If you have read any of my book reviews you know I am a big fan of novellas, and who wouldn’t be? You are basically given all the little tidbits of information that couldn’t fit into the books served on a small little platter that is both simple and satisfying. The two novellas have an odd coding used for their placement in the series. Half Lies is considered 0.5 in the series and Half Truths is considered 0.6. Listing the books 1-3, this means the novellas are considered prequels to the first book Half Bad. Now you could read these two before reading Half Bad and everything would still make perfect sense. Technically you would be reading the events in chronological order, but Half Truths jumps into Gabriel’s story whom we are introduced to later on in Half Bad. Because of this I would still prefer having read Half Bad, then the two novellas after.
Half Lies follows the story of Gabriel, his father and his sister Michele as they move to America. We know why Gabriel ended up in our story in Half Bad, but we don’t know how. After receiving his gift, Gabriel discovers that he has the ability to transform into anyone he wants. The gift is unique and very strong, too strong, as Gabriel finds out when he transforms into a regular human and gets trapped in that form. Effectively stripping himself of his magical powers, Gabriel takes away the qualities that make him notable to other witches. This also gives him the advantage of being able to slip in and out of situations without gaining the attention of other witches. More importantly though, the story is about Gabriel’s sister Michele. We don’t know much about his sister, or Gabriel for that matter, from Half Bad. Half Lies is a novella so it is short and sweet. We get a taste of what Michele was like, but it is the effect she had on Gabriel that adds to our story.
Half Truths builds off of Half Lies as well as Half Bad expanding on the story of Gabriel, a character we met later on in Half Bad and whom we love. Nathan may be our main character of the series, and while we do side with Nathan, our loyalties also lay with Gabriel. More importantly, they lay with Gabriel and Nathan together. Through this glimpse into more of Gabriel’s story we also get more of a glimpse into the dark witch Mercury and the world that Gabriel must do for her to gain her trust and her help to gain back his true witch self.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, novellas are a must read when it comes to any series so I don’t need to tell you again…. read them.
Advertisements Rate this:Share this:- More
