Half Bad

Half Life, Book 1

By: Sally Green

Narrated by: Carl Prekopp

The inspiration for the Netflix series The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself

“An enthralling fantasy in the Harry Potter tradition.”—Time magazine

“A bewitching new thriller.”—The Wall Street Journal

In a modern-day England where two warring factions of witches live alongside humans, one sixteen-year-old boy is trapped between the two sides. Nathan's father is the world’s most powerful and cruel witch, and his mother is dead. Both groups of witches see Nathan as their greatest threat—or their greatest weapon. Trapped in a cage, beaten and handcuffed, he must escape before his seventeenth birthday, at which point he will receive three gifts from his father and come into his own as a witch—or else he will die. But how can Nathan find his father when his every action is tracked, when there is no one safe to trust, not even family, not even the girl he loves?

In the tradition of Patrick Ness and Markus Zusak, Half Bad is a gripping tale of alienation and the indomitable will to survive, a story that will grab hold of you and not let go until the very last moment.

Now streaming on Netflix as The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself.

Cover may vary.

©2014 Sally Green (P)2014 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Genuinely engaging.” (The New York Times)

"A thrilling tale ... Unforgettable." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

"Marvelous." (Booklist, starred review)

Dark but Refreshing

Any additional comments?

Can I say AWESOME! Though the ending is very open and abrupt leaving you wanting, book 2 comes out this Spring and it can't come fast enough. The narrator does a Fantastic job. Its a very harsh novel laden with judgemental hate and graphic abuse between the good white witch and the bad black witch. With a "half-code" child as the main character and his struggles against the "man" and "society" as he struggles to mature find himself. It's a refreshing change from the Harry Potter sagas and the twinkly sparkly vampires of Twilight. Very worth the read or in my case, the Listen.

So much better then the Netflix Show

The tv show was good this was better. And the narrators voice was a dream😍

Entertaining 7/10

As the title suggests, the book is half bad jk. In all seriousness, it was good. I liked the voice actor, I definitely think he added to the overall experience. The story itself I feel could’ve been more sophisticated in nature, and I think there was a lot of room to add grit and mood.

I did watch the series first, and I think I can honestly say their deviations from the story made a lot of sense as far as entertainment.

I hope to see a growth in how the author presents the world, and hope they capitalize on this idea of clashing lineage. I know it’s a YA book, but there is a lot of potentially mature themes that I think could be presented in an appropriate manner. I am aware this is her first book, and have seen many first time authors grow tremendously throughout their series and hope that Sally does the same.

There is lots of potential, the characters are likable, there’s plenty of mystery available to expand, and it was entertaining enough.

7/10 would recommend.

Only listened because of the tv show

I watched the tv show on Netflix and fell in love. I looked up the books and of course got spoiled and I knew going in that they would be really different from the show but I wanted to read them anyway. This book is something I would have stopped reading towards the beginning, but I know what happens in the next books and I want to get to those parts. Overall it was okay but I don’t really like the narrator. I’m hoping the plot of the rest of the series makes this worth it.

Half Great!

Love this story and the characters! Cant wait for future books in this world and from this author

this narrator is unfrickin believable

Holy cow his voice passion emotion and accent work is like nothing I've experienced on this.

A rare 5 star

Loved everything about it! Great story line great narration! And now off to the next book!

An Okay Listen

I loved the drama, but felt it was lacking the "magic". That was what other reviews had said as well and I completely agree. Hopefully the next book has more battles and magic. Also, the author really needs to decide if she likes first person or second person better. The second person was a different perspective, but did not add anything to the character or story.

Surprisingly Good!

Solid 4.5 Star Read
<I>Half Bad</I> is a little different and I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into at first. But even before I realized I was enjoying the book ~ it was really hard to put down because the story line really held my interest early on. Primarily this is about White ("good") witches and Black ("Bad") witches. Nathan is a "half code" as his mother was a white witch and his father a black witch... And as Nate (and his community) try to determine how to label his witchiness, Nate finds there is rarely anything black & white about the two branches of witches. It's a fast pace journey with some captivating characters and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Looking forward to book 2!

Great Trilogy

This book is absolutely worth the listen. The narrator is brilliant and intriguing. I highly recommend this series!