Half Bad

Book 1: The Half Bad Trilogy

by Sally Green

Genres: YA Wizards & Witches; YA Paranormal

Synopsis

In modern-day England, witches live alongside humans: White witches, who are good; Black witches, who are evil; and sixteen-year-old Nathan, who is both. Nathan's father is the world's most powerful and cruel Black witch, and his mother is dead. He is hunted from all sides. Trapped in a cage, beaten and handcuffed, Nathan 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 minute.

Release date: March 4, 2014

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers

Print pages: 416

Sample

     Kieran says, “You know what this is, Connor?”     Connor has to think about it, but eventually says, “A hunting knife.”     “Yes. To be exact, it’s a French hunting knife. They make great knives, the French.Look at that blade.’     I squirm and grunt and curse them.     ‘Hold him still, Niall. The blade folds away beautifully into the handle. Great design.The Swiss go for all the fancy gadgets in their knives, but all you need is a goodblade.”     I hear the rip of my T-shirt and feel the cool air on my back. I buck and curse again.     “Hold him still.”     I feel the blade brushing over my back and now I hold still. The knife stops in themiddle of my left shoulder blade. The point goes in.     “I’ll start here. This half is the Black half, I’d say.”     And slowly the blade cuts down my back.