I think it’s fairly safe to say that this isn’t a problem Half Bad has. And I loved it!
Half Bad is set in our world, but a version where Black Witches and White Witches have their own society and live (kind of) alongside fains (non-magical people). On their seventeenth birthday they receive three gifts (normal presents) and drink the blood of one of their relations (mmm...yum) and then they receive their Gift (psychic power). This could be anything from telekinesis to the ability to control the weather. White Witches use their Gift for good (and their version of good involves torturing Black Witches to death) whereas Black Witches... Well, it just sounds like Black Witches take their Gift, give the Council of White Witches the finger and spend the rest of their lives being persecuted by the Council’s Hunters.
I’ve read reviews that have compared Half Bad to Harry Potter. Well, I guess if you’re talking about a version of Harry Potter where Harry is kept in a cage in the garden instead of the cupboard under the stairs, and he regularly gets the crap beaten and stabbed out of him instead of being educated at Hogwarts, and where people try to force him to murder, and instead of having loads of really nice mates he has no one at all and instead of his dad being a hero he was basically Voldemort, then yes, in that case I’d say Half Bad is exactly like Harry Potter.
*Rolls eyes*
So yes, I’d say that Sally Green took away her (possibly imagined by me) feedback and definitely came up with something edgy. And well written. And fun. And heart-rending.
Can’t wait to read the next one.
9/10