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tailsbeth's review against another edition
5.0
Welp, that was heart breaking and heart warming.
I struggled with the start of this series but the payoff was so worth it. One of the best written endings to a series I've read. One of the worst for my poor heart though
I struggled with the start of this series but the payoff was so worth it. One of the best written endings to a series I've read. One of the worst for my poor heart though
vaporization's review against another edition
1.0
I wish I'd never read this book. I wish I'd never read this series. I'm sorry, but this was absolutely a waste of time and emotional investment. I learned nothing from this book other than how to hate it. I don't care what anyone else says about the ending. I despise it.
I read this so long ago so maybe I just didn't "get it."
I picked up this series because I read Sally Green's later series, The Smoke Thieves, and it wasn't half bad (apologies for the pun). (The conclusion of The Smoke Thieves was less than stellar too, but just kind of lackluster in the way that everything wrapped up a little too cleanly. The end of Half Bad was so much worse. Maybe that's why the end of The Smoke Thieves was so easy, since the end of Half Bad was just spectacularly horrid.)
I think I binged the entire three books in a single day. Maybe a little over a day. Usually that means I retain very little and my opinions are very mild. But not for this. Spoiler for the ending: Gabriel dies. Basically the series is about a guy named Nathan who's half bad-witch, half good-witch. The bad witches and good witches are fighting. That's literally all I know because I don't remember anything else except the horrific ending.
Gabriel dies. He dies in the worst possible way, too: hit by a ricocheted bullet. I could not believe that Green had actually killed him. But then I turned the page and the whole book was literally over except for a few pages way into the future. Yeah. The main plot literally ends with Gabriel's death.
It might not really seem like a big deal that Gabriel dies. I mean, maybe I should be commending Sally Green for having the guts to kill off a major character. I wasn't even that invested in the series. I don't need happy endings for all the books I read. I'm not upset because someone died; literally anyone else could have died and it would be just fine. This book even uses the Bury Your Gays trope, and that's not even the reason I dislike it. If she had done this to a straight couple, I would be just as upset (but I didn't even know the series was going to be queer in the first place). I honestly cannot think of a book that was worse than this. I despise the ending with every fiber of my being.
There is no message. There is no goodness. Nathan is absolutely broken. He went through horrible things as a child. Through the series, we saw him struggle, but we also saw him overcome those struggles with the help of Gabriel. And then Gabriel fucking dies and everything that Nathan went through in the series? Completely out the window. Yeah. Nathan just regresses. He's even worse than he started.
What an awful, awful message to send. You've gone through horrible things? Well, sucks for you, guess you can never be happy ever again! How is it good for anyone to deprive victims of trauma and abuse of happy endings? It's "realistic?" Ugh. If you want to be realistic, why not show some ways of dealing with trauma and healing. That is so much more needed and more important. I did not go into this series expecting grimdark. This "realistic" ending was not what I read this series for. And maybe that's on me.
Oh, and the entire plot of the conflict between the witches? Out the window. Gabriel dies and that conflict is just tied in a neat little bow somewhere off-page. That makes me feel like Sally Green cared more about this shocking ending than the rest of the plot. Why does literally anything in the rest of the book and the series matter if we don't get to see how it resolves? Nathan just dips after Gabriel dies, I guess. I don't hate Sally Green, but this ending was just so disrespectful. Other readers may love that it was shocking and tragic. I hated it. The way the entire series had led up to the conclusion, Gabriel's death was completely nonsensical and out of the blue. I cannot emphasize enough how stupid Gabriel's death was and how much I hate it. He didn't even get a good send-off. It was extremely disrespectful to his character, and Gabriel was probably one of the best characters.
Honestly, Gabriel could have died like he did and it would be less egregious as long as Sally Green had done something more with the story. Gabriel died and that's just it. There was nothing more. I guess she killed him because she wanted to show the tragedies of war...fine, I guess. But...why not show the fallout of that? Instead of cutting straight to the end, why not kill him earlier and show Nathan dealing with it? War doesn't end with one person. One tragedy doesn't end a war. She mentions how things ends, but it all happens off page. Nathan just disengages with it after Gabriel dies, yet throughout the rest of the series other characters have been dying left and right, but he still keeps going because he has a purpose. He loses his purpose after Gabriel dies, which is why the book just ends there, I guess. Is this supposed to show that war is meaningless because people die for no reason in war? Okay, I guess. Except it felt like the entire story before it was contradicting that.
Also, Nathan turns into a tree at the end. I just...I don't really know what to say about this other than what the fuck was she thinking. That is literally like committing suicide, just less obviously offensive. He literally put himself in a vegetative state. Um. How is that happy? Maybe it's not meant to be happy, but it's not sad, either. It's almost laughable, in a morbid sort of way. I just can't. The tree thing is just irrevocably awful.
If Sally Green wanted to kill off Nathan so he could "be with Gabriel," why have him wait five years? Why did we have to know that Nathan was just living in pain for five years? Why not kill him off in battle? It would add to her message that war is tragic and show that war doesn't end with one death. It's not like Nathan was doing anything else after Gabriel died, anyway. Nathan being dead would still have the war end the exact same way it did in the book. And if she still wanted him to turn into a tree (for whatever reason), it would have made more sense for Nathan to do something horribly rash like that right after Gabriel's death. It's been years. He's had time to process his emotions. And...this is what he decides to do? I just can't believe that Sally Green thought this was a good idea.
