Half Lost
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Pre-ordered (Release date 31st March 2016)
Source: Pre-ordered (Release date 31st March 2016)
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 artefact
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 to turn the tide for the Alliance and end the
bloody civil war between Black and White witches once and for all...
Before I begin this review, I just need to
state that this book would have been 5/5 if not for the ending. The first ¾ of
the book was just as I’d remembered. Action-packed, fast-paced and then the
last ¼ of the book happened…but I’ll talk more about that later.
Half Lost is the last installment in the
Half Bad trilogy. I had actually forgotten this series was only a trilogy so I
did wonder as I was nearing the end of the book why it seemed to be ending so “final”.
I’d say the series is aimed for 13+ but there is a hell of a lot of swearing in
it.
The narrative in this book slightly
differed from the first two, it was nowhere near as confusing but I quite
enjoyed the way the first two books were set out so that was one downside to
it. I felt the narrative had always been so unique and set Nathan aside from
other protagonists from other YA novels.
Anyway, the story starts and Nathan is at a
safe camp with some of the Alliance (and Gabriel). He seems so mature in this
book; much older than his years. Nathan is really not himself and honestly, he
gets more insane as the book goes on. I think he’s just had so much to deal
with, it was inevitable. He’s exploring all of his new Gifts from his father
and you can really tell how much the death of his father has broken him.
Nathan spends most of his days in search
for Annalise and he is hell-bent on revenge. He kills a lot of people and seems to enjoy it. Gabriel is worried about
Nathan and helps him anyway he can. These two get a whole lot closer this book…
So the main storyline of the book is to
find the other half of Gabriel’s amulet, as Van informs Nathan that it will
protect him from anything during battle. Through a series of obstacles (and
more deaths) they obtain the amulet and then the fun really begins…
Well, this is where it should have begun but didn’t. From this point, it felt rushed. A lot of characters die in the last 100
pages and there’s too much to fit in, in such a short space. In this time, they
devise a plan to break into the Council meeting during a meeting, carry this
out, have a huge battle with the Hunters, find out some shocking truths (I don’t want to give too much away) and then it
ends 5 years after the battle.
The ending. Oh the ending. This book would
have been rated so much higher. SHOULD have
been but I was close to ripping up the book by the time I’d finished. Everyone
has said how “realistic” and “brutal” it is. In my opinion? It was random, unnecessary
and completely ruined one of my favourite series. I’m not sure if it was
because my favourite character died and this particular character had so much character
development in this book or simply because it really was just a ridiculous
ending.
I’m not sure if she only had a certain amount
of time to finish the book and that’s why it felt so rushed but I really am so
upset with how this ended.
The series, on a whole, is 100% worth a
read and I would still recommend it, as she’s a fantastic writer and I love the
world that the series is set in…but I just wish it had ended differently. I
think this is the first book I’ve reviewed that I’ve been this negative about, but
just want to be honest. Would love to know your views of the books/that ending.
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