A review by eveattwood
Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman

dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Read this as part of a module on teen fiction & I'm really torn in terms of how to rate it. The plot definitely picked up near the end & became more interesting to read, but the beginning was difficult to get into.

Things I enjoyed about this book:
  • The concept is the most interesting part about this book, reversing the racism & discrimination black people have experienced, and instead envisioning them as the ones with the most power & influence in society. This means white characters or 'noughts' become the people who are looked down upon, or have historically been discriminated against. I think this would definitely be a good resource for teaching kids/teens about racism & the importance of listening to other peoples' experiences & showing them empathy
  • I think the portrayal of how trauma, stress & constant racism affects Callum is done well & how this impacts him/his decisions later in the book

Things I didn't love about this book/could be improved:
  • I know this is a YA book so it is targeted for a younger audience, but the writing of this book often felt v childish to the point that it took me out of the story or made me cringe. The povs were so hard to get fully invested in as the characters often came out with such strange phrases
  • There's a lot of telling & not showing in this book, particularly in the first 2/3s. We hear a lot from Callum & Sephy about how they feel or things that happened, but not always in the moment. A lot of it feels v summarised 
  • The relationship as a whole just fell pretty flat for me. I feel like there wasn't enough build up or flashbacks shown to show how close they were or why they liked each other
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