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 artifact 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 turn the tide for the Alliance and end the bloody civil war between Black and White witches once and for all…1
I seemed to have been much more motivated to read the final book than I was reading Half Wild. It may have also been the fact that the third book has the least pages of them all which seems a bit backwards, but if you have read my review for Half Wild it is likely due to the lack of Annalise (cheers). The readers (and by readers I mean me) sure got what they were asking for when it came to the relationship between Nathan and Gabriel. Things progressed nicely for the relationship between the two and I was pleased to be rid of Annalise, though we didn’t lose her entirely.
With most books we are all leading up to a focal point and for the Half Bad trilogy it is our epic battle between the Alliance and the tainted white witch counsel lead by Soul and his evil scientist Dr. Wallend. Every step we have taken, every character we have met and every character we have lost along the way has led us here and because of that a certain amount of respect should have been paid. There were at least 60 pages fewer than the other books which could have been used to expand on this battle, and certainly handle or at least give some sort of backstory and explanation as to certain characters who shall remain nameless. The only thing that seemed to happen correctly was that lives were lost, and while it may have been expected, there was one in particular that still came as a bit of a shock. I continued reading and waiting for something epic to happen to right this wrong. There were hints, notions, expectations and yet things did not turn out the way I had hoped. In the end things turned out quite differently than I had expected. Despite the question marks hanging over the heads of many characters it was an interesting and somewhat romantic touch that distracted us and seemed to appease us of our ill will. That is of course until we have had time to process and the questions begin to pop up.
I loved many of the main characters and I wish that the series was more than just a trilogy. If we were able to have less dilly dallying in Half Wild we might have had more time to expand on some things. It may just be the fact that I am sad to leave these characters that I have come to really enjoy. I managed to catch a couple interviews with Sally Green and by this time all three books had been released. Something she continued to repeat was that she truly did not believe that she would receive such success with the series and be signed to such a well known publisher. She had even refrained from sharing with friends and family which does ignite a little flame of hope that I would like to continue to let burn.
Many comparisons have been made to that of Harry Potter series to the Half Bad books, but I feel like there are more differences than similarities to truly believe that. The use of magic and the great characters are similar but I’m not sure that should really be enough to hold such a prestigious title. As time passes and things set in I begin to think more on the things that I would have liked to have happened differently with the series, but rather than spoil it I will continue to think of the good characters, take this as yet one more building block of knowledge for my writing journey and continue to grow.
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