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Friday 10 February 2012

Malorie Blackman (Noughts & Crosses series)

Noughts & Crosses
An Eye for an Eye (novella)
Knife Edge
Checkmate
Double Cross

Everyone in the world should read these novels! Even if you just read the first book (Noughts & Crosses), although you may not be able to stop! The main theme in the story is racism: white people are Noughts, black people are Crosses. In this world, the Crosses rule over the Noughts. This brings a brilliant perspective and view that shows how different life could be, with only a small reality being changed.

A theme affected by the racism is romance. It is seen as an abomination if a Nought and a Cross was to start a personal relationship; this doesn’t reflect the current world to the younger generation like me, yet you can imagine it causing controversy in the past. As a non-racist person myself and of the younger generation, I could view the situations in the novel with a lack of prejudice towards the characters.

These novels show how stupid racism is, and how it can cause unnecessary violence where there should only be peace. Being a romantic, I personally preferred the, well, romance, especially in the first novel and ongoing throughout the others. However, there is definitely action in these too! There is devious plans of terrorism from the Noughts, whilst Callie Rose (a mix-raced and mislead girl) struggles in life, her mother (Sephy) tries to heal her broken heart, her grandmothers (Meggie and Jasmine) try to heal the family. This struggle is down to the conflict between Noughts and Crosses, and made much worse by Jude’s meddling (Callie Rose’s uncle). Callum (the main male character) is present throughout the book, always in the background of the thoughts and actions of the characters, if not physically there.

The story is set in the first novel, and you see the outcome of this resolve throughout the other three in the series. The series is very heartfelt and touching, with many moments when you will laugh, cry, or just plain enjoy it. I loved following the whole world, and it was written so well that you feel like you lived the lives with them. A top series and a must read!

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