Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman: The Review

Noughts and Crosses

by

Malorie Blackman

Title: Noughts and Crosses

Author: Malorie Blackman

Publisher: Corgi Books

Buy This Book: Amazon

Sephy is a Cross and, as a privileged black girl in a world where the colour of your skin determines what you can do in your life, her options are seemingly limitless. Callum is a nought, and his white skin and poor family seem far removed from the life that Sephy leads. These two should never be friends, but they are. They grew up playing together when Callum's mother still worked for Sephy's family. Even after Callum's mother is fired and their friendship is expected to end, Sephy and Callum refuse to be separated. They have been best friends for as long as they can remember and they are all the other has. But as tensions rise between noughts and Crosses and with people turning to violence to solve their issues, their friendship is about to be tested. As friendship begins to evolve in to something more, an unexpected attack will push their relationship to the limit. Can Sephy and Callum find a way to be together, even when it seems the whole world is against them?

This was one of the first books I reviewed on this blog, as it is one of my all time favourites but I wasn't happy with the review so I've decided to redo it. I absolutely adore this book, always have and always will. It is one of the first books that I read that managed to make me an uncontrollable, inconsolable, blubbering mess. Quite honestly, I cried like a baby because this book made me care that much. I read it first when I was about eleven and since then I reread it practically every year along with all the other books in the series. 

It is told from both Sephy and Callum's points of view, which at the time it was one of the first books I had encountered that did this. I really enjoy getting different perspectives in books, I feel it brings something more to the book and now it's something I really like to find in a book. I think it's part of the reason Jodi Picoult is one of my all time favourite authors, she always provides different point of views in her books. 

This book will get you thinking, and though it is a love story at heart it is full of suspense and nail-biting moments where you don't want to turn the page because you're scared of what you'll find. So a word of warning to all who read this magnificent book, have your tissues at the ready as it will make you cry, all expensive objects far away from you as you will be tempted to hurl things across the room when it all gets a bit too much and it would also be a good idea to not have anything planned for the next day, you will most likely be sitting up all night trying to finish this.

This to me is a classic and a book that everyone should read. It will get you thinking and really make you care for these characters that you will still be thinking about them for years to come. Now my baby cousin has turned eleven I already have a set purchased for her for Christmas. And she will love them, otherwise I will have to disown her - I'm only slightly kidding. 

I don't think I could love Callum and Sephy more if I tried, I have never wanted a couple to work out as much as I wanted it with these two. I loved this book so much, and though the characters are more juvenile then most young adult books I read now it is still one of my all time favourites.

In order to prove just how much I adored this book, seven years ago when I got my cat I named her Persephone (that's Sephy's real name by the way!), but like the character in the book, we all call her Sephy.

5/5 Stars