Half licht

The Half Bad Trilogy #3

by Sally Green

The third and final instalment in the breathtaking Half Bad series by Sally Green - now available for pre-order!

Nathan Byrn is running again. The Alliance of Free Witches has been all but destroyed. Scattered and demoralized, constantly pursued by the Council's Hunters, only a bold new strategy can save the rebels from total defeat. They need the missing half of Gabriel's amulet - an ancient artifact with the power to render its bearer invincible in battle.

But the amulet's guardian - the reclusive and awesomely powerful witch Ledger - has her own agenda. To win her trust, Nathan must travel to America and persuade her to give him the amulet. Combined with his own Gifts, the amulet might just be enough turn the tide for the Alliance and end the bloody civil war between Black and White witches once and for all...

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, LGBT, Magic, Fiction, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy

272 pages, Paperback

First published March 29, 2016

About the author

Hi - I'm Sally Green. I'm the author of the real-world/ fantasy Half Bad Trilogy, which is made up of Half Bad, Half Wild and Half Lost. Most people read them in that order but there's always a few who don't. Many people who read them are teenagers but there's a lot who aren't.

I'm currently working on a new series called The Smoke Thieves, which is due to be published in spring 2018 and is definitely fantasy (there will be a map).

I said I'd never write another trilogy after Half Bad but it seems I lied.

I live in a village in north-west England.

There's some stuff about the Half Bad trilogy at www.halfbadworld.com.

Follow me on twitter@sa11eGreen

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now THAT is how you end a series. Wow. This book destroyed me. I admit I had some reservations after Half Wild, but Sally Green redeemed herself and ended this series the way it deserves. I'm at such a loss for words. I need some time to gather my thoughts.

Okay, I think I can write this review now. When I say this book destroyed me, I 100% mean it. The feels I was feeling can’t even be explained. I laughed, cried, cheered, screamed, cried some more, smiled, cried a hell of a lot more, and on it goes. I can’t think of any other series that has ended in a way that has had me this satisfied. Everything was addressed. The beauty of it is that there were things set up in the previous books that I didn’t even see coming! I guess this more than makes up for what Half Wild lacked. If you wrote the series off at that point, pick it back up. Half Lost has the same excitement that filled the pages of Half Bad making it unputdownable.

Two months have passed since the ending of Half Wild and Nathan is hell-bent on getting his revenge. The Alliance of Free Witches has suffered a great loss, but is still fighting for the cause they believe in - a world where both the Black and White witches can live together peacefully. The corrupt Council and Hunters are both still trying to end the existence of Black witches, half-codes, the Alliance, and most importantly Nathan. Neither side will back down. Get ready for an intense fight to the end!

There are romance developments in this one that explore a ship I’m sure others are both anxious and excited to see. It is done in a beautiful way and don’t want to say anything else about it.

The character development over the course of the series was fantastic! From the moment we met some of the characters in the first book (or even the second), with all the things they have gone through- as expected- they’ve grown in more ways than way. I’ve enjoyed this journey with the characters and loved seeing the way everything turned out for them.

Aside from the fact that by the end of this book I was surrounded by tissues trying not to destroy the pages I had just read with my tears...this was a GREAT read. The entire series made me feel so many things bringing plenty of twists and surprises along the way. I can’t wait to see what Sally Green does next!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review from PenguinTeen.

[Ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

what i need in this book:

- less annalise
- analise dead
- nathan & gabriel hiking
- nathan & gabriel climbing
- nathan & gabriel swimming
- nathan & gabriel kissing

is that too much to ask? *puppy eyes

EDIT AFTER READ 5 APRIL 2016


OK... first of all I'd like to thank to everyone of you who liked and comment my pre-read rambling, I didn't expect it'd drawn so many likes ^^
After read the book, I'd say that I got what I need except one :))
But Sally gave us more than just Nathan & Gabriel kissing!

About the ending though....
Gabriel dead, Nathan becomes three...
The way I see it is it's a happily ever after ending.
This fanart describe it best:
https://twitter.com/_mitla/status/717...


I might be biased coz I'm emotionally invested with Nathan & Gabriel I ignore the other things like Sally writing or the plot, but still it's a good ending, heartbreaking but beautiful...

[Ben Alderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can not believe I have finished this series.
This novel was a fantastic ending to my favourite series. I loved everything.... Even the ending...

I will miss this world!

[Maggi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh! See how this book was on the shelf need-more-than-my-next-breath! Now see how it's going straight into the trashcan! Also, see how I am tempted to lower the rating to one star!

Honestly, I'm not sure whether to even write this review, because it will be next to incomprehensible and not as much a review as a rant about how fucking done I am with this book. Enjoy! (Seriously, this is nothing but an angry rant and sarcasm. Also every second word is fuck, so beware.)

The reason I started this trilogy was an amazing post on tumblr telling me about all the diverse characters, canon bi and gay soulmates!, and I definitely can't resist that in an universe with modern day witches.
And I loved the first two books! The character development was super well done and I couldn't wait to see how the story ends. Sally's tweets and tumblr posts convinced me we would get a fantastic ending. But ha, how wrong I was. I'm 97% sure she was on drugs writing the last 50 pages.

Not only did the ending make 0,001% sense, Green basically punched us all in the face. Diversity? How good is that even if the gay kid gets killed off again and the other one turns into a fucking tree?

JFC. Fuck this whole book and everything it stands for.
For a moment tonight I thought "Well, I do understand why she ended it the way she did." but fuck no, I do not understand and I refuse to understand why you have to kill off another LGBTQ+ couple / mess their lives up (and fucking turn one into a tree, ha, what a good joke lmao, Sally stop it :'-)) in YA literature.

What was the point of this ending? Is there even a fucking point?
The only thing I can come up with is that she wanted to show how war can mess someone's life up. But who the fuck here doesn't know how messy war can be? We've read about Nathan's struggle, we saw him getting worse page after page, his emotional state showed us perfectly well how horrible the situation was. Why the fuck was it necessary to kill off the person he loves the most? His fucking soulmate? Hasn't he been through enough already? Nathan deserves so much better.
And so fucking does Gabriel. His death didn't make any sense and didn't serve any other purpose than to mess Nathan's life up. So what, this time it isn't the typical 'let's kill this LGBTQ+ character to contribute to the straight character's development' but a 'ha let's kill a gay character to completely ruin the life of a bisexual character, ha, what a great idea'? Dear Sally Green, what the fuck?

Nathan survived getting locked up in a fucking cage, was bullied and abused, lost his family and was used as a weapon in a war when he was 17. I repeat, seven-fucking-teen. HE WAS A FUCKING CHILD. So what do we do with him? Kill off the last bit of life-joy he has and turn him into a tree. Bravo! What a twist!

I have one last thing to say. Fuck you. Fuck you for killing of another teenager LGBTQ+ couple, we definitely haven't witnessed it enough.



.........a motherfucking tree, jfc. what drugs was she on.

