Reviews

Endgame by Malorie Blackman

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chezleyrose's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

sabrinaslivingliterature's review

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4.0

Great end to a fantastic series that I have been reading for years.
As always Malorie Blackman's writing is phenomenal and the stories are intriguing, I have to say the political commentary is very on the nose with no subtlety but I found that refreshing and I think it would be difficult not to identify the things happening as they are very current. One of my favourite series and a favourite author and happy to have finished this series.

abbiestorr's review

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4.0

wholesome ending to the series, i <3 callum and sephy so much

fdr_girl's review against another edition

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emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

i won’t pretend i’m not devastated but i also stayed up way too late to finish this in one sitting, and am definitely digging out noughts and crosses to reread tomorrow. thank you malorie blackman for an incredible series and some of my all-time favourite characters

poppyjessica's review

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4.0

When I was a teenager voraciously reading anything I could get my hands on, I came across a beautiful novel about a doomed relationship between Callum and Sephy, race relations turned on their head in a world putting up a mirror to our own prejudices. Blackman's 'Noughts and Crosses' was a formative book for me and has remained so for my own students to this day. I can hardly believe it is now twenty years and five more books later - Blackman's final delve into her parallel world with the sixth book in the series 'Endgame'.

But does it live up to the beauty of the early books? The answer is mostly. I still find the world and the power dynamics in this novel fascinating. Blackman cleverly brings this universe right up to date by taking contemporary news stories, such as films using 'poverty porn', a lack of uptake for vaccinations in the "WAME" community (we are in a backwards world here remember), and the war on drugs. Her viewpoints shine through and are a welcome addition to those speaking out on racial inequality.

However, the news articles and the main storyline of this novel do not gel. We resume as Troy and Libby have failed to escape their kidnappers; Sephy, Callie-Rose and Tobey get drawn into a web of blackmail, desperately trying to save their loved ones but up against violent people with links to organised crime. The story is fully engaging and tension is ramped up through frequent cliffhangers and illuminating moments of flashback to a fateful dinner party. Despite this, Tobey now being prime minister seems to be the only link to the sporadic news articles and issues of race take a backseat to larger themes of power, corruption and family relationships. The articles felt just a little shoehorned (sometimes to create some tension at the worst possible moments!) and could have been woven more pertinently to reflect the main plot.

Overall, this is a fitting and thrilling end to the series (including excellent homage to Callum from the first novel). Despite the lack of gel between the two ideas (the articles and the main plot), Blackman remains one of the best writers of young adult literature out there. I will miss reading books with these characters. 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.