Half Bad certainly wasn't the typical young adult novel. It was such a dark and somber read. I was really surprised by how much time was focuses on the amount and depth of abuse that the main character gets put thru. Indeed his pain and torment was a frequently reoccurring event throughout the book. For those readers that enjoy a darker read from time to time, this book just might be for you. 
 In a modern day London the story follows the life of a young boy Nathan. There are white witches and black witches and he is half of each. His mother was a white witch and his father a black. His mother is dead and he has never met his father (who is hunted by the white witches). The witch society paints black witches as evil but based on the things that white witches do I would say they are just as evil. As their governing council and enforcers are the main ones that make Nathan's life miserable. 
 Oh oh you hurt me so bad 
 Nathan has had a very rough life. He is the youngest of four children all raised by their grandmother and one of his siblings hates him vehemently. He doesn't really have any friends outside of two of his siblings and his grandmother and the one time he makes one he is essentially tortured to warn him off. I liked the fact that he did have at least family members who genuinely loved and cared for him. It helped balance some of the more horrendous things he goes through. As there are quite a number of scenes where Nathan is physically abused and the reader is not spared details. After awhile it started to really put me off because I began to wonder where the light was at the end of the tunnel. The whole story seems centered around him growing up with the stigma of being a half black witch and whether he will be allowed to receive his witch gifts on his 17th birthday in a blood ceremony that must be performed by an adult witch of his bloodline. Of course there are some major obstacles for him there. 
 Nathan has a very surly personality and I don't blame him, but I have to admit that I never did get attached to him probably largely due to that. I also think the entirely somber tone of the book just didn't work for me. I like to have a bit of sweet with my sour if you know what I mean - and this poor kid just had too many things going sour in his life. His whole life was governed to the point of who he could talk to, where he could go, etc. After awhile I didn't feel like there was anything positive to look forward to. While I found the premise to really interesting I don't feel motivated to continue reading the series especially since I didn't successfully connect with Nathan. 
 Thoughts on the audio narration 
 I adored the narration on this book. The accents were fabulous and the characterizations were spot on. Nathan's personality was captured perfectly by the narrator and I definitely wouldn't have made it thru the print version but the audio version added that extra oomph for me that kept me engaged in the story and made Nathan a real person for me and not just a torture victim. If you're considering reading Half Bad I would say try the audiobook.