[Kiki · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm so angry at this book, and not because it was sad, and not because I always want a happy ending (I don't), and not because I think that in order for a book to be good it has to have a happy ending. That's not the case at all.

I'm so angry at this book because it felt like the entire thing was just window dressing for the Shocking Ending. And I know that anyone who thinks the ending was ridiculous and pointless and depraved is going to be accused of wanting "rainbows and unicorns" but guess fucking what: I am sick and tired of reading, and watching, stories about LGBTQIAP people dying tragically or suffering alone. You can sit there and say, "Tons of straight people died in this book" and that's true, yes they did, but (a) killing off all queer characters and/or leaving them to live miserable and alone forever is such an aggressively common trope in media that has significant cultural weight, and (b) scores of straight people (and almost all of them White witches!) went off and lived peacefully and moved on from the war. Meanwhile, exactly 0 queer people had happy endings. You have a gay boy dying in his lover's arms and then a bisexual boy killing himself by turning himself into a tree.

I'm not okay with this, and nor am I okay with this book being really flat and lacklustre, filled with battle strategy that I couldn't follow, filled with Nathan fucking hating himself forevermore and never being allowed to heal either from losing Gabriel or from his war trauma or from the abuse he suffered in his teenage. Do not tell me that "well, it's a war book" because we've had shitloads of war books that have been painfully, epically sad and horrible and yet have not ended with this ridiculous shock value ending. Why kill Gabriel off? Why leave this protagonist to suffer for years before ultimately ending his own life at the age of twenty-two? If this had been an adult book, it still would have been problematic, but much less so. But you're writing a war book for teens, so don't pretend that there isn't any morality at all between these pages.

So what is this book saying? There's no way to recover if you're broken. Forget it. Fuck life. Or, if you're broken and straight, you might be all right, but if you're broken and queer, you can FORGET ever being happy again. But the thing is that I didn't sign on for that shitty pointless soapbox finale, and neither did I sign on to consume another piece of media that ends with more sad, dead queer people. I'm fucking sick of it and when I cried at the end of this, they weren't, "Oh, I'm so sad but enjoying this" tears, they were "I'm so sad and furious and there is no hope here, there is nothing but hatred, nothing to take away from it, nothing at all".

Van's death adds to this in that she was coded as gender non-conforming and yeah, of course, she died too. "Yeah, but it's war". Yeah, but you sent boatloads of cis, hetero characters off to live in peace while the only queer characters died. "Yeah, but that's war". Yeah, but finding a decent well-written fantasy book with queer protagonists has 1000-1 odds. Finding a decent well-written fantasy book with ANY queer characters is pretty rare in itself, so when you then kill off all of those queer characters, who's fucking left? "Yeah but it's a war book." Yeah, but this is a fictional account of it. You have control over it, and symbolism is something that you create. There is no symbolism in the real world, but novels are full of it. It's the whole point of them.

Look at the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series: heartbreaking. Absolutely devastatingly sad. But it didn't rely on killing off the only marginalized characters for shock value. In fact, almost all of the main characters survived. Did that make it less shocking? No. Did that make it less sad? No.

Look at The Hunger Games: the representation of queer people was non-existent, but then again, there was precious little time for anything but straightforward plot. And it was also devastatingly sad, so honest and open and frank about the cost of war, and yet our protagonists didn't end up slumping down and giving up. They were not destroyed by their trauma.

What do we look for in war novels? Do we look for messages of bloodshed, of violence, of the awful darkness in humanity? Why do we look for that? What's the point in reading war novels just to revel in how fucking dreadful people can be to each other? A war novel that champions hope in the face of incredible adversity, that reminds us of the good that people can do even when they'd been compelled to do bad, and that speaks of the light at the end of the tunnel, is infinitely more compelling than a war book that throws its characters into a meat grinder and then does nothing with it. I'm not asking for a book about how everything always works out fine after a war, essentially preaching that war is necessary, no - I'm looking for a book like Daughter of Smoke and Bone that rejects war completely, that presents peace as always being the better option, that speaks of the total senselessness that is organized violence. Karou said to her people, "What do you see in our future?" and that is what makes that series so brilliant in the way that it handles war. It doesn't ask whether or not war is necessary, and it doesn't scream "Yeah, I'm super gritty" and it doesn't annihilate its only marginalized characters just to show off how Super Dark it is. It rejects the idea of war altogether and illustrates how absolutely pointless it is.

I loved the first two books in this series, because it seemed like this was the direction they were going. Waking up to how peace is the only way to move forward. The characters felt so real to me, and Nathan's voice was so strong, and I was so connected to it. But this brilliant protagonist who had survived being locked in a cage, mutilated, emotionally and physically abused, and ostracized by society was reduced to sad, just sad in Half Lost.

I'm just so angry about this. And it's not even all about the Kill Your Gays trope. It's about the waffling storyline, the confusing action, the total lack of a satisfying ending. There's about half a sentence of resolution for every major character we've been following over the course of the series and I actually could not believe that it cut off where it did: unresolved, unfinished, absurdly depressing and mopey.

I'm still crying about this but they aren't cute tears. They're fucking irritated tears.

Basically, this book was a massive letdown and I'm not happy about it in the slightest.

[shadid · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lmao, Green sure had fun jerking us around. When in doubt, queerbait!

Even better if you can do it personally by interacting with your LGBT readers on your twitter: promise them a happy LGBT ending! Watch them buy your book! Then see them talk about wanting to kill themselves because of how your plotline made them feel and take no accountability!

This book was such a "ride". Because y'know, what a revolutionary ending, one more dead gay kid and one more abused bi kid who don't get a happy ending. Maybe some day I'll be able to be objective about this. Maybe some day I'll write a proper review. But honestly, it was deplorable how you acted, Sally Green, how you gave young lgbt readers - young abuse survivors who related with Nathan, hope that he would come out of his struggles alright, happy, healthy and alive.

You already stabbed us once, you didn't need to twist the knife in deeper. Eat my ass out.

[Sarah Churchill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly my favourite ending of any book, ever.

So many feels. A fantastic end to the series.

[O.R.]

