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Half City
by Kate GoldenSeries: Harker Academy #1
Published by Ace on February 17, 2026
SubGenres: Fantasy Romance, Urban Fantasy
Format: eArc
Pages: 494
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Audience: 18+/Adult
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Welcome to Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. Keep your daggers sharp, and your wits even sharper.
Viv Abbot is an average twenty-one-year-old girl. She lives in an expensive city where the rent is too high, works long hours at a thankless job, and is dating a guy she doesn’t even like in the hopes of winning her prickly mother’s approval.
She just also happens to be a demon hunter.
Ever since her father's murder, she's been forced to hunt deviants alone, meaning everyone, including her family, sees her as an outsider. . . . Until the day she crosses paths with a dangerously alluring demon, Reid Graveheart. The reformed deviant tells her of a school for people just like her: Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. If she enrolls, she'll learn to hone her craft, work with other hunters, and never be alone again.
But Viv has a deadly secret. One that not even her new friends at Harker can know about. Not when the school might hold the answers to untangling the mystery surrounding Viv's father’s death. When strange occurrences begin to plague the students, Viv will have to figure out who she can trust, and fast. All while trying to ace her classes, not fall for a demon, and make it through her first year at Harker in one piece. How hard could that be?
Once I saw the cover and read the synopsis of Half City by Kate Golden, I knew I needed to read it. A mixture of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural, sign me up immediately! And it’s also marketed as an Urban Fantasy, which is one of my favorite subgenres to read, especially when this subgenre tends to have strong female leads.
The book started off with a bang, with Viv Abbot on the hunt for supernaturals, which immediately hooked me. Viv was trained by her father to be a hunter, but she has no idea about Harker Academy until a sexy demon, her enemy whom she tries to hurt first, recruits her as a student. She’s hesitant at first because wouldn’t her father have told her about the Academy? She decides to go because being surrounded by other hunters could be helpful. At the Academy, she realizes her father, who was murdered by deviants when she was younger, had a different identity and life before she was born. As she digs into her father’s past at the school, she uncovers the truth of what may have happened to him and why he kept the Academy secret from her, especially as the Academy becomes a target of deviants because of someone’s sinister actions.
This book definitely gave off Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural vibes, and the world-building hooked me immediately. The story is told solely through Viv’s POV. She was likable at times, but sometimes drove me batty. She was a kickbutt heroine who could hold her own, but she often put herself in danger. She kept mentioning she’s a special hunter who needs to hunt more than others and hunts better alone, but most of the time she puts herself and others at risk, which was frustrating. (It was repetitive at times when she mentioned her special hunter abilities, which took me out of the book at times.)
I enjoyed getting to know the secondary characters in this book, and there was a lot to keep up with as they became Viv’s friends. They became more like family than her own. I didn’t care for Viv’s mother for most of the book because of how she treated Viv, and I understood why Viv avoided her. But toward the end, Viv’s mother may have changed my mind after she revealed some things to Viv.
I liked Reid, the MMC, when he was introduced. He gave off Angel vibes. Although we didn’t get his POV, I still enjoyed getting to know him through Viv. He was protective of Viv and seemed cold to her at first. He is her instructor, forbidden, and finds her reckless until he reveals his feelings toward the end. That said, his relationship with Viv felt strange at the end. It seemed rushed, even though this is a slow burn. I think it’s because Viv had an established boyfriend for most of the book, then their relationship ends and suddenly she’s with Reid. Maybe their relationship will make more sense in the next book, especially with the cliffhanger ending.
When it came to the mystery at the Academy and how Viv and her friends were determined to solve it, I was invested in the storyline. I’m glad Viv had her friends to help. I was surprised by who was behind everything and how it tied to what happened to Viv’s father. The ending left me eager to see what happens next, especially with what happened to Viv and Reid. I’m looking forward to the next book, even if I had some issues with this one.
Overall, I give this book 3.5 stars and can’t wait to read the next in this new world Kate Golden has created. This book brought back my teenage years, and now I’m determined to rewatch Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. I’ve only watched one season of Supernatural, but maybe it’s time to pick it up after watching the rest of the show. The show came out when I was in the Navy, and I didn’t have much time for TV then.
Cliffhanger: Yes
Would I recommend this book? Yes. If you love reading Urban Fantasy with a kickbutt heroine, this book is for you. If you grew up watching paranormal shows like Buffy and Supernatural, you’ll enjoy this book too. Also, check out Kate Golden’s The Sacred Stones Trilogy, which I highly recommend if you enjoy reading about Fae and Dragons and a Slow Burn Romance.
What to Expect:
⚔️Urban Fantasy
🖤Enemies to Lovers
⚔️Forbidden Love – Demon/Hunter
🖤Forced Proximity
⚔️Found Family
🖤Slow Burn
About Kate Golden
Kate Golden is the USA Today bestselling author of The Sacred Stones trilogy. She lives in Los Angeles where she works in the film industry developing movies with screenwriters and filmmakers. When she isn’t telling stories, Kate is an avid book reader, puzzle addict, and game night enthusiast which she hosts with her husband and puppy, Milo. You can find her on Instagram at @KateGoldenAuthor and on TikTok at @Kate_Golden_Author.
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My obsession with reading started over 30+ years ago when I went to my first Scholastic Book Fair and found R.L. Stine's Fear Street series. Later, I came across Anne Rice's novels at my public library when I was fourteen when my obsession with vampires started. I was the girl who preferred to be a vampire over a princess any day. My husband says I would leave him a heartbeat for a vampire that looked like Spike or Angel (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries. (It's true, though, and he's accepted it.)
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