Changes

A strong theme in much YA fiction is the treatment of the ''other''. And ''Half Bad'' is very strong on this. You could read it as a parable of racism, or homophobia or anti-Semitism. White witches are taught that black witches are everything that is bad and that any means must be employed to be rid of them. Any means, no matter how violent, how ruthless, how cruel. But Nathan wants to be good. He doesn't always behave well but this is mostly because he is treated so poorly and put in so many unjust situations that he has little choice. And for the Council, that's a self-fulfilling prophecy. So Nathan, as a character, is often quite unsympathetic. I liked this subversion of the standard tropes of good and evil found in paranormal stories.  In fact, ''Half Bad'' employs and subverts a great many of the usual motifs and plot devices from the genre. I really appreciated the romance taking a back seat to the quest, too. It's not an original story by any means but it is an original treatment.