. The tone of the trilogy is quite dark and bloody, but with plenty of action and wondrous things and powers. The author doesn't shirk from having Nathan show unsettling traits. All in all, a very readable and entertaining read.

This is a review of the whole Half Bad trilogy, by Sally Green. I enjoyed it. It's a YA fantasy story with interesting worldbuilding and characterization.

It takes place in a contemporary setting, where there are magical people who live in parallel with the mundane world and hiding from it, kind of like in Harry Potter. These magical people are called witches (there are both male and female witches, but the powerful ones tend to be females, although not all of them). Witches are divided into white and black witches, plus several kinds of half-breeds. Black witches tend to be chaotic and wild, which is not necessarily the same as evil although in some cases it may look like it, and have other unsettling characteristics. White and black witches have traditionally inhabited separate areas, and usually but not always ignore each other. However, at the time of the story, the white witches are governed by fascist-like leaders who cruelly persecute black witches and any other witch who dares oppose them. There are some very powerful black witches, but it's not in their nature to cooperate with each other.

Perhaps the most powerful among the black witches is Marcus, a wild man with the charming habit of devouring his victims' hearts to steal their gifts. Needless to say, the leaders of the white-witches and the hunters (their elite police force) would very much like to capture him and torture him to death.

The trilogy tells the story of a teenager called Nathan, who is the son of this Marcus with a white witch woman. Although he has never had contact with his father, his condition of half-black and Marcus' son results in his being viewed with suspicion and treated in an appalling manner. In the meantime his coming of age ceremony is getting near, and at that time Nathan, like any other young witch, will have to drink blood from an older relative and receive three symbolic gifts in a ceremony that will unlock his magical gift, or he will soon die. His white-witch grandmother, one of the few people who don't hate and fear him, is willing to be the one to give him three gifts, but it's not clear at all that the authorities will allow it.

And that's all I can say without spoilers. The tone of the trilogy is quite dark and bloody, but with plenty of action and wondrous things and powers. The author doesn't shirk from having Nathan show unsettling traits. All in all, a very readable and entertaining read.

Üks parimaid noortekaid, mida üle pika aja lugenud olen.
Esimene pool on eriti hea, teises pooles on juba rohkem traagelniite näha ja autori kogenematus paistis pisut rohkem välja, aga sellegipoolest, suurepärane lugu.

I really need to stop reading book series out of order, because I think I would have gotten a lot more our of this one if I had. That said, this book is fast paced and very compelling. I found the story interesting, and was pleasantly surprised by some parts and disappointed in others.

I've heard a lot about this trilogy and decided I would start with this novella to see if I liked the authors writing and try out the world and such. It wasn't bad and I did find myself enjoying it. I will probably go on to the first book and see how I like it. I would recommend this book. 4 out of 5 stars.

I enjoyed this book. I liked the characters and there was some interesting stylistic choices with the narration. However, the plot was pretty predictable and weak. Overall, I would recommend for people more interested in character than plot.

Man, this book was fucking grim. Gave up at 50%. Started reading "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" by Jenny Lawson to cheer myself up.

And I mean, the writing's good. But this kid just cannot catch a break. Persecuted, tortured, ignored. I quit when there were needles being shoved in fingers. Just...nope. Time to be done.

CW: Torture. Mother committed suicide.

I liked the concept of this novel, sort of like if Voldemort had a son who spent his childhood being persecuted by "good" witches. (It was not the next Hunger Games, as one blurb on the dust jacket suggested)
The beginning was more of a page-turner than the last half of the book, and I didn't get a deep sense of the characters besides Nathan's family. The romance didn't really move me.
Nathan and the world of black witches and white interested me enough that I will probably read the sequel.

I really like the idea of this book-- it's the story of a "bad" kid, you know the type, the one with the troubled home life, he gets into fights, he does poorly in school, he has a criminal for a father and everyone expects him to turn out the exact same way. It's about a kid who grows up with the whole world prejudiced against him from birth, all because of who his father is. I even like how the first part of the book is written in second person pov-- it makes it the story intense and immediate.

But I have to agree with this other review that said it felt like we are reading the author's rough draft, not the final, polished version. I felt like there was a lot more that could have been fleshed out in this book-- more about the world of witches (what determines a white witch from a black witch, anyway? and who decided white witches are the "good" ones?), more about Nathan's family (his mother is a potentially complex and fascinating character), more about Annalise (I seriously don't get why Nathan and her are so interested in each other... it was like they just saw each other in the classroom one day and that was that). The setting and world-building in general were pretty vague, all in all.

