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rosimari's review
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
lewistronb's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
michalice's review against another edition
5.0
Callie Rose, who wants to be know as Rose, is older, and Check Mate alternates between the present, and the past. The past chapters are in various points of view, Jude, Callie, Sephy, Jasmine and Meggie. With Callie's chapters we get to see her grow up, each chapter is a different year in her life. We get a first hand look at her feelings towards her Dad as she learns more about him, as well as letters she writes to him. Her friendship with Tobey is portrayed through the book and one thing I liked was how gullible she is towards him, believing everything he says like a true friend would.
Sephy is still trying to deal with Callum's death, while it isn't a prominent issue, it's constantly in the background, and we can see how this has affected her emotional relationship with Callie Rose along with her relationships with boyfriends.
Check Mate is another great instalment in this series, Jude has found Callie and he will stop at nothing in order to exact his revenge on Sephy and her family, even if it means using Callie to get what he needs. While I don't agree with what Callie does, I do feel sorry for her. All the secrets about her Dad are revealed unexpectedly and having no-one to turn to she goes to the one person who she shouldn't have gone to, who pretends to be there for her, and it slowly starts a downward spiral of things she shouldn't even think about, never mind doing them.
Throughout Check Mate we get to see more of Jasmine and Meggie, and how bad news can bring a broken family back together. Check Mate is even more nerve wracking than the previous books, and whenever the book went back to Jasmine I was on tenterhooks wondering what would happen. In the back of my mind I knew what the end result would be, but I didn't want it to end like this, and still hoped I was wrong. Check Mate has one explosive ending, but also a reconciliation, and both of them had me in tears. I am so glad I had the last book waiting to be read as I don't think I could have waited to read it.
Sephy is still trying to deal with Callum's death, while it isn't a prominent issue, it's constantly in the background, and we can see how this has affected her emotional relationship with Callie Rose along with her relationships with boyfriends.
Check Mate is another great instalment in this series, Jude has found Callie and he will stop at nothing in order to exact his revenge on Sephy and her family, even if it means using Callie to get what he needs. While I don't agree with what Callie does, I do feel sorry for her. All the secrets about her Dad are revealed unexpectedly and having no-one to turn to she goes to the one person who she shouldn't have gone to, who pretends to be there for her, and it slowly starts a downward spiral of things she shouldn't even think about, never mind doing them.
Throughout Check Mate we get to see more of Jasmine and Meggie, and how bad news can bring a broken family back together. Check Mate is even more nerve wracking than the previous books, and whenever the book went back to Jasmine I was on tenterhooks wondering what would happen. In the back of my mind I knew what the end result would be, but I didn't want it to end like this, and still hoped I was wrong. Check Mate has one explosive ending, but also a reconciliation, and both of them had me in tears. I am so glad I had the last book waiting to be read as I don't think I could have waited to read it.
sophie______a's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
finedandy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
jennaraee's review against another edition
5.0
This series is one of my favourite series I've ever read, and this book especially was one of my favourites. I would definetly recommend this book to any one of my friends and family
sarah_and_duck's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
janewheeler's review against another edition
5.0
Again! I read this in the same day as the second, and I can honestly say I haven’t want been this emotionally wrecked from a book for years. Worth everyone of the 5 stars. I can’t wait to read the next.
krish_'s review against another edition
4.0
Malorie Blackman broke my heart with the first book of this series and only now, has she tried to mend it. This is a remarkable story. The turmoil - emotional, physical, mental, and social - is overwhelming. Its like standing on a log in the water, constantly being tipped over here and there, your arms flailing about, never knowing when you'll finally lose your balance and plunge into the depths below. Sephy, Callie Rose, Meggie, all these people take so many punches I can't understand how they're still upright.
My favourite thing about Blackman's writing is her characterization. We've been with Sephy for three books now, and we've seen her grow from a carefree child, to a bitter teenager, to a dissipated woman; she's so clear on the pages its impressive. We know why she's affectionately distant with her daughter, we know why she's suddenly cold towards Callum's mother, why she's suddenly in the good with her own mother, Jasmine. Sephy's development is so linear with the books, its like we know her for real. Sephy is a solid image that stays in our memory when not engrossed within the folds of their lives, and one that we immediately recognize as soon as we do return. That's an achievement in my opinion. We come across many characters, most of them disappearing into faint blurs as soon as we close the pages shut, but Blackman does not let her characters slip through our readers' hands - she makes sure of that.
