So many feelings now that I've completed this series. Half Bad began this whole crazy adventure, Half Wild delved even deeper into the characters' motivations, and now Half Lost brings this epic story to a close. I applaud the author for staying away from the typical YA stories throughout the whole series. While the idea of witches has obviously been used in YA books countless times, Sally Green's approach was very original and highly entertaining.
This book couldn't have been published at a better time. I'm really glad to have read this book during Pride Month. LGBTQ characters are getting more and more common in books these days, and the acceptance of these characters by major publishers (in YA no less!) is definitely overdue. It's time to accept diversity in books. With the recent events in Orlando, it feels even more appropriate to discuss it now. The main character, Nathan, definitely had issues about acknowledging his romantic feelings for his best friend Gabriel, but ultimately he came to realize that love is love. Gabriel was never shy about his feelings. For Nathan, even though it took a while to realize, I don't think it was so much about loving someone of the same sex, but more about loving someone after being betrayed by another lover. Especially in times of war.
Nathan and company have amassed quite a bit of followers and fighters to wage war against the corrupted Council of White Withes in England. Together, the Alliance is stronger than ever. They're learning to bide their time and wait for the most opportune time to attack. There's a lot of preparation and planning in this book, which slowed down the pace of the story quite a bit. However, I found it helped to better understand the characters, their motivations and their relationships. There are so many sides to Nathan and the title of the book is so fitting. He has felt lost throughout the series, but it's especially true at the beginning and the end of this book. One of the major themes of this book may have been self-discovery, but it's definitely about loss too.
Although the ending wasn't quite what I expected, I think the author went in the right direction. I like that it's not your typical 'happily ever after'. Life doesn't always end up the way you planned it, but I definitely didn't see this coming. I personally think Nathan's story ended perfectly. His story wasn't just about fighting, good vs evil, and war. It was also about endurance, love and acceptance. This book may have lacked a little bit in plot development but it definitely made up with an epic final battle scene and heartbreaking end. I may have cried during the last few chapters, but this gut-wrenching conclusion will be one I remember for a long time.
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