Recent Reads: Crossfire by Malorie Blackman

Posted on 26/08/2019 by Pam

My review: ????

Crossfire by Malorie Blackman is the fifth book in the Noughts and Crosses series. I had heard of Noughts and Crosses before, and so read it, and the second book Knife Edge, before reading Crossfire.

Which does mean I haven’t read books 3 and 4. I figured I would see how much I was missing out on the story in this fifth book, and it turns out I was missing quite a lot!

When asked why she wrote Noughts and Crosses Malorie Blackman has said on her website:

There wasn’t any one thing. It grew out of a lifetime of experiences. Some of the racist incidents in the book were based on real events from my own childhood. And I also wanted to play with the idea that ‘history is luck’ to a certain extent. What if Africans had invented trans-oceanic travel and colonized Europe and America? Or what if the Aztecs and Incas had ‘beaten Cortez to the punch’ and converted the Catholics in Spain and Portugal at the point of a sword? You put all that together and you have the germ of an idea which led to Noughts and Crosses.

Noughts are the minority, previous slaves of the Crosses. We are shown the every day racism of a world that is in the 21st century, and trialing integrated schools.

Noughts and Crosses is the story of Sephy, a Cross, and Callum, a Nought, and their doomed love.

Crossfire is bringing us up to date, and is set 18 years after the 4th book. Malorie Blackman has said that she felt like she had to write it due to Brexit, and you can also find Windrush references.

In Crossfire, we have Sephy’s son, Troy, and Libby, a Nought, who are kidnapped, and each thinks they know why. Callie Rose is a lawyer, and is to defend the first Nought Prime Minister from the charge of murder.

I did enjoy the story, and the characters, but I did also feel like I was missing out on quite a lot of references to things going on, so read this when you’ve read the previous four to get the full enjoyment out of it! The end is also a cliff hanger, just to prepare you!

Crossfire was published on 8th August 2019, and is available to buy on Amazon and on Waterstones. I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Malorie Blackman on Twitter, or through her website.

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Penguin Random House (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Recent Reads: The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg

Posted on 23/08/2019 by Pam

My review: ????

The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg is set in the future, when a theme park has developed hybrids, which are humans with cybernetic parts. They have also created animals, dinosaurs and other extinct creatures.

Ana, one of the seven cybernetic princesses of the Kindgom, is on trial, and we are taken through interviews, court transcripts, and flashbacks from Ana to find out what exactly happened.

There are secrets, hidden purposes, and lies, and we are shown the truth bit by bit.

This is labelled as YA, and is a good thriller that kept me guessing as to what was going to happen, and why!

The Kingdom was published on 11th July 2019, and is available to buy on Amazon and on Waterstones. I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Jess Rothenberg on Twitter, or through her website.

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Pan Macmillan (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Recent Reads: What She Found in the Woods by Josephine Angelini

Posted on 19/08/2019 by Pam

My review: ????

What She Found in the Woods by Josephine Angelini is about Madga, a teenage girl from New York, who has caused problems in her old life, and has come to live with her grandparents, somewhere she hasn’t been for a couple of years, but where she used to summer every year, so there are other teens in the area that her grandparents fish up for her to socialise with again.

You find out more about Magda as you read the book, but you start out with a young woman who needs to take pills, and talks about guilt. She starts to take walks in the woods near her grandparents house, and one day meets a guy, Bo, who tells her his family lives in the woods.

Magda is keeping his secret, trying to act like a normal college age teen, whilst knowing she won’t be accepted by any college, so she starts volunteering at a woman’s refuge in the town, with some of her friends.

This was a thrill ride, as you learn more about Magda, Bo, the woman’s refuge, and someone called Dr Goodnight. It is a book written for teens, but that just means all of the emotions come across more intensely, which really works for a thriller.

What She Found in the Woods was published on 25th July 2019, and is available to buy on Amazon and on Waterstones. I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Josephine Angelini on Twitter, or through her website.

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Pan MacMillan (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!