YA Buddy Readers' Corner ♥ discussion

Wanted by no one.
Hunted by everyone.

Sixteen-year-old Nathan lives in a cage: beaten, shackled, trained to kill. In a modern-day England where two warring factions of witches live amongst humans, Nathan is an abomination, the illegitimate son of the world's most terrifying and violent witch, Marcus. Nathan's only hope for survival is to escape his captors, track down Marcus, and receive the three gifts that will bring him into his own magical powers—before it's too late. But how can Nathan find his father when there is no one safe to trust, not even family, not even the girl he loves?

Half Bad is an international sensation and the start of a brilliant trilogy: a gripping tale of alienation and the indomitable will to survive.

Half Bad (The Half Bad Trilogy #1) by Sally Green will be our second GBR for May 2015.

Please read at your own pace, and hide any spoilers ☺ You are welcome to join at any time during the month ☺

Happy Reading Everybody!

Pre-Reading Questions -

Anybody got any thoughts on this one before we start?

Has anyone read anything similar to this before?

Anybody read anything else by this author previously?


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Discussion Questions at roughly 31% - Chapter entitled 'Mary'
(Optional)
(view spoiler)[

Q1. What do you think to the story so far? Is there anything in particular that you like or dislike?
Q2. What do you think to Nathan so far? Do you think he's black or white? Or something else?
Q3. What are your impressions on what this book is about? Is it about society? racism? good and bad? or something else?

(hide spoiler)]

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Discussion Questions at roughly 64% - Chapter entitled 'Money'
(Optional)
(view spoiler)[
Q1. What do you think to the story now? Are you still liking/not liking it?
Q2. Do you think that Nathan has really escaped?
Q3. Do you think that NAthan will receive his three gifts on his brithday or not? (hide spoiler)]

Can I join? This seems interesting XD

You're quite welcome ☺

I haven't read anything by this author before but I saw it at my library and I really want to read it! Looks good :)

I think I'll join you guys as well :D

I'm planning on joining this, as well!

Welcome everybody!

I'll be joining in on this, just picked it up yesterday. ^-^

Pre-Reading Questions:

1. I picked this up a couple times at a bookstore. Read the blurb. Turned to the first page and read it. Put it back down. At the time, I wasn't sure it was a book I wanted to read. I've been hearing a LOT about it lately, though, and find I now DO want to read it--I can't wait!

2. I'm sure I've read other books about witches--Christopher Pike, for one, has written about them, and I've read a lot of him. Also, books like Wicked and Dorothy Must Die.

3. I don't believe I've read anything by her before.

Will be starting this soon! :)

--(view spoiler)[I just started, but I remember why I was so leery about this book now. It's written in second person. It's HARD to write consistently in second person and do it well; it's even harder to READ in second person. This should be interesting. (hide spoiler)]

This is a re-read for me because I read this quite recently.

10% (view spoiler)[ I don't know how they can be so cruel to a tiny helpless baby. And I still think this book is supposed to be about racism. (hide spoiler)]

Elizabeth wrote: "--[spoilers removed]"

The writing is really weird.

--8%; (view spoiler)[So Nathan's father is a Black Witch, which apparently makes him bad. I'm curious to find out the difference between them; how did Nathan's mom come to be pregnant by Marcus? Why is being a Black Witch (or a half one) so bad? (is it just the idea of "good" and "evil" again? Are good witches "white" in this world, and bad ones "black?") It says Marcus is a murderer. Who did he murder? Or is that even important to the story? (hide spoiler)]

16% (view spoiler)[ I forgot about Jessica being able to mimic people and look exactly like them. (hide spoiler)]

Elizabeth wrote: "--8%; [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ The black/white thing is very similar to bad/good. It's also a bit of a race thing as well, where blacks are thought to be lesser than whites. (hide spoiler)]

17% (view spoiler)[ it's hardly fair that he's not allowed to speak to anyone without permission. (hide spoiler)]

Sarah wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "--8%; [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

Yes, I get that now. :) Thank you!

I got confused as heck the first time i read this, I think I'm probably going to end up confused this time as well.

21% (view spoiler)[ well being hit with a brick isn't going to be nice!

He really outdid himself in the headmasters office. Attacking mr taylor, damaging the headmasters computer, throwing a chair out the window, pulling the fire alarm and then smashing the windscreen of the headmasters car! no wonder the police are waiting are for him when he gets home! (hide spoiler)]

20%; (view spoiler)[It really disgusts me the way Nathan is treated. I don't really blame him for not wanting to go back to the school.

The others on his community service team are an interesting group; I can understand why they appeal to him, as they treat him like an equal. They don't treat him like anything but what he is: human. (or...well, you know what I mean.) (hide spoiler)]

Sarah wrote: "I got confused as heck the first time i read this, I think I'm probably going to end up confused this time as well."

I can see why you might! It's definitely confusing in some ways. Like...at the beginning, why is it written using "You" as the POV...but then it switches to "I" ??? Still second person, but not the same. I'm curious to see what the reason behind this is.

I'm trying to remember whether it switches again at some point. I know book 2 is written as 'you do this, you do that'

24%; (view spoiler)[Well, I guess it makes sense now why all the regulations seem so narrow-scoped on Nathan's life; he's the only one of his kind.