[spoilers]
Why precious Gabby ;( now every happy scene hurts. Such a tragic love story
Always so hopeless.When they finally got together&dared to have one simple dream it was snatched away too. But at least both were free of cruelty & together in tragic peace at the end.
Proof for Gabriel's & Nathan's undying love for each other. Like the ring, forever.
Their love was so real&mature,actions not just words,love not just empty lust.Respect,loyalty and devotion.
Tragic war kids with one simple dream they shared,hold onto to survive,brutally snatched away last second,when it was over.That's why both didn't make it.
I wanted all whites to pay. Kill them all like Marcus said. They were dicks. But in the end most got away with everything after making blacks' lives hell for years,even at the camp treating like tools and using slurs to describe them. Nat who suffered so much because of them was threatened with cage, she never paid for torturing&keeping him there. Anna ruined everything and sickeningly simply excused herself, got happiest ending. Gab who was so good&never harmed, loved, and stayed for Nat got killed. Nat suffered,lost everything and not all paid. After he lost Gab he did not even have strength for revenge anymore.
Poor boys.
I hated people always controlling Nat... with humiliation,pain,potions...forgetting what he went through,threatening for actions yet nobody else was&no one was paying for his pain.Hated the "equality" scene,glad he went against it,but at the end ended up so broken he didnt even care anymore.
Where was fairness?
Nat&Gab deserved happiness after everything,not the dicks&cowards,those who ran away,hurt,we barely knew.Bullshit not equality&justice.
Im mad that Nat who didnt really have a choice, & Gab who stayed for him even though he wanted to leave,both who suffered&sacrificed so much,worked so hard for their dream,happy ending,to live together peacefully after war, never got it & nobody paid for their suffering.Fought for the better future when they could just left. While Anna who done no good, worked against them, hurt Nathan, let her brothers torture him, murdered his father who could possibly have saved Gab, never worked for happiness, EXCUSED herself, got the happiest ending imaginable and others, just not Nat, forgave her.
WTF? Yet so expected:She never cared so just moved on.
Im mad Sally let her live and killed Gab.
Nat&Gab lost everything so people who did nothing/harmed could have it better?Sick
Why Gab out of everybody? To take the last hope away.
I cant get the choice to make precious Gabby die in agony & let her happily live. Makes me ill. Gabby deserved to live, not her. She got away with everything as he died for loving.
Her ignorance and hate saved her, his sacrifice & love for Nat killed him. Why he paid for loving?
Such a stab.
And with that Nat's last sanity, Gab his dream, gone. "Lucky" lived to see Wales unlike him, but...Only the thought of him saved him at the council but then he pretty much died with him. The fact that he waited to change into a tree proved he wanted to do it forever, not change first thing out of desperation to come back when healed. I loved Nat's reaction to Gab's death. This is how it was meant to be esp as Gab would't have died if not him. He knew Gab only stayed because he loved him. & died. The guilt&sacrifice&love were real.
Gab died, knowing their dream wont ever come true, there will be no Wales, he won't ever see them, be with Nat after everything was finally starting to seem possible. He was so happy... & deserved it so much for everything he did. It was heartbreaking.
I don't get hurting those who fought and gifting those who did not or worse.
Im grateful that if Gab had to die then Nat's reaction was the one written beginning when he was looking for him. Gab was everything to him and that's it.
But he & Gab deserved their happy ending.
Nat knew he & Gab'd had more time before, Gab'd have survived & they'd have been happy after war if not Nat, if he listened to Gab. Killed her, didn't waste TIME with/for her hurting&using him to save her. Left the war:Marc&Gab would have survived. They both were in it only for Nat. Saving Anna killed Mar&Gab. Sparing his sister killed Gab. Taking Amulet saved Nat but killed Gab in result. Gab was completely sacrificed. If they just left the war like Gab wanted to...
I think that was part of why Nat completely broke. Gab&Marc sacrificed themselves for him out of love & died because of his choices. She who only hurt him survived. Heartbreaking. But he fulfilled his promise & then went after Gab & that made it bearable.

I hope it was Nat's bad dream/vision again. Gab just woke him up & they went for a walk & swim in Wales where they live as planned in peace&love. & they spend time by the fire, Nat watching happy Gabby like he wanted,both watch the gorgeous view,love,don't starve anymore,&laugh,swim,hike,sunshine on their pretty now healthy faces,&then travel too, &are just so happy in love together both living their dream... Like they dreamed. Love only growing stronger.

I loved Gab not letting Nat treat him bad,Nat feeling bad "how could I?I dont want to ever hurt him again",hating that Gab thought he doesn't care,apologising&working for forgiveness.The ring scene!Finally.

They only had one dream. They were each other's dream.
I'm so heartbroken and emotionally drained.
Glad Nat was too. But I just can't accept that the sunshine of the story is dead. It's not how it was meant to end. Poor war kid, he just wanted to live in peace. He was so sacrificing,pretty&cheerful&good,loved but stood his ground,wanted to live,be with Nat with who he just&finally pretty much married,go Wales like promised,leave the war tired of suffering,scared of them dying,but ended up staying out of love &dying in agony for Nat who survived. Never lived to see Wales,be happy.Only his body was taken there.Just when they thought it was over...A second of relief.Fusing.Happiness snatched away suddenly,poor Gabby trying to hold on,Nat scared,desperate holding his hands,him,begging,screaming,kissing,hugging,loving... "you won't die" "dont leave me":( both suffered got ruined completely
I was happy that Nat never got over it, it was too much&he followed him.
They deserved happiness the most after only suffering so hopeless. They were teased, the visions, hopes, promises... They repeated&promised each other that they will have their sweet ending together.Be there for each other.They finally got together!Truly believed in it.Dreamed about it,clung to it.Worked for it.Just one dream they shared. I wanted them to finally be happy&peaceful together.But they were the ones who never got their happiness.Yet others did.
I didnt like it

"Wounded, not lost"
They were just boys.
& the war took away everything from them. Why? Didnt they suffer enough?

Gab did want to leave the war which would have saved his life. If he only did,he could had an ending like Nesbitt... He could have been happy. But he stayed for Nat, trusting in their innocent dream.
Nat's reaction to his death was perfect. I would not be satisfied if he moved on after Gab sacrificed himself,died for him.They gave their lives to each other.

They were both invited to Nes's wedding, Gab was meant to take care of Nat... but he was gone by then.& obviously Nat didn't go without him. I liked that.

Gab was so good & innocent for the war, he was this little, happy, loving Nat sunshine, speaking french sensitive angel to me, which makes the whole ending even worse. For Nathan, who suffered more than enough, too.Because it could have been different if they left like Gabby wanted to.

I think that was what broke Nat too. He knew Gab wanted to leave tired of everything, of being hungry (Nat's worry over his thinness!)etc... but stayed for him.
Nat proved he loves Gab just as much as he loved him. Beyond anything
If anybody deserved a happy ending it was them.
His death was only accepted by me because the other suffered so much because of it.
But it still hurt. Esp since people like Anna survived happy but Gab did not. Why! Frustrating, feels like a stab. So unfair. At least this wasn't done to have Nat pushed into her arms (Id be raging then). Nathan stayed with the one he loved and it saved the situation.
And maybe the fact that she lived and had a child but Nat still chose to stay with Gab said it all.
Still unfair. And the child made it worse.
Why she who done so much WRONG and excused herself like it was nothing got it ALL and the main boys got screwed after doing everything right?

Gabriel/Nathan relationship is the most beautiful one I have ever read.