In any case, this is still a pretty fresh and unusual spin on the YA fantasy novel. It's surprisingly dark and gritty for the genre, and 95% of the story takes place outside of a school setting and involves several important adult characters instead of being a cast of good-looking teens. Not to mention the themes of prejudice, nature vs nurture, good vs evil. I'm convinced enough to go on to the second volume.

Picked this up because a book about witches from a male POV is a rare find and relevant to my interests. It does have a lot of Harry Potter parallels as mentioned in many reviews but it's unique enough that you can easily forget about that and is less similar the farther you read.
In this world, there are white and black witches with a lot of violence between them with the whites being the governing side and blacks mostly being independent and solitary. Upon turning 17, both types are bestowed 3 gifts and blood from a relative in order for their specific gift to appear, though they exhibit certain magical abilities before that (namely faster healing). The main character is half black and half white and is heavily discriminated against because of it to the point of outright abuse. As his 17th birthday approaches, he is ripped from his grandmother and half siblings, experimented upon by whites, isolated from society - but eventually is able to escape and goes to seek out one that can give him his gifts for fear that he'll slowly die without the ritual completed. There are a lot of different rules the witches have to live by both governed by The Whites and by magic itself (example: Nathan can't sleep inside without weird headaches because of his Black heritage and can also sense/feel electronic pulses from cell phones and TVs for some reason).
The biggest issue I had with the book is that it switches between 1st to 2nd person POV between chapters though it's all from Nathan's POV. Also some of the rules mentioned above don't make a lot of sense. In this world, being born into magic seems like an awful violence-filled short life.

I'm intrigued by this witch-filled world. I'm interested in the boy Nathan and the choices he will make. I am very troubled by large parts of the book -- I don't care how easy healing is, a book that is consistently, deliberately about torture and abuse doesn't really work for me. There are bright spots, but I'm having a hard time with several things.

1: I don't understand why the council of white witches is going with systematic torture. What is it supposed to accomplish?

2: There is nothing about the portrayal of the white witches that indicates that white = good -- which I guess is sort of the point, but meh. That the good guys aren't ever really all good guys, and you have to just people on their individual choices is kind of a simplistic message.

So as an adventure goes, it's all right, but also kind a grind. A somewhat horrifying grind about the debasement of a person based on nothing more than his parentage and how he survives it. Timely, I suppose, but more prurient than preventative I suspect.

And finally, I know that I shouldn't hold the book responsible for not living up to the ridiculous hyperbole of praise on the back cover, but man, the cover is beautiful, so I like to look at it, and the back cover is full of crap.

I really enjoyed this book and I can’t wait for the final book. The novel building is quite good.

A solid story that is incredibly well executed.

It is a shame it has received so much slagging on Goodreads because of how it was marketed.

3.5 stars
A bit slow-paced in the middle but interesting in the beginning and action-packed in the end. Can't wait to read the sequel!

DISGUSTING. UTTERLY APPALING AND HORRIBLE CONCLUSION TO THE SERIES. I hate you, Sally Green. I had high hopes for you, but you disappointed me. You just had to be like every other dumbass writer out there, didn't you?

Your series...is complete garbage. Yeah, it's great at first, but as it goes on...the last one was VERY lackluster and uncreative. You did the same basic ass thing every goddamn stupid author does. You are no different. First of all, your writing was horrible. Not good details. I also hate HATE the fact that that dumb bitch Annalise of all people gets a happy fucking ending, but Nathan can't? YOUR READERS DESERVED BETTER. NATHAN AND GABRIEL DESERVED BETTER. I understand that not everything can have a good ending, but did you have to make it utter shit? It felt half done-pun not intended-and half fucking assed and too easy. You took the easy way out, and instead of writing something halfway decent, you did that dumb shit.

I hope you see this review. I want you to know how much I despise you for this ending. I loved Gabriel, and what did you do? You destroyed him, one of your only decent fucking characters, not to mention the other good characters that died.

I regret wasting my money and time on such a garbage series. Mark my words, I will NEVER lay a hand on another piece of your work ever again because that'll probably be trash too.

