This is the third book and conclusion to the wonderful and adventurous The Smoke Thieves series that takes place in a fantasy world that resembles Game of Thrones quite a bit, with fights for power, wars between kingdoms and a magic twist with demons and the hunting for demon smoke. 

“Fight to the death and then keep on fighting.”

Just like the previous two books, The Burning Kingdoms was a fast and easy read with action throughout; with the all-out war that has erupted and the threat from the unstoppable boy army fueled with demon smoke that evil King Aloysius is creating. But plot-wise, this was definitely the weakest of the three books and the characters felt flat and the pacing off somehow.

The story was still told from the five POVs Catherine, Ambrose, Tash, Edyon and March, but I was disappointed in the small part that Tash got. She’s been my favorite character from the start; this seventeen-year-old demon hunter was such a badass, strong and shining character in the previous books that it was impossible not to fall in love with her. So the story definitely got weaker when her part was so limited in this book. I also felt that it was unfortunate that the five characters were split apart again and that the relationships that had formed in the second book were not evolved but rather put on hold here.

Still, it was a very solid and enjoyable fantasy story, with a great world building and an interesting take on demons as victims. And I really enjoyed the ending, I just wish for some more suspense and a slightly more addictive plot to get there.

Rating:
3 stars

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The Demon World is the sequel to the wonderful, adorable and adventurous The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green. Just like in the first book there are five main POV characters: Catherine, Ambrose, Tash, Edyon and March. In the first book I thought all of the POVs were a little too much at first, but now that you know all the characters better it was no problem at all.

The writing, the characters and the plot was really good this time around as well and there was a lot of action going on. Nevertheless, it did feel like not as much happened in this book as in The Smoke Thieves and I didn’t connect as much to the romance between Princess Catherine and Ambrose this time. To be honest, I didn’t like the way Catherine treated him at times, and I also think there might be another way Catherine could go relationship-wise in the next book, if we get to see more of Prince Tzsayn there... I really missed his character in this book!

All in all, this was a good read, but it suffered a bit from the typical second book syndrome. It felt a lot like Sally Green was moving her characters into position for the grand finale in the third book. But that said, I’m definitely eagerly awaiting the third book to find out what will happen in the end!

Rating:
4 stars

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This is the first book in a new series that takes place in a fantasy world that resembles Game of Thrones quite a bit, with fights for power, wars between kingdoms and a magic twist with demons and the hunting for demon smoke. The story is told from five different POVs; Princess Catherine, royal guard Ambrose, servant March, thirteen-year-old demon hunter Tash and thief and royal bastard Edyon.

Five POVs might seem a little too much, but I really loved all of these different POVs and how they made the story more dynamic and interesting. I especially loved Princess Catherine’s character and how she adapted to living in a world of female oppression without losing her fierceness and self-confidence. And the romance with the honorable and gorgeous Ambrose was so sweet. My favorite though was demon hunter Tash; she was such a badass, strong and shining character that it was impossible not to fall in love with her completely! I didn’t connect that much with March and Edyon, but I think that might come as the series evolves.
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I must confess though, that I had hoped for something similar to Sally Green’s previous the Half Bad series as to writing style and sense of rawness, but The Smoke Thieves is more of a traditional fantasy. There was a lot of action going on and the writing, the characters and the plot were truly enjoyable, but it was nowhere near the uniqueness of Half Bad. But a solid 4-star adventure, and I will definitely continue the series!

Rating:
4 stars

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This trilogy is absolutely unique and original, both in the way it's written and in the darkness of the story itself. The writing is really different, it flips back and forth from second to first person. The timeline is also not quite linear, instead it flips back in time every now and then to explain the current. I loved it, as it makes the book stand out and also makes you feel really close to the characters. I’m glad I started reading the series when all three books were published; I literally could not put the books down until I’d finished all of them.

Also, the series is kind of brutal, to say the least. It’s set in modern-day Europe, where witches secretly lives alongside humans (fains). The witches are either white (good) or black (bad), aside from 17-year-old Nathan who is half of both. His absent father is the most notorious black witch alive and his mother is dead. It’s as gloomy as it sounds. When we first meet Nathan he is trapped in a cage and abused. Actually, a lot of the book looks back at how Nathan has been mistreated, even tortured, from a very young age because of who his father is, and how eventually he is trapped by the Council of White Witches and put in a cage for cruel tests. Nathan desperately has to escape before his seventeenth birthday, to receive three gifts from his father and his magical ability and become a full-fledged witch. Otherwise, he will die.

Nathan is such a wonderful character. He goes through some absolutely terrible things, but he always has hope and never gives up. Nathan receives help from a series of characters, notably the black witch Gabriel who has lost his powers due to an accident.

​In the second installment, Half Wild, Nathan has escaped and managed to gets his gifts. Now he must decide whether to join the rebelling alliance of free witches and stop the white witch counsel from suppressing and experimenting on black witches, or live a lonely, but free, life. Nathan’s story then comes to close in Half Lost, where the battle is continued and Nathan is being hunted by both sides. I’m not gonna tell too much about the ending, more than that Sally Green definitely knows how to write an epic finale that will shock you.

Of all three books, the second one, Half Wild is my favorite. This is where the love story between Nathan and Gabriel finally takes off for real. It’s such a sweet, wonderful, love story in the midst of all the terrible things going on. It’s also something of a surprise, as inititially Nathan's love life seems to be heading in another (Annalise) direction.
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Some of the best things with the Half Bad trilogy is the surprising love story between Nathan and Gabe, and that it plays with ’gray areas’. White witches aren’t just good and black witches aren’t just bad. Strangely enough, even though Half Bad is about witches, there’s not much magic in it, which is actually a good thing. The story is magical enough in itself.

Rating:
​5 stars

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