[I hated, it was so wrong but at least luckily didnt go where I feared - The pregnancy was a stab /it would break Gab's heart/ & I hated it. She didnt deserve to have a child of a boy she ruined. Poor kid. Gab died for Nat while someone like her,selfish who only harmed,survived and got all the happiness&Nat's child.Wedding with a dude,people forgetting what she did. They wanted to go to her wedding?! Nat never forgave.Just him thinking for a sec about what he wanted with her once made me cringe terrified he'd go back.Wtf someone broke you two,Nat?She did!Why was she mentioned at all!Why always excused!She ruined everything!The only good thing that came out of it was that Nat finally could see that Gab was the one who really loved him and he loved him back.That was REAL, not him&her.Wish Nat realised that instead of saying bullshit.
Once he was Gab's he was his forever&beyond.
I did like Nat saying how she will have to live knowing what she did.

Killing Gab, he dies in agony&let her live happy?! Brothers tortured Nat because of her. Marcus died because of her. Gab possibly wouldn't have died if not her. And yet she just excused herself and got happiest ending. Gabriel who never harmed,protected&gave his life to Nat... Lost it. She never done a good thing for Nat.SHE WAS MEANT TO PAY NOT BE EXCUSED

Also others trying to push him to HER & the kid!? After what she did! Knowing about Gabriel! Way to piss on his sacrifice, sick.Trying to make Nat forget?! Wtf? Shoo!
But he still NEVER did and it said it all
[Arran's sudden cold behaviour about Gab at the end really put me off & Ledger could piss off, just wanting Nat for himself]
Gab only had Nat & Nat only had him. Leave them alone.
If Ann'd be the one who would "heal" him I'd rage for years and never get over it. It was enough she got an undeserved happy ending unlike the boys. Thank god Gab did not die just so Nat would be pushed into her arms. It would be the worst. It is enough he died while she lived But Nat stayed by him even then.
Gabriel was never betrayed again]

Nat&Gab suffered so much that they deserved their sweet ending. They had their dream, loved each other, just needed time to be given to them.Everything that could have been...And Gab wanted to leave the war, so if they did... If the amulet protected him too...
Nathan knew Gab was there for him and died. I'd break knowing, too.
Gab loved Nat beyond anything and it killed him. Biggest sacrifice. But seeing Nathan joining him instead of moving on made it bearable. I wouldnt accept it any other way.

When I've read about the child I just begged please don't do it to Gab, don't go back to her...
But he did not
It would be a stab in the back after Gab sacrificed himself for him
Once Nat realised how much he loves Gab, he was his, loyal&devoted till the end&beyond. Nat's reactions&thoughts,the moment they became a couple, their love for the things they did together, Nat apologising,the ring,their loving, dream to be together happy&peaceful in Wales, which they both clung to desperately and believed in, & how he reacted to Gab dying in agony in his arms...[the war was so close to be over!] [I'm grateful Nat was there for him. His desperation, begging him to stay, and promising him he won't die but he could do nothing as much as he tried... kisses, hugs],remembering memories, his touch&smile, everything even the way Gab looked at him & not wanting to forget so badly, trying to feel&see him again, to how he never recovered&just kept on thinking about him, seeing how it was meant to be if only he did not die(so heartbreaking), broken believing Gab was there with him in Wales needing to see Gab finally peaceful&happy,with him&seeing&feeling Wales as promised by Nat, not dead before it happened & would have happened if they only left like Gab wanted to,and even when denial was over he still did not move on, no denial but neither acceptance.
The agony&depression&devastation,full of love thoughts, missing him, the fact he took him to Wales as he promised, staying by his grave, just the two of them, how his death had an effect on his mentality[!] the way he didnt want to acknowledge the tragedy, he refused&became mentally ill,broke,&still saw him all the time just wanting to see him happy with him... Like they were meant to be. Nat, the one who was full of rage, just broke when he lost Gab. He loved him beyond anything and it wasn't just words, it was real and it was proved. Just like Gab's love for him when he fought for his heart, stayed and risked his life, died for Nat.Nat gave him his life too.
Nat couldn't heal & Im glad. Its realistic&says all,moving on would be a stab.Nat's kept his promise,took him to Wales&stayed there with him like they were meant to be together... Even if he could only take his body. But he did. And lived there by his grave, when the grass grew over it, never wanting to leave, no matter how much others tried. (They pissed me off. Leave them alone! Boys only had each other) And did not let others pull him away from him. He just found a way to be with him again forever.Securing him.There, where promised, till the end, beyond it.

That it happened after a few years, made the love even more real, because you knew he did not do it out of simple desperation right after his death[he chose to grieve first as unbearable as it was], so you'd think he would come back after he would feel better, but no, he said he will wait, and he did it after he calmed a little, but never got over it, he healed enough to not be in denial anymore, to not have them give him potions, but he never accepted it, the agony was still there,he thought everything through with Gab never stopping being his priority,only love,he practiced,thought that through earth they became one when they were looking for the gift so it would be the same when he would change, and how Gab would love to have a tree by him... And Nat did it. Gave him more than a tree. Himself. Basically found a way to hold his hands again.
After a few years he still only wanted him.Still most important.Nat's love for Gab won & he joined him just as he planned in the very beginning. From the moment he realised his love, it only grew stronger&nothing managed to break it. After a few years he did it as planned and that's how we know it was forever, not temporary.
It was beautiful.

Gab dying&Nat never moving on but finding a way to be with him again was a happy ending in its own way. It was about their unconditional true love at the end, death could not change it, love Nat luckily returned, late but not too late. At least they could spend some time together before everything went to hell. Gab knew Nat loved him, he proved plenty, I'd hate if he died not knowing. Nat moving on, leaving, wouldn't be a happy ending to me. Because he would break the promise and leave when Gabriel never did. Besides I really believe he could not realistically heal. The tree full of bruises said it all. He lost too much. Gab was the last person who held him sane. Was always meant to. And then was taken away from him too. [Nat desperately holding, hugging his dead body. Gosh... I can't believe he died.] When everything started falling into place... They were making plans for the future... And I appreciate he wasn't "exchanged" for someone else. It'd be sick.

They found their "peace" together,even if in the most tragic way. Exactly where they wanted to be,Nat found a way to be with his soulmate against all, ignoring others telling him to accept and move on. Gab would not leave either.Nat screamed love since he realised he really feels it for Gab. He wanted to apologise for everything [Love that Gab stood his ground and did not let Nat treat him badly] and make up for it, bringing Gabby to tears. When he gave him the ring... Sincere thoughts&worry for him were precious. And after everything he mentally broke&never gave up but finally found his way to him. Their relationship wasn't based on lust but love in the first place (that's why it won over the emptiness that was A/N).
The innocent precious love they had for each other made the ending even more heartbreaking.They suffered enough but it never got better for them, only worse.