Awww, this is a sweet moment with Annalise. They're going to be caught soon, though, I have a feeling. Things like this never last for characters like Nathan, unfortunately--the whole world, pretty much, is against him right now. (hide spoiler)]

Sarah wrote: "I'm trying to remember whether it switches again at some point. I know book 2 is written as 'you do this, you do that'"

I mean...it might maybe make a bit of sense in the long-run. Right now we've gone back in time, to Nathan's past/childhood--before his ceremony. So perhaps, at the time of the prologue, he's become so numb to the world he's turned off his sense of self? Growing up the way he has, being told he's "bad" and all that...it can't be easy. So maybe it's more to do with his emotional state than anything else--he's turned off so much of himself, it feels as if it's not REALLY him doing those things?

Elizabeth wrote: "24%; "

(view spoiler)[ it's almost ridiculous that they go to such extents and make up all these rules and stuff for 1 child. (hide spoiler)]

30% (view spoiler)[ So they think he was sleeping outside because it's his black nature coming out? hmm. (hide spoiler)]

Elizabeth wrote: "Sarah wrote: "I'm trying to remember whether it switches again at some point. I know book 2 is written as 'you do this, you do that'"

I mean...it might maybe make a bit of sense in the long-run. ..."

It could be. The storyline may well have complicated depths that I will never understand.

31% (view spoiler)[ so he now belives that he's a black witch, just as people have feared he is. You have to wonder whether he's just born that way, or whether other people's actions have pushed him to it. (hide spoiler)]

Discussion Questions at roughly 31% - Chapter entitled 'Mary'
(Optional)
(view spoiler)[

Q1. What do you think to the story so far? Is there anything in particular that you like or dislike?
Q2. What do you think to Nathan so far? Do you think he's black or white? Or something else?
Q3. What are your impressions on what this book is about? Is it about society? racism? good and bad? or something else? (hide spoiler)]

Sarah wrote: "31% [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[I've been thinking about this too. It seems to me a lot of it is what Arran says; that he's got the genes of a Black Witch from his father, but he's ALSO got the spirit of a White Witch from his mom. Nathan goes on to say something along the lines of, "My heart is that of a White Witch. I just have a body that sometimes does strange things." which I think sums it up rather well.

However--tell someone that they ARE something often enough, on a daily basis, and the person will eventually begin to believe it at least a little. It's sort of that, "Well, everyone believes I've already done this. I might as well just do it." (hide spoiler)]

35% (view spoiler)[ Poor kid, being told that your mother was forced to commit suicide because she gave birth to you is not very nice! (hide spoiler)]

Elizabeth wrote: "Sarah wrote: "31% [spoilers removed]"

"

(view spoiler)[ yep, what's the point in being good if everybody is going to think you're bad anyway? you're just swimming against the current. (hide spoiler)]

48%; (view spoiler)[I'm curious about what just happened at Nathan's latest assessment. I wonder why they're so interested in his ability to heal, beyond the fact that it gives him a potential leg-up on Marcus (how long he can heal himself means more time to face his father if he ever goes up against him, though Nathan maintains he never could.) I wonder, though, what the running had to do with it--why beat him up and then make him run afterwards? Why not just beat him up, let him heal, and start over again? (hide spoiler)]

37% (view spoiler)[ so there are two weapons which can be used to kill his father - the knife that killed his great-grandfather, and Nathan himself. hmm. what a thing to tell a young boy. (hide spoiler)]

66%; (view spoiler)[So the tattoos are a type of mind control or bargaining chip, to get Nathan to do what the Council wants. Interesting. And conveniently (for the author, at least) Nathan has lost the bag with his skin and bones from when Trev wanted to test the tattoos. This'll be interesting. (hide spoiler)]

83%; (view spoiler)[I get the feeling Annalise just MIGHT not be who she's claiming to be. Why focus so hard on Jessica's ability, on the fact that she tried, when younger, to "be" other people to get Nathan to slip up and tell her something she could use against him, if it wasn't going to come up again in the future? I think Annalise is really Jessica. I think Gabriel is right not to trust her. Too bad Nathan is following his heart more than his head right now. (hide spoiler)]

42% (view spoiler)[ I don't really understand why she has him doing so much exercise and training. Surely it will make him harder to control? Or is it about training him to beat his father? (hide spoiler)]

Finished!

My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I enjoyed this read; I'll definitely be picking up the next book in the series at some point in the future!

47% (view spoiler)[ I still can't believe he pierced his lip, eyebrow and nose with rings from the sink plug. Talk about unhygienic. (hide spoiler)]

51% (view spoiler)[ It's awful that they didn't tell him that his grandmother died. She was the only one who ever cared about him. (hide spoiler)]

52% (view spoiler)[ digging a nail into your own cheek. nice. not.

It's awful to think that he's not even 17, and has been treated so awfully for all of his life.
(hide spoiler)]

Elizabeth wrote: "48%; [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ Maybe they were interested in his stamina? (hide spoiler)]

57% (view spoiler)[ those 'tattoos' sound painful. (hide spoiler)]

64% (view spoiler)[ I'm not 100% sure what he gained from that meeting. This bob bloke is going to help him find Mercury, who will hopefully give him witch's blood and 3 gifts on his 17th birthday? (hide spoiler)]

Discussion Questions at roughly 64% - Chapter entitled 'Money'
(Optional)
(view spoiler)[
Q1. What do you think to the story now? Are you still liking/not liking it?
Q2. Do you think that Nathan has really escaped?
Q3. Do you think that NAthan will receive his three gifts on his brithday or not? (hide spoiler)]

85% (view spoiler)[ this is really dragging now. (hide spoiler)]

I'll just start this later tonight if that's ok :)

That's fine ☺

Can I still do this buddy read?