Half Lost

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Title: Half Lost

Author: Sally Green

Series: The Half Bad Trilogy, #3

Publisher: Penguin

Release Date: March 29th 2016

Rating:

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…

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

This review may contain spoilers for previous book(s) in the series.

My Thoughts On…

…The Plot

“I’ve killed fifty-two people. But really all I want is to get my hands on her. I’d be happy with fifty-three. Just one more and I’ll be satisfied.”

As the last book in what has been a fantastic series so far my hopes for Half Lost were sky high. Everyone else who’s read this trilogy has told me the books get better and better and I definitely agree with that statement. Half Lost was an amazing book; about both triumph and loss with everything I wanted and nothing I wanted. This book was not what I expected but it was a good ending for all the characters I’d come to know so well throughout this trilogy.

After Annalise shot and killed his father all Nathan wants is revenge. He seems to be losing his mind and is drawing further and further away from all the people he still has cares about. Whenever Gabriel reaches out to him Nathan strikes out at his closest friend. The alliance suffered a lot of losses but they are still more than willing to try and take down Soul and his corrupt council. Nathan, on the other hand, wants nothing more than to kill Annalise for what she took from him.

“You’ve been away a long time. Were you lost?” He sounds lost himself, half strangled and fighting to stay conscious.
“Wounded, not lost,” I tell him, but I do feel lost.

The alliance know that Nathan is the only hope they have to take down Soul but he is still vulnerable, Van’s solution is to send Nathan to Ledger to gain an amulet that will make him invulnerable to attack. However when one of the alliance’s camps is attacked and everyone left for dead the need to move ahead with their plans seems much more urgent and finding Ledger is not easy.

Together with Gabriel and Nesbitt Nathan heads out to try and find a route to Ledger; a Black witch who is one of the most powerful there is but who is also incredibly reclusive. Ledger has said she will only give the amulet to someone who deserves it, and while Nathan and Gabriel talk to her Celia and the remaining alliance members try to come up with a plan to take down Soul, Wallend and Jessica.

…The Characters

“I want to be a Half Code. I want to be Black and White, the best of both.”

Nathan has been through so much in the past few books that it’s hard to remember he’s only seventeen. When he was trapped in a cage by Celia all he wanted was his freedom; to receive his three gifts, gain his magical ability and maybe meet his father along the way. Now though, all he wants is revenge. He has Marcus’s powers and although he can control a few of them the majority remain elusive to him. Nathan knows that to defeat Soul he will need all his powers but all he wants at the moment is to kill Annalise for what she took from him.

After everything that happened Nathan seems like he’s losing his mind. He becomes more reclusive, setting up his own camp away from the others, going out alone and killing whatever hunters he comes across. He’s reckless with not only his own life but with everyone else’s.

“I’m tired of your revenge, your anger, your hate. The war is killing you.”

Gabriel is, as ever, at Nathan’s side but even he is starting to wonder where his limit is. He reaches out to Nathan constantly but Nathan keeps throwing his words and attempts back at him, choosing to go after more and more hunters in his quest for revenge. Gabriel can see what the war is doing to Nathan and he wants them to leave, leave the alliance and leave the war for someone else to fight, but Nathan is determined to see it through to its end and Gabriel just wants to stay by Nathan’s side.

The relationship between Gabriel and Nathan is my favourite part of this whole trilogy, and definitely my favourite part of this book. The two of them just work well together; Gabriel is patient enough to reach out to Nathan even when Nathan doesn’t want to be reached out too, but at the same time he isn’t a pushover and doesn’t stand for any of Nathan’s spite or anger when it’s directed his way. Gabriel is always there matching Nathan step for step in everything he does. If Nathan is putting himself in danger than Gabriel will be right there alongside him, watching his back.

“Tell me about Wales. I want to go to Wales with you one day.”
And I smile and want to cry too. And I tell him about this special place in the mountains that I went to one summer: there was a small lake and I could climb the cliff behind it and dive into the water. And I tell him I’ll take him there when the war’s over.

Throughout the series Nathan has always kept the people he loves in his thoughts and close to his heart. In the first two books that was his family and Annalise, now however it seems what has happened to his father, what has happened to him, has warped his mind. His only thoughts for Annalise are for revenge, and he barely thinks of Arran at all. For a long time Nathan doesn’t really see anything past the war he is supposed to fight in, it is Gabriel who is constantly thinking about what the two of them will do when it’s all over.

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Half Lost was a heartbreaking ending to this series, but depending on how you look at it it’s kind of a hopeful one as well. Now I’ve read this book I can’t have imagine the story ending any other way for Nathan, Gabriel, Annalise, Arran, Celia and all the others. This trilogy really did get better and better and it ended on a high note with Half Lost.

What did you think of Half Lost? Was it a favourite of yours or could you just not get into the story? Let me know.