I was terrified of Nat moving on with Anna, it would be the biggest stab in the back especially after Gab died for him. He wanted to leave but stayed for him. And died killed by his sister.
Or even with the other magician... It just wouldn't feel right. This one just wanted him for himself. Gab & Nat were meant to be together in Wales. That was the plan, the promise - Nat kept it. Others trying to change his mind made me want to shoo them away. Nat was the only one who truly cared about Gab, the only family. The ring... it was practically engagement and when he said Gab will keep it forever... It was a promise, engagement,marriage-it was important. He promised him Wales and he took him there and stayed with him forever even after death. He fulfilled his promise even though Gab never lived to see Wales with his own eyes. And just being there wasn't enough, he found a way to basically hold his hands again.

I am happy that if one had to die, the other kind of did too, wanted to be with him,found a way. It was all beautiful in its cruel way. More if they both just died. Because they proved their unconditional love for each other.
I would prefer if they fulfilled their dreams, they would be in Wales happy & alive just like they were meant to be, just like Nat could not stop seeing it, like they deserved & clung to the dream, and I wanted to be in denial too, but if I could not have them alive... at least it were Wales, because Nathan promised him Wales, and they stayed together, just as he promised him too. Against others trying to make him move on.
Nathan never left Gabriel, he found a way to be with him forever even after his death.
Their love was beautiful.

"wounded, not lost" Nat's last words, their password, showing how he never forgot and never managed to get over Gab's death because it was too much&he loved him beyond anything. He finally found a way to be with Gab again. The whole idea of him staying with him even after death... keeping him safe, never wanting to leave, was so touching. Finding a way to hold his hands again. So right.
Poor kids :( They were tragic war kids who deserved so much better. Hurts that those undeserved did instead.
Remember when they've met? :( Their love won with everything, even with death at the end, but it was too short when they were alive. I wish Anna was never in the way, that she died not Gab, that Nat wouldn't have wasted time when they were still alive. I wish he left with Gab when there was still time. He never forgot himself for not doing it and saving him, them, in result.

For a moment I thought they saved Gab. Like Nat, living in denial too, but his reaction to his death was 'perfect'. It showed how much it broke him so how much he loved him.
They deserved happiness beyond anything,not to be broken completely after everything they went through. Together happy in Wales, finally the kids they were meant to be, keeping each other safe.ALIVE.They repeated so many times how much they wanted it.

I just wish the ending said "i read to them"

[Emily May · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I’ve killed fifty-two people. But really all I want is to get my hands on her. I’d be happy with fifty-three. Just one more and I’ll be satisfied."

2 1/2 stars. I liked this book more than Half Wild. I liked the gay romance. I liked that Nathan is a true antihero with a murderous mean streak that he actually acts upon - in other words, he isn't just one of those characters who's sold as an antihero but never does anything questionable.

But I have a theory. The same theory I have about series like Ee's Angelfall: the author came up with a fascinating and exciting premise - good witches! bad witches! magic! misunderstandings! inner struggle between good and evil! - and then lost it when it came time to turn that premise into a compelling story arc.

I really loved Half Bad. Not everyone did, but I thought the writing and the idea were instantly engaging. I enjoyed reading about how Nathan grew up as a problem kid and everyone expected the worst of him because his father was a black witch - and, in the end, was it nature or nurture that made him the way he was? The story was realistically frightening and unfair.

But that story started to wander in circles in both Half Wild and Half Lost. I lost count of how many times Nathan's inner narrative repeated his feelings about his father and how alike they are, his feelings about Annalise and how he must find her, and his feelings about Gabriel.

The plot itself also moves in a pattern of:
1) Find the bad guys
2) Infiltrate bad guys hideout
3) Kill bad guys

As I said, I enjoyed this book more than the last one, but I still find myself looking back over Half Lost and wondering what it really contributed to the series and story. There is literally one "big" and memorable occurrence near the end and, truth be told, it was just kind of disappointing. This is a very real spoiler: we finally get a central gay romance in YA fantasy and the author kills off the gay love interest? It just leaves a bad taste.

This isn't even a case where the story feels dragged out longer than necessary... rather, it feels like the author wrote it with no idea where it was going. It doesn't really seem to have a climax and the ending kind of fizzles out.

If you read and enjoyed the first two books, then it makes sense to read this finale and get your closure. But if you've been skeptically raising an eyebrow for a while now, you're honestly not missing much.

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[Josu Diamond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leído en el #BookTourLadoPerdido.

No voy a mentir: me ha costado leer El lado perdido. ¿Habrá sido culpa de las tan altas expectativas? ¿Habrá sido que al ser una de mis trilogías favoritas me esperaba más del último tomo? Puede ser, sin duda, pero voy a tratar de justificar mi opinión en unas cuantas líneas.

Empezando por los personajes, creo que se llevan la palma de esta saga. Nathan evoluciona de un modo tan extraño, tan increíble y tan cruel a la vez que es un placer leer sobre él páginas y páginas. Gabriel, por otro lado, consigue que el lado perdido de la mente de Nathan no esté tan perdida: es su guía, su fiel acompañante. Una relación que ha sido sin lugar a dudas lo mejor de la novela e incluso podría decir de la saga (en cuanto a personajes, por supuesto). Y ES QUE ENCIMA PASAN UNAS COSAS QUE OMG. Los secundarios no me han cuajado del todo...

De Sally Green no puedo decir nada que no haya dicho ya. Toda una señora escritora de los pies a la cabeza. Lo que hace esta mujer es algo increíble, aunque sí es cierto que he echado de menos un poco más de sorpresa en su estilo. Sin embargo, creo que se ha centrado más en el desarrollo de los personajes y en sus sentimientos... Pero aun y todo lo he echado de menos, jo.

La historia en sí es lo que más me ha fallado. En El lado oscuro no paraban de ocurrir cosas y había no solo giros en la trama, sino personajes interesantes que aparecían continuamente para aderezar la trama. En El lado salvaje estas mismas características se multiplicaron y consiguieron crear una novela que es una OBRA DE ARTE. En El lado perdido he tenido la sensación de estar esperando algo que al final no ha resultado ser lo que prometía: una guerra capaz de superarlo todo, que se lleva fraguando tanto tiempo... Y que resulta tener un desenlace algo pobre y en pocas páginas. No sé, me ha parecido desproporcionado que la mayoría de la novela se base en preparar la guerra y que finalice tan abruptamente.

En cuanto al final en sí de la trilogía, en cuanto al broche de oro, he de decir que me lo temía. Sí, sí, me lo llevaba viendo ya unas cuantas páginas. De hecho, me inclinaba por ese final desde las primeras páginas. Quizá es porque yo cuando escribo siempre opto por lo peor y lo más horrible, y Sally Green parece que también, así que me incliné a pensar eso... y resultó ser. No sé, el final me ha dejado algo chafado. No me ha pillado por sorpresa.

En líneas generales, El lado perdido es un final de trilogía que no está a la altura de la segunda parte, pero sí de la primera. Creo que es una de las mejores trilogías actuales y no pararé de recomendarla por sus personajes, historia y su estilo tan único. INCREÍBLE.

