Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy from publisher (released 26 March 2015)
After finally
meeting his elusive father, Marcus, and receiving the three gifts that confirm
his 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?
Before I begin this review, I just need to say,
wowowowowowowowowowowow! I seriously fangirled over this book. I didn’t think it could get better than the
first but my god, it did. It absolutely blew me away and I am so excited for
the 3rd book next year! Anyway, calm.
Half Wild is the second installment in the Half Bad
trilogy by Sally Green. I’ve only recently got into these books and I’m not
sure where I’ve been hiding.
The narrative in this book is the same as the first, which
again, takes a while to become accustomed to. I read this book on my Kindle
which made it slightly harder to understand but I was fine once I’d got used to
the layout again.
The story starts where it left off; Nathan is alone
and in search of Annalise and Gabriel. He sits and waits for Gabriel for a
while at their meeting place of the cave but there is no sign of him so Nathan
presumes he’s dead. The reader gets the impression that Nathan has hit a
serious low point and is struggling to stay positive.
Nathan begins exploring his new found power and finds
his body doing things it didn’t used to and finds himself waking up in blood
with animal remains around him. He’s not sure how it keeps happening but he’s
determined to find out.
Nathan has matured so much as a character since the
beginning of the first book and he will stop at nothing to get Annalise back.
Even kill famous Black Witches and hurt his friends…
Gabriel’s character is explored more in this book and I fell
in love with him. His love for Nathan is made all more apparent in this book
and you really empathise with him. (We all know the feeling of unrequited
love). The love is so raw and unconditional that your heart goes out to him. But
then something happens between Nathan and Gabriel that was totally unexpected
and genuinely shocked me. (No spoilers!) (But I do ship Nathan and Gabriel).
Nathan’s mission is to obtain the Fairborn, rescue Annalise
and try to form a relationship with his father. Doesn’t sound too difficult,
right?
After meeting a Black Witch named Van, who coincidentally
saved Gabriel’s life from the Hunters, she asks him to strike a deal with her.
Join a new alliance to overthrow the Council of White Witches and she will
return the Fairborn to him and help rescue Annalise. Despite his suspicions, he
can do nothing but agree to this and see where it leads him.
Through a series of obstacles and life threatening
situations, they finally find Mercury’s hideout and in turn, find Annalise.
There is a huge battle between them and the end result was pretty unexpected…
Once obtaining the Fairborn and making a new alliance, with
Annalise by his side, Nathan finds his father and asks him to join the
alliance. Their relationship really starts to develop and it’s lovely for
Nathan to have some kind of family again. Naturally, it doesn’t stay lovely for
very long...
His Gift is only getting stronger and finally Nathan’s
struggle of controlling it seems to be coming to an end. (His power is awesome
and if I were a Black Witch, I would want it!) Nathan has trained and has
become stronger mentally and physically.
There are a lot of
deaths in this book but unlike other books, I found all of these deaths were
necessary for the story to progress. I feel some authors kill off characters
because there hasn’t been a death in a while but all of the deaths that occur
in Half Wild are pivotal to the story. (Especially the last one…I had the
tissues out!)
The alliance finally comes into war with the Council of White
Witches and the battle is epic.
Nathan loses a lot in this part of the story and it’s pretty devastating for
him. And that’s where it ends. Right there. Just like that. The ending is a
total cliff-hanger (once again) and I’m honestly desperate for the last
installment. Part of me wishes it was more than a trilogy because I’ve
connected with the storyline and the characters so much, that I’d be more than
happy for the series to be never-ending.
Sally Green has excelled again. Bring on March 2016!
No comments