This book is a masterclass on how to slaughter character development and all narrative meaning.
I read this so long ago so maybe I just didn't "get it."
I picked up this series because I read Sally Green's later series, The Smoke Thieves, and it wasn't half bad (apologies for the pun). (The conclusion of The Smoke Thieves was less than stellar too, but just kind of lackluster in the way that everything wrapped up a little too cleanly. The end of Half Bad was so much worse. Maybe that's why the end of The Smoke Thieves was so easy, since the end of Half Bad was just spectacularly horrid.)
I think I binged the entire three books in a single day. Maybe a little over a day. Usually that means I retain very little and my opinions are very mild. But not for this. Spoiler for the ending: Gabriel dies. Basically the series is about a guy named Nathan who's half bad-witch, half good-witch. The bad witches and good witches are fighting. That's literally all I know because I don't remember anything else except the horrific ending.
Gabriel dies. He dies in the worst possible way, too: hit by a ricocheted bullet. I could not believe that Green had actually killed him. But then I turned the page and the whole book was literally over except for a few pages way into the future. Yeah. The main plot literally ends with Gabriel's death.
It might not really seem like a big deal that Gabriel dies. I mean, maybe I should be commending Sally Green for having the guts to kill off a major character. I wasn't even that invested in the series. I don't need happy endings for all the books I read. I'm not upset because someone died; literally anyone else could have died and it would be just fine. This book even uses the Bury Your Gays trope, and that's not even the reason I dislike it. If she had done this to a straight couple, I would be just as upset (but I didn't even know the series was going to be queer in the first place). I honestly cannot think of a book that was worse than this. I despise the ending with every fiber of my being.
There is no message. There is no goodness. Nathan is absolutely broken. He went through horrible things as a child. Through the series, we saw him struggle, but we also saw him overcome those struggles with the help of Gabriel. And then Gabriel fucking dies and everything that Nathan went through in the series? Completely out the window. Yeah. Nathan just regresses. He's even worse than he started.
What an awful, awful message to send. You've gone through horrible things? Well, sucks for you, guess you can never be happy ever again! How is it good for anyone to deprive victims of trauma and abuse of happy endings? It's "realistic?" Ugh. If you want to be realistic, why not show some ways of dealing with trauma and healing. That is so much more needed and more important. I did not go into this series expecting grimdark. This "realistic" ending was not what I read this series for. And maybe that's on me.
Oh, and the entire plot of the conflict between the witches? Out the window. Gabriel dies and that conflict is just tied in a neat little bow somewhere off-page. That makes me feel like Sally Green cared more about this shocking ending than the rest of the plot. Why does literally anything in the rest of the book and the series matter if we don't get to see how it resolves? Nathan just dips after Gabriel dies, I guess. I don't hate Sally Green, but this ending was just so disrespectful. Other readers may love that it was shocking and tragic. I hated it. The way the entire series had led up to the conclusion, Gabriel's death was completely nonsensical and out of the blue. I cannot emphasize enough how stupid Gabriel's death was and how much I hate it. He didn't even get a good send-off. It was extremely disrespectful to his character, and Gabriel was probably one of the best characters.
Honestly, Gabriel could have died like he did and it would be less egregious as long as Sally Green had done something more with the story. Gabriel died and that's just it. There was nothing more. I guess she killed him because she wanted to show the tragedies of war...fine, I guess. But...why not show the fallout of that? Instead of cutting straight to the end, why not kill him earlier and show Nathan dealing with it? War doesn't end with one person. One tragedy doesn't end a war. She mentions how things ends, but it all happens off page. Nathan just disengages with it after Gabriel dies, yet throughout the rest of the series other characters have been dying left and right, but he still keeps going because he has a purpose. He loses his purpose after Gabriel dies, which is why the book just ends there, I guess. Is this supposed to show that war is meaningless because people die for no reason in war? Okay, I guess. Except it felt like the entire story before it was contradicting that.
Also, Nathan turns into a tree at the end. I just...I don't really know what to say about this other than what the fuck was she thinking. That is literally like committing suicide, just less obviously offensive. He literally put himself in a vegetative state. Um. How is that happy? Maybe it's not meant to be happy, but it's not sad, either. It's almost laughable, in a morbid sort of way. I just can't. The tree thing is just irrevocably awful.
If Sally Green wanted to kill off Nathan so he could "be with Gabriel," why have him wait five years? Why did we have to know that Nathan was just living in pain for five years? Why not kill him off in battle? It would add to her message that war is tragic and show that war doesn't end with one death. It's not like Nathan was doing anything else after Gabriel died, anyway. Nathan being dead would still have the war end the exact same way it did in the book. And if she still wanted him to turn into a tree (for whatever reason), it would have made more sense for Nathan to do something horribly rash like that right after Gabriel's death. It's been years. He's had time to process his emotions. And...this is what he decides to do? I just can't believe that Sally Green thought this was a good idea.
