Half Bad

The main character, Nathan, is a witch and a minor who's treated horribly for most of the book. He's beaten repeatedly, held down and branded, held captive with an acid wristband and neckband -- the wrist band nearly eats through his wrist, forced to strip monthly for inspections, given tattoos that pierce bone, and chained to the bottom of a van on a journey where he's forced to sit in his own sick and pee. When he escapes his problems aren't over. He's constantly hiding and gets shot. There are two sad deaths and the deaths of a few enemies. This particular brand of witch culture is pretty violent overall. There's much talk of a war between white and black witches where black witches are constantly hunted, tortured, and killed. One story involves a black witch going mad and biting off her own tongue. Lots of talk of Nathan's father, a notorious black witch who has killed 193 witches and eaten many of their hearts to absorb their special powers. He also killed the father of Nathan's half-siblings and, because of her involvement with him, Nathan's mother was coerced into committing suicide when Nathan was young.

Some kissing, and many fantasies about kissing an undressing the same girl afterward. A handful of scenes of nonsexual nudity -- Nathan is stripped for inspection repeatedly and goes skinnydipping in a lake and is rescued by a girl while still naked.

"S--t" a few times, "bitch," "bloody," "bloody hell," "dumb ass," "piss off," "hell," and one instance of "f***" spelled with the asterisks.

A few scenes of heavy smoking -- with mention of Marlboros -- mostly by a minor teen character but Nathan picks up the habit in his presence. Plus talk of a witch getting drunk in sorrow.

Parents need to know that Half Bad is the start of a fantasy trilogy about witches that the publisher is marketing to ages 12 and up. However, the amount of violence here and the overall edginess of the content make it pretty consistent with books most publishers aim toward the more mature YA crowd; high schoolers, not middle schoolers. The main character, Nathan, endures some pretty horrific treatment. He's beaten repeatedly, held down and branded, held captive with an acid wristband that almost eats through his wrist, given tattoos that pierce down to the bone, and chained to the bottom of a van and forced to sit in his own sick and pee. Fistfights are plentiful and bloody. A war between white and black witches has led to many murders over the years and the atmosphere is hunt or be hunted, and capture, torture, then kill; a dark world to inhabit. After what Nathan endures, he wonders why the white witches can still consider themselves the good side. Other mature content includes a few scenes of heavy smoking by minors and handfuls of strong language, mostly "s--t," with one instance of "f***" spelled just like that.