I absolutely adored this trilogy - one of the freshest and most imaginative for a long time! Cannot recommend them enough!

I’ve been binge reading this series ever since I realised I couldn’t remember what happened at the end of the first book. I didn’t get as far as reading books 2 and 3 the first time round so I headed over to my local bookshop and bought them, determined to read the whole series through.

Half Bad was just as wonderful as I remembered (and the ending just as frustrating) and I couldn’t wait to delve into the second book and find out where Nathan would end up. We find him living in a cave in a forest, at a meeting place appointed by Gabriel should anything go wrong whilst trying to get the Fairborn. It has a slow pace to begin with, like trying to peddle a bike when you’ve left it in a high gear, which is so teasing after the speed of the first book. It gives the reader time to catch up and remember, to get their bearings before being thrust forward once again into a constantly moving, twisting plot.

Nathan is isolated at the beginning of Half Wild and as harsh as it sounds I was glad, because I wanted to see where he was mentally as well as his thoughts and feelings around Gabriel and the rest of his group, without the distractions of the actual plot. Nathan is such an interesting and complex character and I find him fascinating.

However I didn’t feel that all characters were given the same treatment. Mercury, for example, had the potential to be another highly complex character but not much was shown about her. The first person narrative is effective but it restricts the ability to view characters in the same way we get to see Nathan.

I don’t like having books spoilt for me and I never set out to write spoilers, but I cannot write a review of Half Wild without talking about Gabriel. At the end of the first book we don’t know where he is, and I have no intention of telling you what happens, but for me to talk about him suggests he is, in some way, in the book. He has fast become a favourite of mine and the fact that he’s developed in such a way that you understand and feel him but don’t really know him is utterly tantalising. The relationship that he and Nathan has is beautiful in all its complexity and passionate friendship.

In almost the opposite way I found the character of Annalise interesting too; she’s only in about 90% of the story so far but she controls so much of what happens. I’ve come to believe that most of what Nathan feels isn’t about who she is but what she represents, and it’s the thought of her that he is in love with. She represents open arms and a gentle love. He wants to believe that someone would choose him despite any obstacle, and to a fashion she does, but he doesn’t actually know much about who she is.

I wrote in my first review that the story followed a ‘sins of the father’ line of thought and that was true for Nathan in the first book when he was so young and influenced. In Half Wild he’s becoming an adult, moving away from the need to be the apple of his father’s eye but still not quite comfortable of his half blood status. Ironically, he doesn’t see the world as black and white anymore, there’s always the age-old conflict between good and evil but in this book he seems to be becoming more comfortable with it.

After Nathan successfully managed to receive his Giving in the first book, we are now treated to the emergence of Nathan’s gift: the ability to turn into an animal. The idea of ‘wild’ suggests a brutal, feral nature, and a lack of control over impulse – sometimes ‘driven wild’ by the inability to control it. This book is no less violent than the first (shockingly so in places) and explores themes of humans as beasts, and vice versa. Just like everything in this series, this dark idea is balanced by Nathan’s affinity with the natural. This is more celebrated and his connection to the outdoors and Wales in particular becomes an integrally positive part of Nathan’s personal development.

The story moves from place to place swiftly but the setting never seems to matter, I’m always the most intrigued about the characters, in the same way that I don’t really care what they do, only how they respond and who it makes them. It’s a special author that can make me mind only about the cast and not the film. Overall, Half Wild is an interesting bridge of a book. It doesn’t quite pack the same punch as the first book but it’s still full of unexpected moments and whispered secrets…

“And maybe that is all we can hope for, that the forest will go on being beautiful.”

Already reviewed and feedback sent ages ago. Not sure why these are duplicating. But please find review content at my archived blog www.behindonbooks.wordpress.com

- Thanks! Sorry this is a little haphazard. Just trying to clear my Shelf here. :)

Since receiving this book my interests have changed. Also time constraints means that I'm limited to the amount of books I can read. I won't be able to give this title the attention that it needs and deserves. Therefore I will no longer be reading or reviewing this title. Thank you.