AND TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE READING THIS REVIEW. I BEG YOU. DO NOT READ THIS SERIES. YOU WILL BE VERY DISAPPOINTED AND LET DOWN, FILLED WITH NOTHING BUT ANGER AND HATRED. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME, MONEY OR ENERGY. THIS SERIES IS FUCKED UP AND SO IS THIS AUTHOR. PLEASE, DO NOT READ THESE BOOKS. I AM GOING TO GET THEM OUT OF MY POSSESSION AS SOON AS I CAN. WASTE OF FUCKING SPACE ON MY BOOKSHELF. I DON'T KNOW, MAYBE I'LL BURN THEM. THE LESS COPIES THERE ARE OF THESE BOOKS IN THE WORLD, THE BETTER.

THANKS FOR READING.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. I think the strongest aspect is the world-building, and that is one of the most important aspects of stories like this. I need a good understanding of where we are and how things work. I think my biggest problem is that I don't love stories where the main character suffers unending physical trauma. I very quickly start to doubt that they should even still be alive. (Rambo should really have died in First Blood: Part 2. Just statistically.) Then in order to suspend disbelief and prove that the danger is real, everyone but the main character starts to die and get injured. It makes stories seem hokey. It wasn't that bad in this story, but it did bug me.
Nathan is a strong character, and I like the way he develops. It's difficult to get into the book in the beginning between his helplessness at school and in the cage. He's trapped, and I feel trapped for too long. Otherwise, I love the variety of characters, and I find them all to be different and interesting. They all feel solid and animated. Annalise is the only dud. I will now call her Stanley, because she is so flat. Her story seems cliche, and she's just there to get stuck and wait to be saved. It's a really boring Romeo and Juliet situation, and it doesn't fit with the rest of the book. Otherwise it is unique and compelling. Gran and the siblings are especially compelling characters.

Overall, I enjoyed the setting and the adventure, and I will definitely read the next one.

This was an amazing end to the trilogy, and it was deep and heartfelt and left me shook at the end. This has to be one of the most impactful series I've ever read, and one of my favourites now, though I don't think my heart could handle ever re-reading it. Would definitely recommend.

I loved this book, it was written in such an interesting, unique way, and I loved how you feel like you become the main character after being surrounded by his thoughts like that. Would definitely recommend.

Great, met all my expectations and more, can't wait to start the next book. This series has me hooked~

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“The Smoke Thieves” is a great start on a young adult fantasy series!

The fates of five different persons are intertwined on a path to survival on this medieval fantasy world. There are four kingdoms from which the five main characters come. Those kingdoms are either peaceful or not. They will however found themselves at war, fighting for their freedom or more power.

Princess Catherine of Brigant, a country known for its wars and fighters, is preparing herself to be married to a person she never even met, Prince Tzsayn of Pitoria. Pitoria is a peaceful neighboring kingdom to Brigant and everyone is happy to know of that wedding, as it will ensure Brigant’s eastern borders as well as will add to its wealth that went down after the war to Calidor.

Ambrose is Princess Catherine’s guard, and not only that. He is the second son of a marquess and he is a great warrior who has chosen honor by joining the Royal Guard. He is also in love with the Princess and his heart hurts knowing that she is to be married to another man. Alas, there is not much he can do about that!

March is a servant to Calidor’s King, but that was not always his place. He used to be a free man in Abask, but during the war between Brigant and Calidor, Abask stood in the way and the Calidorian failed to protect them, as he promised. Now all his people are dead and he seeks revenge.

He will find a way to revenge, when he hears of the King’s illegitimate son, Edyon, who lives in Pitoria with his mother. Edyon’s mother is a trader. She trades furniture while Edyon cannot help himself from thievery. He just cannot help it, which is how he founds himself in trouble, when he steals from a demon hunter.

The demon hunter, Gravell, is big and hairy and has a thirteen year old girl for a companion. The girl, Tash, is the demon bait, as she runs like the wind and lures the demons to Gravell’s trap. She has been born in Illast, which is neighboring Pitoria, and she was selected for this job due to her fast running ability! Their business is dangerous as getting the demon smoke is not easy. This means its price is high though!

In this first installment of the series, we get to know about the world and the different kingdoms, through the narrations of these five main characters. Each one of them are found in a different place, and start unravelling their own stories, however, it is more that obvious that their paths will eventually cross. And they do cross, since they all meet up as the book reaches its end, and they become a sort of a companion in a cold, hostile and dangerous territory.

