Book for the: Freezer!!!

Noughts and Crosses

By Malorie Blackman

This is an old book, but also one of my favourites and therefore my blog page would never be complete without a review.

Malorie Blackman has just finished the fifth in the series, Crossfire, so I thought it was a perfect time to review the first one, (Crossfire is due to be released in July this year, so you have plenty of time to read the first four). Pilot Theatre is also currently running a production this in theatre, and I will be doing a review on that in May, so watch this space! The link is below for tickets.

For those of you who don't know, Noughts and Crosses is the first in the series and follows two characters; Sephy and Callum.

Sephy is dark-skinned; a Cross.

Callum is pale-skinned; a Nought.

In this dystopian world, Crosses are the ruling members of society, while the Noughts are segregated and discriminated against, based on nothing more than the colour of their skin.

Sephy and Callum are childhood best friends, but as the story starts, Callum has earned one of the rare and limited places in a Cross school – Sephy’s school –, and that's where the trouble begins.

We travel with both characters as Callum faces injustice and fights daily to be an accepted part of society, while Sephy is mostly unaware of the problems in her world, because they don't directly affect her - but is meanwhile overcoming her own challenges that no one seems to notice. A romance starts to build between the pair, in a world where they can never freely be together.

I honestly don't even know where to start with this review. This book is both breathtakingly brilliant and traumatic, but I suppose that's the point. Because there is nothing in this book that's not real. As a middle-class white girl, I disagree with racism, but I can honestly say that it's not until a book calls you a Blanker or a Nought, that you start to understand on a different level.

I finished Noughts & Crosses angry and ashamed to be white because of our history. I’ve still not had the guts to read any of the sequels or re-read this book, and years later I still can’t get the final scene out of my head.

So, you may be asking, why read this book?

Because a book that can do this is incredible.

The power of Noughts & Crosses is that it tells no lies, it's a simple switch in reality. It's all real – the views of both characters, the journeys it takes them on, and the punishments dished out. Everything in this book has happened to someone, somewhere based on the colour of their skin.

The story wouldn't be half as compelling, however, without the creation of such real characters. I love Sephy and Callum, I loved following their stories and growing with them as the plot progressed. I liked that I was thrown so deeply into both of their minds that I was pulling my hair out in frustration at their choices. But then I was also rooting so hard for them to be together, that I didn’t know what to do.

Now, I've read some pretty dark things, but two things earned this a freezer status:

1) There is a twist that killed me so bad that I had to stop reading for a while. When the realisation of what was happening hit me, I actually shouted at the book, left my friend a voice-note of rage, screamed some more abuse at the book and stopped reading. All these years after, I can still feel my outrage at the twist.

2) The ending. This is the sole reason for me so far not reading any more of them. There is nothing more I can really say on this point without dropping spoilers, but just have about a million tissues at the ready and don’t read it in public.

Past that, if you need further convincing, the plot and pacing were perfect and kept me hooked all the way through. It was also the first book that I've read where it flips so continuously between the two characters, in short bursts. A brilliant move, as it felt like I was on two journeys at the same time, rather than being jarred back and forth between the two, which longer chapters can sometimes do. It kept the emotion high and me as the reader invested throughout.

This book will either be exactly your thing or too in your face but deserves to be read by everyone. It is bold, brave and hard hitting. It forces the side of racism no one wants to see into the light and keeps you hooked. The injustice around their romance alone is enough to make you cry.

No other book has ever had such a profound effect on me or stayed with me like this one.

There were moments of humor and pure sweetness where I swooned, there were moments of frustration where I hurled abuse at the book, and moments so, so heartbreaking that I couldn't see through my tears. I can still feel the side-effects of this book years later, and for me, THAT is the mark of a truly incredible story.

Here is the link to Malorie Blackman's website so you can see all of her books:

https://www.malorieblackman.co.uk

And here's the link to Pilot Theatre for tickets:

https://www.pilot-theatre.com/performance/noughts-crosses