This book is a masterclass on how to slaughter character development and all narrative meaning.
bear_reads_books's review against another edition
1.0
I looked forward to reading this, hoping Nathan and Gabriel would actually have a relationship. I was so happy when it happened! But I told myself to wait until the end. I've been conditioned to expect horrible outcomes with same sex couples in movies and literature.
It's sad that I ended up being right, that I even have to expect this sort of outcome. The ending ruined what was a better as it went along series. It felt rushed and kinda blah and the character death really pissed me off. But whatever, they were only two guys in love, of course it had to end. Okay, I've ranted, on to the next one..
It's sad that I ended up being right, that I even have to expect this sort of outcome. The ending ruined what was a better as it went along series. It felt rushed and kinda blah and the character death really pissed me off. But whatever, they were only two guys in love, of course it had to end. Okay, I've ranted, on to the next one..
jessicajessica101's review against another edition
5.0
Je ne suis pas du tout le genre de personne à pleurer devant un livre. Mais une fois avoir terminé Half Bad tome 3 je n'avais qu'une envie : me rouler en boule et pleurer toutes les larmes de mon corps.
Ce livre m'a brisé, de la façon la plus merveilleuse qui soit.
J'ai adoré, tout simplement, ce dernier tome. je ne pouvais lever les yeux du livre quand je je le lisais, j'avais peur pour Nathan, je vivais avec lui l'histoire, j'étais totalement prise dedans et je n'en suis pas toute à fait ressortir indemne. Je me suis tellement connectée avec ce personnage, ses émotions, que j'ai eu le coeur brisé en même temps que lui à la fin, et c'était merveilleux.
En parlant de la fin, elle est... déchirante mais tellement incroyable. elle est magnifique, les deux de derniers chapitres j'ai bien cru que je n' arriverai jamais à les lire tant je pleurais. Et le dernier paragraphe n'en parlons même pas... La symbolique derrière tout ce que ça veut dire, la façon dont ça a été fait.. c'était incroyable.
Je sais déjà que je relirai cette fin, mais pour le moment, c'est avec le coeur serré que je termine cette merveilleuse trilogie, que je quitte cet univers et ces personnages.
Ce livre m'a brisé, de la façon la plus merveilleuse qui soit.
J'ai adoré, tout simplement, ce dernier tome. je ne pouvais lever les yeux du livre quand je je le lisais, j'avais peur pour Nathan, je vivais avec lui l'histoire, j'étais totalement prise dedans et je n'en suis pas toute à fait ressortir indemne. Je me suis tellement connectée avec ce personnage, ses émotions, que j'ai eu le coeur brisé en même temps que lui à la fin, et c'était merveilleux.
En parlant de la fin, elle est... déchirante mais tellement incroyable. elle est magnifique, les deux de derniers chapitres j'ai bien cru que je n' arriverai jamais à les lire tant je pleurais. Et le dernier paragraphe n'en parlons même pas... La symbolique derrière tout ce que ça veut dire, la façon dont ça a été fait.. c'était incroyable.
Je sais déjà que je relirai cette fin, mais pour le moment, c'est avec le coeur serré que je termine cette merveilleuse trilogie, que je quitte cet univers et ces personnages.
almostlikequake's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
icaruscurse's review against another edition
1.0
okay
1. gabriel dying and nathan turning into a tree was atrocious, unnecessary and it reads like a bad attempt to be poignant. it's a sad ending that is sad for the sake of being sad.
2. it's fucking shitty that celia survives over nathan, gabriel, rose, ellen, deborah and van. she tortured and locked up a 14 year old. she was nathan's abuser and nothing ever changes that.
3. literally why did ellen and van have to die??
4. the final battle fell flat. there was no excitement and anticipation, the fight scenes were boring.
5. i wished annalisse was a spy cause then she'd actually have something going for her besides nathan's childhood sweetheart. she's always "oh no i didn't know how that happened i didn't mean it it just happened."
6. jessica should have been the main villain. she has always hated black (or half black) witches. we know she's ambitious, resourceful and skilled. she could have stolen the command from soul cause tbh soul was so uninteresting.
i had so much hope for this trilogy
1. gabriel dying and nathan turning into a tree was atrocious, unnecessary and it reads like a bad attempt to be poignant. it's a sad ending that is sad for the sake of being sad.
2. it's fucking shitty that celia survives over nathan, gabriel, rose, ellen, deborah and van. she tortured and locked up a 14 year old. she was nathan's abuser and nothing ever changes that.
3. literally why did ellen and van have to die??
4. the final battle fell flat. there was no excitement and anticipation, the fight scenes were boring.
5. i wished annalisse was a spy cause then she'd actually have something going for her besides nathan's childhood sweetheart. she's always "oh no i didn't know how that happened i didn't mean it it just happened."
6. jessica should have been the main villain. she has always hated black (or half black) witches. we know she's ambitious, resourceful and skilled. she could have stolen the command from soul cause tbh soul was so uninteresting.
i had so much hope for this trilogy
aymeq's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sinann_lambert's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0