As the story is told from five different point of views, the reader is able to get to know the characters and their perspective pretty thoroughly. There are their thoughts and acts and the reason for their acts, which is justified through their saying.

The author has done a marvelous work on the world building, as we get to know of the differences among the kingdoms, based on the different landscapes, the politics, the habits of their people, the accents, the hair and eye colors and so much more. There is striking difference between Brigant and Pitoria which is making a huge impact on the story itself and how things turn out in the end.

And the end is the mother of cliffhangers! A great way to get all readers hooked to the series, waiting for the next in line!

I received with thanks an ARC copy of The Smoke Thieves (The Smoke Thieves #1) from Penguin Random House UK & Netgalley.

This is my true and honest review of The Smoke Thieves (The Smokes Thieves #1) by Sally Green. This is due to be published on 3rd May 2018

This is the first book I have read from this author. After reading this I am sure I will give the Half Bad Series a try. This is a high fantasy book told from many points of view. These characters are interlinked with each other in different ways. The characters are likeable and made me want to learn more about them. The story does give you Game of Throne vibes but in a good way. This is book 1 and will defiantly be carrying on with new series. This kept me on my toes all the time reading it and would highly recommend giving this a try when its released.

Great book for fantasy lovers and multiple POV’s and high fantasy.

I'm in a decided not-reading-rut right now, where I've started six books in the past three weeks and read none of them. I started this one and finished it in the same day, so maybe I should be giving it a fourth star just for that. It's a really interesting take on witches and government control, with definite dystopian themes even if the world isn't dystopian at all. The story pulls you along easily, and is incredibly readable. It's also got some very intense abuse/bullying/violence. Like difficult to read intense. I'd recommend this for high school aged, primarily because of the wonderful writing that makes those scenes so evocative that I had to skim a few parts. Highly recommended, but keep that abuse stuff in mind because I feel like it might be somewhat triggering for survivors.

It's been a weak or so since I read Half-Bad. The minute I was done with it I gave it 4 stars. Just because of THAT ending. More like that last part actually. I liked it.

But thinking about it for a while I realised that the ending is so much better than the rest of the book. It has potential, but it just isn't exciting enough. What could be thrilling scenes ends up being those pages you "accidentaly" skip. I have some issues with this book, both the personality and/or the writing.

Since it's written in first person point of view the writing automatically becomes the main character's. In this case a boy named ... what was it again? (have to look it up) Nathan! Yeah, well through the writing the first thing I thought of was creepy. No actually the first thing I thought was that he was in love with Arran, but then I realised it was his brother. My fault. But I got really blindsided with how detailed he describes persons. Like the love interest (who I didn't like at all) Annalise. 9 sentences in a row with weird things! Okay, I get that he's kind of detached from the normal social life because he's half white and half black - witch and that he's more aware of his surroundings than most people. Observant for a 11 year old boy (11?? don't take my word for it). But 9 sentences about:

"her hands are impossible clean, her skin the colour of honey and her fingernails gleam"...

No? And why does it rhyme? Not to forget that it ends with:

"I know I should steer clear of Annalise".

That's where my head dropped into my hands. Yes, please, stay away.

Also the second person writing at the start? Even worse. The whole cage thing isn't really that good idea because when I’m two pages into a book I have literally no empathy for the characters. Why? Because I don’t know a single thing about them!

Aside from that there were good moments too. Just not enough to make up. And really not worth mentioning. There was just too much not related facts and quirks being thrown into a big mess.

One thing I actually liked was how Nathan's world just falled apart. A little at first and then suddenly his whole life falls to pieces. Something in that little angsty boy made sense then and you can clearly see where all this is going when he gets the letters one by one, each of them worse and putting him more and more in a cage. Until he literally ends up in one, but that was pretty predictable, seeing as you already know that from the start. There I lost my interest again.

Maybe sometime in the future I will forget all the things I didn't like about this one and pick up the next book. Maybe that one will make more sense. Maybe Nathan will make more sense?

Edit: Wait I almost forgot! Guess what!

"I had sort of guessed Celia had an issue with me, or rather with me being the son of you-know-who. WHAT? I laughed. Seriously. But yeah his dad kind of seems like Voldie.