[Cee · Rating 1 out of 5]

*spoilers*

I am so very, very disappointed with this book.

Sally Green threw away a great premise, wonderful characters, by writing the same, dreadful tropes.

Do you know how hard it is to find Lgbt+ books? Do you know how hard it is to find good Lgbt+ books that don't focus on sexuality? It's a thousand to one. It's a thousand to one, and none of the Lgbt+ characters ever get a happy ending.

I cannot believe that Sally used social media, made it very clear that she was marketing this book to young, Lgbt+ teens, and then she goes and kills of the two lgbt+ protagonists, whilst the minor straight (white, able bodied, neurotypical) characters carry on and live a fulfilling life

The deaths don't even serve any purpose, they didn't further the plot at all. The war was won. It's pure wangst. To make the characters suffer. To have another tragic story that's been done a thousand times before.

And of course everybody's telling us to shut up - people kill their characters all the time! It's dramatic, gritty realism! Stop whining about your precious Gay Characters dying.

Listen. For every one tragic story with a straight romance/character that ends in tragedy there are a hundred ones with happy endings. Plenty of representation. You can find another. They are everywhere.

Lgbt+ teens don't have that luxury. What little representation either ends in tragedy, or ends in heartbreak. They can't pick up another book and find their happy ending.

All you're doing is depriving 15, 16 year olds - scratch that, 14 year olds, 12 year olds, - of their much needed representation. The media doesn't cater to them. And you can't taunt them with happy endings, with characters they can relate to, and then just ruin it all.

Do you know what message that's sending to these kids? The group of people most likely to commit suicide? The ones with next to no representation at all, who face discrimination regularly, who'll always be treated differently?

You don't get a happy ending.

Bury your tropes, not us.

[Charnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

**** I'd probably suggest not reading this review if you haven't read Half Wild yet, as it spoils the end of Half Wild! ****

I both loved and hated Half Lost. Okay, okay... I LOVED IT! But I am a broken human being right now. I am hurt deep in my soul and don't know what to even do about it. Sally Green definitely knows how to write an epic finale that can shock and surprise her readers, and happily crush our hearts and souls. Prepare yourself for this book, it is going to be a book you find impossible to put down.

Nathan begins the book angry as all hell. He has an absolute hatred for Annalise that he will not get over. He wants revenge for his fathers death, his one mission seems to be hunting her down and killing her. And, I'm sorry.... I DON'T GET IT! Seriously, I need someone to properly explain this to me as I still don't see why he suddenly hates Annalise. Okay, yes, she did kill his father, which did result in a large number of the Alliance dying. But, she did this because she was shooting his father as he was slitting her brothers throat. I'm sorry, in this instance, I am on Annalise's side. Nathan swore no harm would come to him, but his father stood there and quite happily shoved a knife into his throat. He should have known Annalise wasn't just going to stand by and watch. Connor was the only member of her family she loved, the only one who treated her well. She grew up with him and cared for him. Nathan has known his father for five bloody minutes. I'm sorry, Nathan, get over it! You have way better things to worry about right now, leave it alone. I felt it was just a convenient way to get Annalise out of the picture and allow the Nathriel ship to sail - not that I am complaining about that.

Gabriel is still my favourite part of this series, I adore that boy so much. I wish he was a real character because he would be my new best friend. I LOVE HIM! And I love him with Nathan. This book just set my shipper heart racing like nothing else, these two are just two freaking cute!

There is a lot going on in this book. The Alliance are trying to work to take down the Council and the Hunters and work out a way for Black and White witches to live together peacefully. There is a lot of action in this book and it is a book you are going to find so hard to put down. I couldn't get enough of the book, but I definitely feel like the Half Wild is still my favourite, mostly because it didn't reduce me to a useless, blubbery mess. I cried so hard during the ending of this book, I hurt just thinking about it.



5/5 Butterflies

Part of me wants to know points off the book just for the fact it made me cry harder than a book has managed to do in years. But I can't. Okay, it broke me, but it ended beautifully. Sally Green gave us an incredible and action-packed finale. She made my shipper heart happy and she gave me twists, turns and shocks. I feel so sad having to say goodbye to this series and its characters, but I will be eagerly awaiting whatever Sally Green writes next.

For those who have read this... BIG SPOILER.... SO PLEASE ONLY READ IF YOU HAVE READ. OR DON'T CARE HAHA Can we just talk about Gabriel dying please?!?! I AM STILL DEVASTATED. WHY WOULD GREEN DO THAT TO US!?!?!!!!! Ahhhhh it still hurts.

[Reed · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stop killing gay teens thanks.

[Zeynepnur · Rating 1 out of 5]

30.03.2016
(Might have spoilers, I'm pissed off)
I'm not going to rate this book. I'm crying and I feel so sick. But I don't want to give this book one star or hate it. I just feel BETRAYED. Half Bad was the book that got me into reading. Nathan was the only character that I really connected and definitely my favourite. AND HE DID NOT DESERVE THAT ENDING. GABRIEL BOUTIN, THE MOST PERFECT '(boy)FRIEND' AS NATHAN SAID, DID NOT DESERVE THAT. I hate and love this book at the same time. The story, the writing, all the characters, they were so important for me, I didn't care that much about any book series before. BUT THEN THIS FUCKING END. No, it wasn't good; it was a terrible way to end the series, not poetic; killing characters just for shock? Really, Sally, I never believed you could do this. Now, leave me be to cry.

Update 07.04.2016:
AT LAST I MANAGED TO RATE THIS.
-1.5 STARS-
I admit there were things that I really loved but two things disgust me so much:
(Spoilers, obviously)
1. CELIA THE ABUSER. I almost vomited at every part she was in
2. SUICIDE IS NOT POETIC OR ROMANTIC, I THINK IT WAS A COMMON FACT BUT NOPE.

[Marcos Bueno · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 / 5

Solo os recomiendo que no hagáis ninguna teoría acerca cómo puede terminar "El lado perdido", pues os prometo que no daréis con la resolución.
Sally Green ha conseguido algo tan difícil como es escribir el mejor final que jamás haya leído en una trilogía: es impredecible, brillante y emocionalmente muy impactante. No puedo dejar de pensar en las últimas 50 páginas de la novela; no entiendo qué le ha llevado a dar con esa conclusión, que puede gustar más o menos, pero no dejar de ningún modo indiferente al lector.
No puedo más que recomendaros esta trilogía mil veces más. Porque disfrutar de su historia y sus personajes es una auténtica delicia. Porque la historia de Nathan y Gabriel es lo más puro que he leído en mucho tiempo.
Sally Green se ha ganado un fiel lector para sus futuros proyectos.

–"Herido, pero no perdido".

[Miranda Reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rarely, have I been so angry at an author for an ending that I go right to 1 star

"People are always dying. Its a terrible habit they have and nothing you can do will change that."

Nathan has been brought into the war - and he's slowly losing himself in the process. The Alliance needs Nathan but with every death on his hands, he can feel his sanity slipping.

