GoodRead - Half Wild

I finished this yesterday evening, and I had to sit and let it sink in before I dare consider writing this review.

After the events of Half Bad (not read my review or seen my 60 second review video for Bookish Brits? You know the drill), where Nathan meets his father so briefly, Nathan is a now a full adult witch. And still on the run from the White Witches.

He needs to find his friend, Gabriel, then try to save Annalise from the powerful Black Witch, Mercury. All the while, trying to control his Gift and watching as Soul O'Brien has taken control of the council of White Witches. War is coming as Soul is planning to take more control and is expanding his war against Black Witches into Europe.

War is coming. The question is, what will Nathan lose?

Right, I have to say this before I go any further. I loved Half Bad.  I LOVED IT SO MUCH! So much so that, within a very short space of time, I read the eNovella prequel and the sequel. THIS IS SUPER RARE FOR ME! I usually get excited and then have to wait a year for the next book, which gives me time to calm down and get my expectations to a nice level so I can enjoy and love the book.

Not this time. And because I LOVED Half Bad, I guessed that, while I'll love Half Wild, I won't love it as much... So I braced myself.

This is a very different book. It feels more brutal and bloody compared to Half Bad. If Half Bad was Harry Potter on acid, then I think Half Wild is Mockingjay on acid as well.

Both books have a feel that war is coming and the planning that goes behind war. But, unlike Mockingjay, which only took one book to look into the war, Half Wild throws us into war in the latter part of book 2 of her trilogy, leaving one more book to make all the heck hit the fan (not going to swear here!).

If you disagree with me, read the last 10 or so percent of this book and get back to me. This left me in a book coma all yesterday and today. And I start a new book amost immediately! DAMN YOU SALLY!!!

The writing in this is still very unique. It feels very Sally Green and I can't fault her in it. It's one the book's strongest points! And the way Sally is tackling the love triangle is interesting - it's there but it isn't the main focus. It's gently simmering in the background and I love that!

I still have a few tiny problems. One of them was Annalise. I can't help it with her. I keep thinking of her as Viola Davis in How To Get Away With Murder (love that show!) so I have to keep them serpeate. But I don't buy the relationship between her and Nathan (yes, this book converted me to the Nathan/Gabriel). I think it's because I was going "Nathan, are you really in love with Annalise? Do you love her because you love her? Or is it because, outside your family, she's the first White Witch who treated your like a human being rather than a experiment?"

But a worthy sequel. I can not wait for how Sally wraps this up (and we have to wait till next year. NEXT YEAR?! HOW AM I MEANT TO WAIT THAT LONG?!). Can I preorder it now or should I start begging Sally for book 3 now?