Half Bad

Half Bad is the first book in a trilogy of the same name. The initial volume has a smaller scope than subsequent installments because it represents Nathan’s evolution from a child to an adult witch. As might be expected, his understanding of himself expands over time, as does his knowledge of the Fairborn Council’s agenda. Nathan’s principal concern throughout the novel is finding someone to conduct his Giving Ceremony. This is a personal goal, and he gives little thought to anything beyond his immediate needs. Even after Marcus performs the ceremony, Nathan is only concerned with escaping the Fairborn Hunters and finding Gabriel.

Half Wild, the trilogy’s second volume, switches focus from Nathan’s problems as an individual to the larger issue of witches under the thumb of the authoritarian Council. As the novel begins, Nathan has received the Gift of transforming himself into animals but is plagued by worries over the fate of Annalise and the missing Gabriel. During this time, he finds a new ally in a powerful witch named Van. She agrees to return the missing Detheridge dagger and help retrieve Annalise if Nathan joins the Alliance of Free Witches, a group consisting of Fairborns and Blood Witches that seeks to overthrow the dictatorial Council.

Nathan is shocked to realize that his former jailer, Celia, is a member of this group. With their help, Nathan succeeds in freeing Annalise and killing Mercury. Even though Nathan then pursues his romance with Annalise, he has also begun to reciprocate Gabriel’s romantic feelings for him. Nathan succeeds in recruiting his father to join the Alliance. In a fight at the novel’s end, Marcus threatens Annalise’s brother Connor and is shot by Annalise. As he dies, he advises his son to cut out his heart and eat it to obtain Marcus’s powers.

Half Lost begins with Nathan seeking revenge against Annalise for killing his father. He is also intent on furthering the Alliance’s agenda of overthrowing the Council. Gabriel and Nathan have become lovers by this time, and Gabriel unsuccessfully tries to persuade Nathan to disengage from the Alliance and go away with him to live a quiet life.

After a series of attacks and counterattacks, Nathan and his allies penetrate Council headquarters. Nathan kills Wallend, who originally tried to control him through his tattoos. He also kills Soul O’Brien, the new head of the Council. When Nathan and his allies overrun the Council building, he spares Annalise’s life after she expresses regret for killing Marcus. Meanwhile, Nathan’s vicious sister Jessica and a group of Hunters are still resisting capture. In the battle that follows, Jessica shoots Gabriel and is killed by Nathan in turn.  

Heartbroken at the loss of Gabriel, Nathan retreats from involvement in the new Joint Witch Council and moves to the country to be near Gabriel’s grave. He learns that Annalise has since married and is raising the child they conceived together. The baby’s name is Edge, and he looks like Nathan. Celia comes to visit Nathan and soon builds a cottage nearby. Shortly after Nathan’s 22nd birthday, she never sees him again. Celia realizes that Nathan has transformed himself into a tree that stands above Gabriel’s grave so the two can be together forever.