"I’m tired of your revenge, your anger, your hate. The war is killing you."

And yet through it all, his friend Gabriel is able to piece him together. Time and time again.

"It's amazing to see the beauty of the world. It's so beautiful and so brutal. It's a reminder that every second of life is precious."

But what happens when no amount of piecing can fix the puzzle?

UGHHHH.

I had such HIGH freaking hopes after the first two books. I freaking LOVED Nathan (and the hint of Gabriel)...and the way their stories wove around each other? Chef's kiss.

I even tolerated some of the war stuff (I am SO not a war-book kinda girl. I just can't stand it).

So believe me when I say:

I nearly threw the book at that ending.

I actually reread it twice, not believing my own eyes the first time through. I have SO rarely felt such betrayal from an author.

I couldn't believe that after all the suffering she put her characters through...only to do THAT to them? Unforgiveable.

Nathan and Gabriel deserved so much more.

I've been burned. And I'm not touching the pot again.

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[Drew · Rating 1 out of 5]

“I’m tired of your revenge, your anger, your hate. The war is killing you.”

This trilogy should have been a standalone. Or a duology.

Firstly, I need to establish - I LOVED the first book. I thought Half Bad was awesome and atmospheric and gritty. The sequel was pretty good too, though in my opinion this trilogy peaked at the end of the first book.

I hated Half Lost. Everything I loved from the previous books was gone and it had everything that annoyed me - boring writing, a plot that went nowhere, clichés, and irritating characters. The main problem I had, though, was with the main character.

This was pretty much Nathan's train of thought for the entire book:

“Later I remember what I could do. It’s easy. I could kill them all.”

What I loved about Nathan in the first book was the dark sadness that surrounded him - he was a half Black, half White Witch and an outcast. He was excluded and beaten for no reason other than his lineage. But in this book he lost all of that and was consumed by a single thought: KILL KILL KILL.

The first 250 pages (out of a 350-page novel) were building up for the ending. And when it finally came, it was just a series of quick action scenes and pointless violence.

Also, I thought it was really cheesy how Nathan practically became invincible. With all of his new, special Gifts he was pretty much immortal. So when he ran into battle - the "climax" of this book - I was stifling a yawn. Like, I know those guys he's fighting can't touch him, so I'm bored.

Nathan's hatred-filled narration was exhausting. Within the first thirty pages, I was done listening to him yammer on and on about Annalise and the Alliance and his father. I honestly didn't care.

What makes me so sad is that this trilogy had such a strong start, but this final book was a complete disappointment.

[Katrina♡•• · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah so what the hell did I just read???????!!!!!!!!!
so let me get this straight, at the end Nathan turned to a tree!!!!?????? Like what is she thinking!!!??!?!

It was mediocre until the end. The ending sucked big time. I think Sally taught it was a joke to actually use that as and ending. I don't know but if it is a joke I am certainly not laughing. I had such high hopes for this book. Gonna be honest but I did enjoy it until the end. Why would you do that?????!!!!!! I mean why???
So I gave it 2.5* Why isn't it called Half Dumb?
Edit
Want to do this to Nathan like some where in the first 40% of the book




In parting with this book



Yeah, no.

[Elena Salvatore · Rating 4 out of 5]

“You've been away a long time. Were you lost?
I was wounded, not lost.”

Now that his father is dead and Annalise, vanished.... Nathan has only one thing in his mind.
Revenge.
He needs to kill Annalise.
Kill her because everything bad that happened, happened because of her.
Kill her because she is the reason his father is now dead and he is alone.
But he isn't alone. Not really.
He has Gabriel.
Gabriel who stays with him even tho they barely even talk. He doesn't even listens when Gabriel is talking, because Nathan can't think of anything other than to kill Annalise.



This last book is preparing us for the big (anticlimactic), final battle against the Council.

Most of the book is Nathan searching for Annalise, learning how to use the powers he took from his father and killing trackers.

We also get to see him realizing that his feelings for Gabriel aren't just friendly.
They come closer and start a realtionship in which Nathan feels for the first time in his life happy.



I was spoiled for the outcome this book would have and I'm so dissapointed that Nathan didn't get his happy ending, after all that he's been through.
I felt that he deserved it and Sally Green took that from him for no good reason what so ever.
He only had one person in his entire life who loved him unconditionally and with whom Nathan
for the first time in his life felt happy and then she goes ahead and kills him, leaving poor Nathan all alone again. .
The ending wasn't what I hoped for at all. I cried, I got mad and I cried some more.
My poor, precious little boy



Even tho I finished this book some time ago, Nathan and his tragedy of a life, stayed with me and will probably always going to be a favorite of mine.

This is still a really underrated Series.

[Mai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, so I've calmed down although I still have tears streaming down my face as we speak.

This might be the best book of the whole trilogy yet it was the worst one of them, it was the most beautiful thing ever yet the most tragic of them all. Looking at the story throughout the three books, I think that Nathan had the worst life ever, the most unfair everything and none of what'd happened to him was his fault.

I fell in love with this book and the writing with every page I turn, the way the story took its path, the way it was written, the way the characters were developed, how the romance reached its peak, all was good and jolly.

Some books will break your heart, and some books will just end it for you, and other will boost your happiness. This is one of the books who can do all of that, this is one of the books who can be everything you want yet everything you run away from.

Sally Green tells an amazing story, a tragically marvelous one, and it breaks my heart that it's come to an end as she had found a way to attach the character to my heart, and I wouldn't want to let go, I took my time to read this book because I didn't want it to end, I wanted it to go on forever.

You know how sometimes you adopt the characters and you feel overly protective of them? I just felt that throughout the whole book, so this is one of the reasons why the book broke me. But looking at the bigger picture now, this ending was so realistic, and I accept it after a whole day of being in a state of denial. The story is greater this way, it's carved into my heart. The romance was the most beautiful thing ever.

I just can't talk about this book and not spoil so I'll just stop right here, and say that I'll always love this book and I will read my first couple of chapters whenever I'm sad or down.

[Nemo ☠️ (pagesandprozac)]

hahHAHAHA fuck this book and fuck the author

(this is going to contain spoilers so Beware)

i'm not averse to tragic endings in general and neither am i averse to tragic endings in queer books (although i generally avoid them because we get enough tragedy in our day-to-day lives); i'm not gonna be all THIS BOOK SUX BC THE GAYS DIED necessarily.

the thing that is disgusting and the reason why i'm not gonna fuckin read this book is because she was queerbaiting her (mostly lgbt, mostly teenage fans) asking them to send in fanart of main M/M pairings and posting excerpts of the happy ending of the m/m couple but it turned out it was a huge lie and she killed them off.

it's pretty stupid to do something like that regardless of queer content; i find that pretty unprofessional actually. it's not a Huge Twist or a "haha, got you!!" moment, it's just fucking pathetic.. add that to the charged cultural backdrop of queer teens being delighted that queer characters get a happy ending for once, only for it to turn out that they fucking die after all,and it's just horrible. to my knowledge, she hasn't yet apologised, and until she does, i won't be reading anything else by this author.

i haven't rated this book and i don't intend to, and before anyone Starts, the widespread discontent and anger amongst her fanbase shows that this isn't just a couple of "special snowflakes" getting their feelings hurt, it's a group of LGBTQ fans being deliberately misled which leads to irritation and disappointment on the part of the reader, because they wanted to read a book where a queer person like them got a happy ending and they fucking didn't. the author strung them along to get publicity and sales for her book and then lied.

fuck. honestly the worst case of "bury your gays" to EVER, EVER exist.

