Half Lost: The Half Bad Trilogy, Book 3

Parents need to know that Sally Green's Half Lost is the end of a fantasy trilogy about witches that the publisher is marketing to age 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. This particular brand of witch culture is especially violent overall. Add in an all-out war between white and black witches, and the body count here is high. Gory moments are often caused by the main character, Nathan, whose head we're in for most of the book. He gets his finger sliced off on purpose; he slices off thumbs and an ear; he gets "hot, slippery guts" spilled on him when he slices open an enemy; and he slits many throats. Also, there's a near death from a magic bullet wound where poison eats away at insides. Bombs and grenades explode, magic lightning shoots out of fingers and stuns many, and some are shot and killed with bullets. Expect two sad deaths of characters close to Nathan. Sexual content is also mature, with kissing, nakedness, and lovemaking between two male characters, though nothing is described beyond that. Nathan throws "f--k" around quite a bit and often "s--t." He's 17 and smokes twice. The mature content isn't only meant to shock; the main character must come to grips with how the violence he's committed has changed him.