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A review by whatbritreads
Checkmate by Malorie Blackman
2.0
Ah, where did this series go so wrong? I just feel like the direction of the story has taken such a sharp turn from Noughts and Crosses, it’s completely not even the same story and I’m so disappointed. It’s lost all of its momentum; I feel like the dystopian and unjust society they live in isn’t even a focal point of the story and has just been pushed aside for some really weak relationships ‘development’. I can’t even begin to express how sad I was reading this book. The series had so much potential but it really should’ve been a standalone, or the first book should’ve been the basis for a more dragged out story. Sigh.
Let’s start with the fact that we have just started this book by skipping an entire SIXTEEN years? This is a consistent theme throughout as well, we randomly skips months or years without really any acknowledgement of it and it’s so frustrating. I really wasn’t expecting a series that spanned over 25+ years. Also, the incessant need for side characters. I started reading expecting to just develop with Callum and Sephy but what we’ve ended up with is quite frankly (sorry for being so negative but it must be said) a mess. The characters are all carbon copies of each other anyway with no real personality and the most unnatural manor of speaking to each other I’ve ever come across is bizarre.
There were multiple love triangles in this book for NO REASON. Why is romance just shoved into a story pointlessly? Honestly this series had such potential to be a groundbreaking dystopian masterpiece in the analysis of power play and race in society, and the first book made a good attempt, and from here it’s just unreadable. It just felt like a weird contemporary read with a random suicide-bomber and cancer storyline thrown in for shcok-value. It all felt so cheap and I literally felt nothing for any of these characters.
The plot of this book, because of the format, had no intrigue because we pretty much knew how it was gonna end from the beginning. I hated the constant back and forth throughout time, it was confusing and many of the chapters added nothing. In fact, often he perspective changed just to go over the exact same scene in a different POV? Also, the random addition and sudden storyline where Sephy is a singer and writes music 24/7? What is that about?
I really had high hopes from Malorie Blackman from the first instalment. I was willing to let her off for the second book, assuming it was maybe a filler for better things to come, but I’ve never read such an unsatisfying book series. I don’t even wanna read the last book but guess I’m this far in now I’ll push through the pain.
Sorry for all the negativity, someone else please tell me they’ve read this and thought it was a complete trainwreck and I’m not just miserable?
Let’s start with the fact that we have just started this book by skipping an entire SIXTEEN years? This is a consistent theme throughout as well, we randomly skips months or years without really any acknowledgement of it and it’s so frustrating. I really wasn’t expecting a series that spanned over 25+ years. Also, the incessant need for side characters. I started reading expecting to just develop with Callum and Sephy but what we’ve ended up with is quite frankly (sorry for being so negative but it must be said) a mess. The characters are all carbon copies of each other anyway with no real personality and the most unnatural manor of speaking to each other I’ve ever come across is bizarre.
There were multiple love triangles in this book for NO REASON. Why is romance just shoved into a story pointlessly? Honestly this series had such potential to be a groundbreaking dystopian masterpiece in the analysis of power play and race in society, and the first book made a good attempt, and from here it’s just unreadable. It just felt like a weird contemporary read with a random suicide-bomber and cancer storyline thrown in for shcok-value. It all felt so cheap and I literally felt nothing for any of these characters.
The plot of this book, because of the format, had no intrigue because we pretty much knew how it was gonna end from the beginning. I hated the constant back and forth throughout time, it was confusing and many of the chapters added nothing. In fact, often he perspective changed just to go over the exact same scene in a different POV? Also, the random addition and sudden storyline where Sephy is a singer and writes music 24/7? What is that about?
I really had high hopes from Malorie Blackman from the first instalment. I was willing to let her off for the second book, assuming it was maybe a filler for better things to come, but I’ve never read such an unsatisfying book series. I don’t even wanna read the last book but guess I’m this far in now I’ll push through the pain.
Sorry for all the negativity, someone else please tell me they’ve read this and thought it was a complete trainwreck and I’m not just miserable?