What is the series about?
I will briefly summarize what the series about: Nathan Byrn is a half black and white witch. His father is a Black witch and his mother is vice versa. And it tells the story about him discovering his gifts, his father, his romance, and war. There is a war between the White councils with rebels that are against the council. Ergo, the council basically is cruel and kills off anyone that gets in their way. Well, you can figure it out yourself how the story goes from there.
Thoughts on the first book (Half Bad)?
The first book was really, really splendid. I loved it. At first I was reluctant to read it because I thought it was 2nd person point of view HOWEVER, it shifts into Nathan's POV which is good. Phew.
We get to know Nathan more and honestly, he's been tortured and been through so much that you want to give him a hug. The way Sally Green describes his emotions were just amazing and sad.
Plus, the book makes you question everyone's moral: who is bad or who is good? We can say they're all half bad. Bad pun. Nevertheless, I liked the development. I like how good the racism, elitist mentality, moral questioning, and how we got to know the universe of Half Bad. It is a great start and I recommend for you to read HALF BAD, the first book.
Thoughts on Second Book (Half Wild)?
The second book was also very excellent. It leaves off from the first book. This is where the war gets really serious this time and everything basically is leading up to the Council vs Alliance war.
But. There are character deaths here and there so please be warned. If you believe the second book was sad... wait till book three.
The romance between Gabriel and Nathan is absolutely beautiful. It is nicely developed unlike the Nathan and Annalise ship. Gabby genuinely cared for Nathan so deeply and was very much in love.. And well, Nathan is conflicted by his feelings for Annalise but don't fret! He settles his feelings then ;)
Well, the second book is where Nathan becomes an all out killing machine, even more self loathing, and as we go near the end of the book, I felt like I was in a rollercoaster in Universal's (hm, Dragon Challenge).
I like the Marcus and Nathan bonding time. It was absolutely beautiful however... Annalise. Gosh.
The near end is kind of just eh. I felt like it was going repetitive sometimes with the second book. Though, the plot did developed good. Still a good read nevertheless.
Thoughts on Third Book?
Now this is wear I begin to rant and rage. Please forgive me but...
Half Lost was just like....
Wtf?
The war portrayed here was still really good hower I have so many problems with this final. I don't believe it did the right justice for the amazing first and second book. No. I don't think so.
I felt like the plot was kind of rushed? We just get a passing of characters dying with no proper burial or indication. It shocked me, in a bad way. Spoilers: Val died, Ellen dies, and just a shiz ton of people died in this book. Yes, its a war book but I felt like it was lacking something.
Now the ending. The freaking ending.
I'm not exaggerating but the ending of this book is just so shocking, sad, and made me kind of think it was unnecessary.
Spoilers!
Guess who died as well? Gabriel. Gabriel died. Our gay, Nathan loving, and kind boy died. And ANNALISE LIVES. Had a child with Nathan. But what happened to Nathan?
NATHAN TURNS INTO A FREAKING FLIPPING TREE. Yes a tree. A tree. Adam Perrish was beat into it.
Ok, I admit that the ending was sad but at the same time satsifying and maddening. Because ok, Nathan turns into a tree next to Gabriel and becomes part of nature. In short: commits suicide by being a tree to be with his boyfriend. Then suddenly, we get hit up that Nathan impregnated Annalise with a child which was so unnecessary and uncalled for just for a shock factor? No just no. Stop.
I thought Nathan can only turn into an ANIMAL not a PLANT. But all this Essence BS gave it an excuse for readers to just accept it? No. No. Its just a bad move for it to be conveniently suddenly that Gabby dies, Nathan learns how to be a tree, Annalise becomes a tree, there's the Blue shit, and all this character deaths.
Thats overdoing the shocking value. Nope. If the author did maybe one or two shock value, great! But it was just too much for me. I literally felt myself have pain over from reading this and I just got all "wtf" in 5 am in the morning, hoping for a great ending. Because honestly, the ending runned me over 10 times because the events were too sudden. It felt rushed to read book three.
*Sigh* And many people have pointed out that the author used the "kill the gay" trope. Which is true. We need more portrayals of LGBTQIA+ characters and POC characters with more positive aspects. Because most portrayals of these precious characters are just borderline depressing and MEDIA and any sort of medium that shows stories or what so ever, can impact people's perspectives. The book may have came across as negative because Nathan was bisexual and POC. He died. And as well as Gab who was gay and POC. Van didn't conform into a gender: a poc as well. I feel like the important good POC characters died, the Black witches. Like, we already had Nathan as self loathing, filled with hate, bad past and all we needed was a positive ending for him instead of having his bf died and turned into a tree. For christ's sake, he had his ex shoot his FATHER and had a kid with her. Honestly. I just. Bye.
TLDR: Read the trilogy but if you read this review, it's entirely your decision to boycott the last book. I personally just didn't like the ending. It doesn't sit right with me.
Anyways, I feel like I did not did the book review a real justice for the whole series but I tried my best. Please understand to be polite in the comments and if you want to get good constructed reviews: visit goodreads. :)