At this stage, the Black witches are presented as an unfairly persecuted faction discriminated against for hereditary reasons rather than their life choices, though there is a heavy whiff of Old Testament vengeance and feuding, especially amongst Black Witch families (they all seem to kill each other). Less subtle, perhaps, is the witchy racism introduced between the White and Black, the severity of which (excuse the pun) is caught somewhere between the genocidal oppression of Hitler’s reign and the unpleasant racism of pre-civil-rights-movement America. It’s a little edgier, losing some of the more fantastic elements and crucially, the wand waving, replacing it instead with “Gifts” that are endowed on young Witches when they undergo the “Giving”. However, Half Bad most definitely isn’t a remake of the Potter books, and whilst it carries similar elements, the way in which Green executes them is vastly different for a start, the magic in Half Bad feels far realer and less jiggery-pokery. Some of the links between the two are easily made – from the premise, which sees the world populated by Fains (basically muggles), White Witches and Black Witches (yes, the symbolism is heavy handed but I don’t think that matters) and governed by a sort-of Ministry of Magic. Publishers have been searching for “the next Harry Potter” for years but finally a worthy successor has been found in Sally Green’s Half Bad – and one that, whilst it shares themes with that Great British export, is also its own superb story.

Half lost sally green