Any means, no matter how violent, how ruthless, how cruel. White witches are taught that black witches are everything that is bad and that any means must be employed to be rid of them. You could read it as a parable of racism, or homophobia or anti-Semitism. Will Nathan mature as a white or a black witch? Will the Council send him for Retribution or use him as bait to catch his father? And will Nathan ever even meet this terrifying figure, let alone receive his three gifts?Ī strong theme in much YA fiction is the treatment of the other. And to what will happen on his seventeenth birthday when he comes of age as a witch. Bullied, excluded, forced to undergo endless Council assessments, it's inevitable that Nathan's thoughts turn to his father. And with his mother dead and even his older sister against him, only his grandmother stands between him and the Council's terrible punishment of Retribution. As a half code, Nathan is feared and reviled by everyone in the white witch community. He is a half-breed witch - his mother a white witch and his father the most notorious of all black witches. Subsequently, we find out that the boy is Nathan. We only know, through short, sharp, shocking sentences, what it is like to be him. These opening chapters are utterly riveting.

The prisoner can heal himself after a beating but he can't beat the combination of magic and science that keeps him captive. His captor, a woman, is pitiless, and we quickly discover that magic comes into the equation. We find a boy imprisoned in a cage outside a cottage in rural Scotland. The opening section is an absolute barnstormer. So, you realise, I'm coming at Half Bad from the perspective of an un-fan. I prefer books that surprise me rather than books that comfort me by giving me what I expect. It's just the predictability of the paranormal genre that puts me off. I like fantasy and I've nothing against the supernatural.

I'm not really into the paranormal genre, and I'm definitely not into paranormal romances.

Shortlisted for the 2015 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize: Best Book for Teensīefore I start, I'll declare an uninterest. And a romance that isn't front and centre. Summary: Witch story which doesn't offer anything new in terms of plot lines or tropes, but which does have wonderful writing, interesting subversions and a barnstorming intro.

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