My Thoughts: Half Bad by Sally Green

4 chewy peanut butter cookies.

Cover Love:
I don't really love this cover.  It just doesn't seem very eye catching to me.

Why I Wanted To Read This:
I saw a lot of buzz on this one when it first came out and it landed on a couple "best of 2014 so far" lists, so I decided to give it a try.  Here's the synopsis from GoodReads:

Half Bad by Sally Green is a breathtaking debut novel about one boy's struggle for survival in a hidden society of witches.

You can't read, can't write, but you heal fast, even for a witch.

You get sick if you stay indoors after dark.

You hate White Witches but love Annalise, who is one.

You've been kept in a cage since you were fourteen.

All you've got to do is escape and find Mercury, the Black Witch who eats boys. And do that before your seventeenth birthday.

Romance?: There is a little one, or the start of one. Not sure if it is in Nathan's best interests though.

My Thoughts:
I whipped through this book very quickly.  In fact, it was the first book I had actually started and finished in a long time.  It held my attention really well.

Your heart just goes out to Nathan.  He is born into a society that does not want him, does not trust him and pretty much wants to wipe him and anyone he is in contact with or related to out of existence.  You just know that nay organization that is that afraid of someone or something and is willing to commit atrocities as a means to an end, is up to no good at all.  I can't wait to learn more about this world.  There has to be some major history and we need to hear both sides.

I really liked Nathan, a lot.  I wanted so badly for him to succeed in his mission to get his gift when he turned seventeen.  But really, that is a very small part of what Nathan needs to do, as he learns.  Not that I think he will follow through with his mission, but he has so much he needs to learn about himself, his world and his father and mother.  This is a journey I want to take with him!

To Sum Up:  I think this might be a little intense for my middle schoolers, but this is a great read and I do think that many young adult readers would love this one!