[Elle (ellexamines on TT & Substack)]

honestly the more I read about this book and the author's actions leading up to it the more annoyed and salty I get

EDIT bc someone asked and duh, I should've linked: Links about what happened, obviously containing spoilers. Another link.

[Lalla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 1.5 stars

Half Lost managed to beat "Allegiant" (by Veronica Roth) for the "crappiest ending ever". That was nothing in comparison; at least in that book you could catch a message of courage, of hope and of mending hearts.

In Half Lost? Well, the messages seem to be:
-Life sucks big time and then you die
-The light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train that runs you over (and you die)
-It’s okay to commit suicide and give up on life
Sorry to say, I’m basically disgusted with the message(s) underlying this book. I’m not okay with it! NOPE! SORRY!
I couldn't find any beauty in the ending, only ugliness, hopelessness and bleakness.

I read to find hope, to remind myself there is still some good in the world no matter what...if I wanted something so depressing, so bleak and unnecessarily violent I would have watched th e daily news. I'm not buying the "they are at war" BS.

The plot of the book felt weak, with the whole world building lacking depth and texture (Why there are white and black witches? Why Soul wants to kill all the black ones? Some explanation on his motivations would have been nice, same goes for Wallender)

The action was okay but it lacked strategy, most of the time it is just Nathan head on, killing everyone on his path. Something a bit less straightforward would have been a bit more interesting, if feels like some lame mindless shooting game.

Half lost-basically dripped with unnecessary deaths and violence, with many deaths not serving any real purpose (plot-wise) but there just to shock the readers (I do not approve of this crap)
Nathan is a psycho for half of the book, that just kills, swears and treats Gabriel baldy (Gabriel is such a sweet heart!). After half of said book we finally get to see the Nathan and Gabriel we loved in the first books. Too bad, it does not last.

In the book, we also have a narrative apex such as “we do stuff, nice stuff, love-making stuff” (Really? What finesse! I was expecting something a bit more “refined” and ...yeah, something better!)

Now, let’s talk about Gabriel death. Both Nathan and Gabriel deserved to be happy, especially after everything they went through. But nope, Gabriel dies. How? Killed by bullets ricocheting off Nat who was trying to shield him with his body. Because of the amulet the plan backfires, the bullets, bounce off and still kill Gabriel. Gabriel then dies in Nathan’s arms. IT WAS SADISTIC AND AWFUL.

After this horrible thing we have Nathan that after 5 years, decides to kill himself and becomes a tree in order to be with his love (and in the process, leaving his child behind). This is how it is explained:

“I lie by Gabriel’s grave at night, most of the day too, when I’m not hunting. And I wonder if trees are happy and I think about their roots going deep into the earth and all the elements of earth and life and I think perhaps trees are the happiest of us all and maybe I could be happy too if my roots could find their way to him and somehow his body would find its way into me and some life, some elements, something of him could be in me. And I think of the stake in the earth that went through my heart and Gabriel’s hand and for those few moments that we were bound together all was perfect.”

Are you frigging kidding me?


This (shit)ending also reminded me of the ending of “The Elfstones of Shannara” and a bunch of stories from the Greek mythology but at least in those cases, it served a purpose, it had sense! But here? What crap is this? Really? You must be kidding, Sally!

Last but not least, let’s end this review with the most horrible ending lines I have ever read in 15 years and more:
“I go up there every day now, to read. I read aloud to him like I used to do, mostly poetry these days. I sit on the grass by the hazel tree that’s in the meadow. It’s different from the other trees and apart from them; it’s not so old, not so tall, but horribly scarred”

Oh and the straight people went on living happily ever after (Yes, I'm straight but I still DON'T APPROVE!).

[Anna (Enchanted by YA) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have loved this series from the beginning and I have so much respect for the directions Sally Green has taken it ...But fuck that ending. No. It's everything my fangirl heart didn't want. I'm angry and devastated (hence the crying) and ultimately, not at all satisfied. So I am going to pretend it didn't happen and only think about what I would have wanted to see instead. While crying.

[Kirsty-Marie Jones]

THE ONLY SHIP WILL SAIL. IT WILL.

[Casey Whisenant · Rating 1 out of 5]

Spoilers:

If I could give this book a lower rating, I would. I'm so sick of writers giving bullshit endings to LGBT characters without another thought. I had such high hopes for this book, and I was again let down by an author I thought actually understood what she was doing.

Even without the travesty that is the end of Nathan and Gabriel, Nathan's character is slaughtered with bad writing and a fundamental misunderstanding of his ENTIRE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT throughout the series. I didn't think a writer could drop the ball so hard on their protagonist, but I was proven wrong. She seems to have forgotten how to tell a story and make it work, which is a damn shame.

Don't bother reading the series, because the ending will make all of those hours completely worthless.

Thanks for nothing, Sally Green.

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5. All I can say is wow! I'm devastated by this, but that's how you finish a series.

[majo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes, as a reader, you read a finale that impacts you in a way you weren't expecting. A finale that is painful, that makes you cry, that makes you have a hollow in your heart. Some of my favorite books have that kind of ending because when a book ends like that, you just won't get over it never. Those books will stay forever with you. Such is the case of books like Champion and Clockwork Princess. And such is the case as Half Lost.

I'm still crying. I don't know if I will ever recover from that ending. Goodbye.

[Chantal · Rating 4 out of 5]

IO HO IL CUORE IN FRANTUMI! È la prima volta che non riesco a dare un rating, ho amato il libro e l'ultima parte mi ha totalmente sconvolta. Non piangevo così da Clockwork princess e ho detto tutto! Il finale è straziante, non lo voglio definire perfetto perché c'è troppa tristezza e scrivere lucidamente non mi riesce in questo momento. Sono comunque davvero arrabbiata e frustrata e credo mi ci vorrà un po' per scrollarmi di dosso questa storia. Vale la pena leggerla, ma sto soffrendo davvero troppo e odio questa cosa!

[Lottie from book club · Rating 1 out of 5]

enough time has passed that I am no longer Emotionally Involved and can say, with clarity and objectivity: Sally Green, you have all the writing talent of a 13-year-old writing her first 'novel' who didn't plan ahead. the ending of this book is a half-step above 'it was all a dream'. feel bad.