Thanks to her writing, we can see and feel the connections between these women. We see Sephy in Callie Rose, we see Jasmine in Sephy. More than just another commentary on racism (a good one at that), this is also a story about women...women who have to pick up the pieces of their broken lives, women who have had very little power to act and affect, women who have had very little say and contribution in the outcomes, their voices echoing in the hollowness of deaf ears either because they are not the right color, not the right age, not the right gender. Women who have lost so, so much and have been beaten down to their absolute lowest, who have been left with nothing to hold onto but their pride and stubborn will, sometimes their anger and resentment, sometimes love, sometimes desperation, sometimes pure determined conviction...it knocks the breathe out of you once you're able to have a full grasp of what it must be like for these people. I tell you, these are women who have been left with nothing but each other...which they come to find is enough. Eventually.
They are victims, yes, but Blackman does not serve us characters that deserve or need only sympathy. They are flawed. Sephy chooses to take what has been done her and bury herself in the darkness. She turns her rage and sadness and bottles them up, occasionally patching cracks throughout the years. She has made herself alone, and numb. So different to the girl we first met. We get mad at her because we know she knows what she's doing is destructive; that she should go over to her daughter and hug her, tell her all the things we read her saying in her head but never has the courage to say out loud. Meggie, who has lost her entire family, should not have bribed and threatened Sephy and Callie Rose into staying with her. Jasmine should not be so methodical. Callie Rose, so blind, so disillusioned. We have reasons to want to shake them and wake them, except that these are incredibly sad people, and we also know why they are the way they are, and we ask ourselves, what would I have done?
But in the end, they pull through. These are strong women, despite being wronged - perhaps, it is even in spite of being wronged. They have strength they've kept hidden from their oppressors (who take all forms, from husband to son, from the public to one's self), and we see them reaching the end of their patience, moved by urgent events, to finally unleash their wrath. We see what they're capable of and we're in awe. Another extraordinary thing about them is that they might argue that what they've at last resolved to do isn't bravery at all. And in a way, it isn't. Jasmine and Meggie shake, cower, doubt and fear every step of their path. Jasmine and Meggie might rationalize and say its out of necessity, that it is for the greater good. But it would be a lie. Because they do not, for one second, choose willingly what they're called to do. They accept, that is all. They are required to make the deepest, greatest sacrifice and its one of those moments I think we'll never fully understand unless we're one day asked to do the same. Blackman gives us a lot to swallow, and it doesn't go down smoothly.
This isn't a review is it? More like a rant of the opposite kind. I love these books and I'm angry I didn't have time to write a review immediately after reading as that's when I have most to say. But days have gone and most of what I wanted to write has gone with them. I wouldn't have been able to do this justice anyway, so perhaps its just as well.
Somethings I will say I didn't enjoy (as much), hence the missing star, is that there were a bit too many p.o.v.s, but again, I didn't hate it. The problem was that I wanted so much of Sephy, of Callie Rose, that when I was taken from them, I was disappointed. But then it was to get to know more about Meggie and Jasmine and I complained no more. This is also a very reflective book; it is marinated in internal monologue. Many, many thoughts are expressed. Now, usually I hate that but it works here because I love the characters. The dialogue was also occasionally cheesy, but digestible.
Remarkable book, let me say again. Remarkable. More people should be reading Blackman's Noughts and Crosses series. I don't know how I'll get my hands on the fourth, but I tell you now, I will.
My favourite thing about Blackman's writing is her characterization. We've been with Sephy for three books now, and we've seen her grow from a carefree child, to a bitter teenager, to a dissipated woman; she's so clear on the pages its impressive. We know why she's affectionately distant with her daughter, we know why she's suddenly cold towards Callum's mother, why she's suddenly in the good with her own mother, Jasmine. Sephy's development is so linear with the books, its like we know her for real. Sephy is a solid image that stays in our memory when not engrossed within the folds of their lives, and one that we immediately recognize as soon as we do return. That's an achievement in my opinion. We come across many characters, most of them disappearing into faint blurs as soon as we close the pages shut, but Blackman does not let her characters slip through our readers' hands - she makes sure of that.
Thanks to her writing, we can see and feel the connections between these women. We see Sephy in Callie Rose, we see Jasmine in Sephy. More than just another commentary on racism (a good one at that), this is also a story about women...women who have to pick up the pieces of their broken lives, women who have had very little power to act and affect, women who have had very little say and contribution in the outcomes, their voices echoing in the hollowness of deaf ears either because they are not the right color, not the right age, not the right gender. Women who have lost so, so much and have been beaten down to their absolute lowest, who have been left with nothing to hold onto but their pride and stubborn will, sometimes their anger and resentment, sometimes love, sometimes desperation, sometimes pure determined conviction...it knocks the breathe out of you once you're able to have a full grasp of what it must be like for these people. I tell you, these are women who have been left with nothing but each other...which they come to find is enough. Eventually.
