*If you haven't read the first book Half Bad then please don't read this review, as it may spoil it for you. :-) *
After finally meeting his elusive father, Marcus, and receiving the three gifts that confirm him as a full adult witch, Nathan is still on the run. He needs to find his friend Gabriel and rescue Annalise, now a prisoner of the powerful Black witch Mercury. Most of all he needs to learn how to control his Gift- a strange, wild new power that threatens to overwhelm him.
Meanwhile, Soul O'Brien has seized control of the Council of White Witches and is expanding his war against Black witches into Europe. In response, an unprecedented alliance has formed between Black and White witches determined to resist him. Drawn into the rebellion by the enigmatic Black witch Van Dal, Nathan finds himself fighting alongside both old friends and old enemies. But can all the rebels be trusted, or is Nathan walking into a trap?
Okay so admittedly it took me a while to get myself back into the world of Half Bad but eventually I rekindled my love for the characters and finished the book so quickly. If I remember rightly it didn't take me long to finish the first book either- so all is rather promising!
So we're thrown back into Nathan's world where is waiting on Gabriel to return to Mercury's cottage, only to find Nesbitt and Australian witch claiming he knows where Gabriel is and has the Fairborn knife belonging to Nathan. He negotiates to take Nathan to his friend if he agrees to hand over the letters belonging to Gabriel.
From then on we meet Van Dal, Nesbitt and various other witches who are forming an alliance of witches to fight against the Council and its members Soul and Wallend. The problem being, the alliance needs a strong and well feared Black Witch to gain the support of the rebels and this where Nathan comes in...
Throughout, the book Nathan is faced with difficult decisions, a string of lies, betrayal and is enlightened as to who he can and can't trust.
Unfortunately I still haven't warmed to Nathan, I found him frustrating with leading Gabriel on and for acting more like a little boy rather than a man. I understand perhaps he is a confused but realistically we know when we're upsetting others, so I'm not very happy with this ongoing situation. Furthermore, like I found with Half Bad, there is a lot of moving around and meeting various other witches which was interesting but it felt like the first half of the book wasn't as fast paced as I found the last half. But I enjoy the sense of journey this book brings, there's never a dull moment of sitting around and thinking its ongoing and active.
Overall, I enjoyed Half Wild as much as I did Half Bad. I still have a huge love for Gabriel, he's caring, funny and so loyal to Nathan. I'd like to think that from the developments in the last quarter of the book, their relationship can finally evolve in the final installment. A lot of character development, suspense and surprises. Just what you want in a supernatural book. Normally I find that a lot of "second books" in a series seem to be my least favourite, but not Half Wild. Again, I'm left itching to read the next and last book in the trilogy which is set to be released March 2016- very excited!
Thank you again to Penguin for sending me this wonderful book by one of my best loved authors.
