Half Wild

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?

Summary:

A disappointing sequel to a book with a helluva lot of promise. Slow, and not fully formed, the book dips and dives with only a few interesting scenes.

My thoughts:

I was thankfully sent an ARC of Half Wild courtesy of Penguin Random House just before Christmas(a neat Christmas themed story was included by Sally Green as an added bonus).

Though I enjoyed the short Christmas extra, Half Wild I struggled to enjoy for a number of reasons but I will start with the good bits. Some scenes were great, in particular every scene with Gabriel and Nathan present, which were beautifully written and timed perfectly.

I also loved Marcus, his brief appearance in Half Bad only made me crave more of him and naturally he appeared again early on in Half Wild except this time he stuck around, bonding with his son and aided the efforts to wipe the White Witch Hierarchy off the map before they spread across Europe oppressing White and Black witches alike.

The writing in no way fantasies the situation, it would be easy to drift off into the world of magic and superpowers but Sally Green reins it in, she keeps it gritty, real and believable and at times heartbreaking.

Three characters in particular showed their true colours in Half Wild, Nathan finally embracing his Black Witch side and bonding and learning from his father Marcus, who I feel definitely opens up, reveals more of his past and personality and for a mass murderer, comes off as surprisingly sympathetic. The last is Gabriel, an angel in his own right, utterly devoted to Nathan(in more ways than one) who regains his witchyness(is that a thing?) and his confidence and begins to make more of an impact.

Unfortunately, one of the larger players of the Half Bad has dived significantly, Annalise. A lot more of the plot revolved around her than it should have, and ultimately it didn’t change much. I to this day, can’t see what Nathan sees in her, especially when you have a witty-fitty wandering about you day and night in the form of Gabriel. Annalise is a whiney little girl that physically sucks the life out of Nathan, she has no spark and no purpose, and is the epiphany of a damsel in distress in Half Wild – a pretty face but not a lot going on upstairs.

With Nathan being as complex as he is, he clearly knows his heart and head, and despite his want for Gabriel he shuns it for the affections of Annalise, affections that are completely hollow and worthless when compared to the moments Nathan shares with Gabriel, there is love and then there is love.

I personally think Annalise is and always was, up to something. In the book she is in the perfect position for a spy, access to the Alliance’s attacks and raids against camps across Europe and it works, because Nathan is so hopelessly obsessed with her, he doesn’t’ even begin to suspect. And since the final battle hints to an inside betrayal, all my fingers are pointing to her.

As for the plot, beyond raids and waking Annalise, their didn’t appear to be one. The first half focuses solely on finding Annalise, Nathan and Gabriel swooping across Europe in order to find Mercury, through an assortment of Black Witches whom she trusts. There were a couple of Hunter sightings and a good battle in the middle and at the end but compared to Half Bad, it is crammed from cover to cover with filler.

It seems that Half Wild has fallen into the unfortunate second book slump. There isn’t much to grab onto, the thrills are few and far between and where the first book went out with a bang, Half Wild promises a wild good chase and little else for the final installment.

Final Word:

Disappointing and a bit of a drag, worth it for the moments with Gabriel and Nathan but the plot and other characters still leave a lot to be desired.