They are victims, yes, but Blackman does not serve us characters that deserve or need only sympathy. They are flawed. Sephy chooses to take what has been done her and bury herself in the darkness. She turns her rage and sadness and bottles them up, occasionally patching cracks throughout the years. She has made herself alone, and numb. So different to the girl we first met. We get mad at her because we know she knows what she's doing is destructive; that she should go over to her daughter and hug her, tell her all the things we read her saying in her head but never has the courage to say out loud. Meggie, who has lost her entire family, should not have bribed and threatened Sephy and Callie Rose into staying with her. Jasmine should not be so methodical. Callie Rose, so blind, so disillusioned. We have reasons to want to shake them and wake them, except that these are incredibly sad people, and we also know why they are the way they are, and we ask ourselves, what would I have done?
But in the end, they pull through. These are strong women, despite being wronged - perhaps, it is even in spite of being wronged. They have strength they've kept hidden from their oppressors (who take all forms, from husband to son, from the public to one's self), and we see them reaching the end of their patience, moved by urgent events, to finally unleash their wrath. We see what they're capable of and we're in awe. Another extraordinary thing about them is that they might argue that what they've at last resolved to do isn't bravery at all. And in a way, it isn't. Jasmine and Meggie shake, cower, doubt and fear every step of their path. Jasmine and Meggie might rationalize and say its out of necessity, that it is for the greater good. But it would be a lie. Because they do not, for one second, choose willingly what they're called to do. They accept, that is all. They are required to make the deepest, greatest sacrifice and its one of those moments I think we'll never fully understand unless we're one day asked to do the same. Blackman gives us a lot to swallow, and it doesn't go down smoothly.
This isn't a review is it? More like a rant of the opposite kind. I love these books and I'm angry I didn't have time to write a review immediately after reading as that's when I have most to say. But days have gone and most of what I wanted to write has gone with them. I wouldn't have been able to do this justice anyway, so perhaps its just as well.
Somethings I will say I didn't enjoy (as much), hence the missing star, is that there were a bit too many p.o.v.s, but again, I didn't hate it. The problem was that I wanted so much of Sephy, of Callie Rose, that when I was taken from them, I was disappointed. But then it was to get to know more about Meggie and Jasmine and I complained no more. This is also a very reflective book; it is marinated in internal monologue. Many, many thoughts are expressed. Now, usually I hate that but it works here because I love the characters. The dialogue was also occasionally cheesy, but digestible.
Remarkable book, let me say again. Remarkable. More people should be reading Blackman's Noughts and Crosses series. I don't know how I'll get my hands on the fourth, but I tell you now, I will.
beckyyreadss's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I wanted to read this because I brought a poster with 100 books to read in your lifetime. The first and second book was brutal and ended on a cliffhanger that I had to carry on with the series to find out what the hell was going to happen. This book is still brutal, and I believe everyone needs to read this series, but I struggle with this book.
This book has multiple points of view. The main focus and point of view during this book is Callie Rose. Her mum is a Cross, and her dad was Nought. Her dad was a murderer. Her dad was a terrorist. These facts are the only things that are hers and real. So, she doesn’t mind that she’s leaving it all behind. She thinks there is nothing holding onto. Sixteen years have passed since Sephy Hadley first met Callum McGregor and the hate that divided them turned to hope. But the world hasn’t changed quickly enough for their daughter, Callie Rose. Growing up as mixed child in a world where bitter prejudice divides Noughts and Crosses has meant she’s an outsider wherever she turns. Jude teaches Callie about her real family history, and the more she learns the more he persuades her where her loyalties really lie. But soon Callie is caught in a trap she can’t get out of – one which will have deadly consequences.
This book is still brutal, yes, it is supposed to be a dystopian and fictional book, but it didn’t feel like it at all. This shows the way that society still is, and it made my blood boil. It just frustrates how people still be like this? This book has a strong storyline. This is a powerful book. I love how we’ve watched Sephy grow from a young child to a mum of a teenager. This book shows what hate and brainwashing can do to a person and how secrets can rip families apart. I liked that we got additional POVs from both of the grandmothers, Sephy and Jude.
I felt like half of the book was repeating itself a bit and repeating the actions of the first two books. Between all the POVs, I felt like I was reading the same things over and over again. I felt like this book could have been cut in half and we still would have got everything we needed to know and the story and the drama. I get why they did it with the secrets, but with the flashbacks chapters of Callie growing up, to show the betrayal and things, but it was just confusing, and I think it would be better if they were in chronically order rather than jumping back and two. I hated the love triangles; I don’t think there was any need for them.
I feel like this has dipped a bit from the original plot of the first book. I think Malorie needs to go back to the original plot of book 1 and remember why this was written rather than going off on a tangent and making a book out of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, and Cancer
Moderate: Bullying, Alcoholism, and Cursing
Minor: Rape