Half City by Kate Golden

I didn’t want another story about a young adult attending a magical school. However, I had to give Half City by Kate Golden a chance, because she had completely proved her worth in her Sacred Stones Trilogy and as a result was firmly on my “authors to watch” list.

I really didn’t want to love another story about a young adult attending a magical school.

Some tropes are tropes through sheer repetition, bordering on the chasm of cliche and relying on familiarity for popularity. Yet some are tropes because the device is universally appealing, has enduring appeal, and just works. No matter how many times I say I am getting tired of mystical schools, schools of magic, schools in other realms, I never actually do tire of them. I suppose as long as authors such as Kate Golden, Rebecca Yarros, and Leslie Vedder keep rising to the challenge, I will keep taking the delicious, enticing, all-consuming bait.

Half City follows the story of Viv Abbot, a 21 year old museum assistant who lives on the almost nearly sealed off mouth of hell. She also happens to be a demon hunter by birth, a rather peculiar strain of demon hunter. Having learned to hunt alongside her father at a young age, his death under mysterious circumstances has left her alone in a world that does not see the demonic forces around them. Her best friend and roommate do not see, her boyfriend does not see, not even her own family sees what she does. But with her father’s blood pumping through her veins, Viv sees all the creatures that hide in the darkness and lurk around each corner. She is compelled by a fire inside her to fight them, to protect those around her, and the fire threatens to burn her up.

One night after saving a mother and her children, Viv is drawn into a world that she did not know existed; Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. At Harker students are trained to do the very thing that she has been doing since infancy; know demons, fight demons, kill demons.

Making new friends, learning new things about herself is only the beginning of Viv’s first year. Not only does she discover that her father once attended the school before hiding its existence from her, but strange occurrences around campus suggest that something more unusual is going on than her growing attraction to reformed demon professor Reid. Can she and her plucky band of new demon hunting friends figure it out before the semester or the world comes to an end?

I jest, but I thoroughly enjoyed the world of Harker Academy, and where Golden began to scratch the surface of this universe she sets up several elements to be explored in future stories. Also Half City ends on a gut wrenching cliff hanger leaving me both angry and in awe at her skill with a quill.

Viv finds herself living two different lives. One with her roommate and best friend Penny, easily the nicest person in the world. Penny is blissfully unaware of the real world around her and cute as an absolute button. The other with new bestie Sofia, an Amazonian huntress herself, with more self knowledge and self esteem than anyone person should have, but also the nicest person in the world. One cuddles stuffed animals and watches Rom Coms, the other fights demons in spandex and lace. But their differences are not the thing that defines them. Their honesty, their kindness, their humanity, these things rise above all other circumstance and opinion to show that we are more alike than our differences. Watching Viv’s changing relationship with both, gives me hope for our actual world with our actual demons, and is an amazing journey to read.

While it may have been begrudgingly at first that I walked the halls of Harker Academy, I found myself doing so with as much joy and intrigue as I did Basgiath or Hogwarts. I can’t even stay mad at the soul crushing cliff hanger, because Golden set up so many fascinating avenues throughout Half City to explore in future books that I am just praying she has some Sanderson like stamina coming her way.

Incidentally I began reading this book the day an oft repeated library meme came across my feed once more, and so I started this book with the notion “Once I crushed a beetle with my bare foot… and then the librarians came.” which had me giggling until the fight scene got going and completely pulled me out of my silliness.

Half City by Kate Golden was released on February 17th 2026 and will thankfully be followed by Cursed City this coming October. GeekMom received a copy for review purpose.