Double Cross, a review

Double Cross by Malorie Blackman, the fourth book in the Noughts and Crosses series, was a reread for me. I first read these books around when they came out (this book in 2008 – I was 12) borrowing them from the library, and when I bought myself my own copies as an adult I knew I wanted to reread them.

This was a damn difficult book to get through. It was rough. I actually DNF’d it for a while in 2021 because I really just wasn’t in the right headspace for this, and this series is heavy. Eventually I did push through in March and finally finish up this reread. Interestingly, the ending wasn’t as heartbreaking as I’d come to expect from the first three books in the series, but DAMN did I need that!

If it wasn’t already obvious, this book has some HEAVY trigger warnings. Highlight here if you want to see them: death, drug abuse, drug use, gun violence, racism, murder, cancer, terminal illness. This series is all about the reversal of racism, where Black people have power and white people are the minority. It’s based in the UK, as Blackman is a British author, but it does have influence from the US in terms of the corporal punishment being used there more recently against Black people compared to in the UK. And it is set as a contemporary read, at least within the time it was published in ’08. It’s still incredibly relevant to today though, much to my chagrin.

I will say that I didn’t find this book to be quite as enjoyable as the first three books. It was still incredibly hard hitting, and tough to read, but it doesn’t seem to add to the original three books. The story arc felt quite complete within those, and this definitely feels more like an extended 3.5 where we learn more about the lives these people are living.

If you’d like to see my reviews for my rereads of Noughts & Crosses, Knife Edge, or Checkmate, click on their names to read!

It’s not a bad book, don’t get me wrong, just lest connected to the previous works. It follows a completely new POV (there are multiple POVs in the whole series) from a mostly background character from the previous book. The original series was intended as a trilogy and unfortunately it does kinda show in this one. BUT at the same time? Still an incredible story with an incredible message.

On CAWPILE I rated this one: Characters: 6, Atmosphere: 6, Writing: 9, Plot: 6, Intrigue: 7, Logic: 9, and Enjoyment: 4, which gives an average score of 6.71 and a 3.5* rating.

I’m still debating whether I’m going to be picking up the newly released book(s) at any point. I think I’ll be more invested in them as they stick (at least as far as I can tell from the synopsis) to the character set that we’ve already been introduced to. But at the same time I’m always wary of series that are picked back up again after a long hiatus. We’ll have to see.

Have you read any of the books from this series? What do you think of it? Let me know!

Highlight here for the trigger warnings: death, drug abuse, drug use, gun violence, racism, murder, cancer, terminal illness [end].

Checkmate, a review

Checkmate by Malorie Blackman is the third book in the Noughts & Crosses series. After book 2 (Knife Edge) I thought that this series was going to be a little less painful to read than I’d remembered. I was wrong.

Of course I don’t want to spoil anything here for those who haven’t read the first book, but with such a big time jump from book 1 to book 2 that’s really hard! What I can tell you is that there is immense character development here from every single character we’ve met so far, and also within the book itself with the newer characters. It’s done so beautifully, and this is what ended up making me weep.

I was still living with my parents when I read this, and as I reached the end of this book I had to leave the living room and go finish up in my bedroom so that my dad wouldn’t see me cry! I ended up ugly sobbing, the tears streaming down my face. That’s what this series does to me, and that’s why I’ve been putting off reading it for so long! I love it, but it hurts.

For my CAWPILE ratings I gave this book: Characters: 9, Atmosphere: 10, Writing: 9, Plot: 9, Intrigue: 9, Logic: 10, and Enjoyment: 9, which gives this book an overall rating of 9.29 which to no ones surprise is a damn solid 5 star read.

I am so scared to read book 4 in this series, let alone if I decide to pick up the more recently published book 5! Double Cross (book 4) is actually on my tbr this month (Feb 22) so with me luck! I’m sure to cry again at this one.

Knife Edge, a review

The Noughts & Crosses series is one from my childhood that I’ve decided to reread. I read book one late last year, and finally continued on with Knife Edge this year.

This one didn’t break my heart quite as much as book one, which was a nice break! But don’t get me wrong it’s still not an easy read.

This series is in a world where white people are inferior, and in book one we follow Sephy and Callum, a Black girl and a white boy, who despite the world being against them are in love. That book tore my little heart right out of my chest. I was expecting the same from book two.

This book didn’t go quite so far, but I still very much… enjoyed(?) it. Is that the right word?? You know what I mean.

In this book we switch to a new perspective, right from the beginning, as well as continuing with a perspective we’d been following throughout book one. This new perspective offered a lot of insight into the harsh reality of life and how circumstances can drive people to commit certain acts. Whilst I don’t like this character, I really appreciate all of the development that Blackman does of them and how this adds so many layers. It really makes you realise the humanity in all of the acts they carry out. Even if you don’t agree with them.

I have pretty strong feelings about these books. I’ve heard people say they aren’t for kids. I’ve heard people say they’re unrealistically violent. But they are for children (older kids mind you, trigger warnings are rife in these) and the aren’t unrealistically violent. This is supposed to be a reversal of racism towards Black people and it really highlights this for a mainly white British population with the whites treated as inferior. It shows what their friends and colleagues are going through and I think Blackman should be commended not only for how well she portrays this, but also with how well her books have stood the test of time. Although I’m sure she would’ve rather had them seem radically out of date. And so would I.

For my CAWPILE rating for this book I gave:

Characters: 8

Atmosphere: 10

Writing: 9

Plot: 8

Intrigue: 9

Logic: 10

Enjoyment: 8

Which gives me an overall 8.86 rating which is a nice solid 4 star rating. I’m surprised that it didn’t get 5 stars but CAWPILE is a really tough system!

Highlight here for trigger warnings: violence, suicide, self-harm, depression, sexual references, racism, domestic abuse, hate crimes, mention of rape, abuse, infantile death suggested

These books are fantastic. They’ll rip your heart out of your chest and shove it down your throat, whilst you have tears pouring down your face and a million thoughts whirring through your head. They. Are. Amazing. Please do pick them up if you haven’t already. And if you have, tell me what you think about them in the comments!!

September TBR

Okay so I NEED to pare back on my tbrs! I massively failed with my August tbr to the point where the books ended up back on the shelf before the end of the month! (okay I can’t lie, it was before week 3 even started). On top of this my life is a *lot* right now and unfortunately I need to prioritise things other than reading.

So speaking of which, let’s get into my not-as-big-as-usual tbr!

First up we have the buzzwordathon prompt which is “dark” and because ya girl needs a fucking break, I’m not going for that in the title of a book. My original plan had been to pick up The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton, but I’m going to push that back to my October tbr. If I have time (ha!) then I’ll happily squeeze it in but it’s not in my plans. Instead I’m linking it to a book with a mainly black cover.

And that is Double Crossed by Malorie Blackman

This is the fourth book in the Noughts and Crosses series which starts out by following Sephie and Callum. A Black girl and a white boy, in a world where whites are considered inferior.

Malorie Blackman covers so many important real world topics in the setting of this reversal of our world.

Of course by book 4 the plot has moved on slightly, and I don’t want to spoil anything so I’m not giving it here. But I’m excited (and nervous because these are heartbreaking) to read this book!

Highlight here for tws:

Next up is a book I’ve been wanting to read for a decade and that’s Cathy’s Book by Stewart, Weismann and Brigg.

I picked up books 2 and 3 in the series in the US many moons ago, not knowing that I didn’t have the first book. It’s taken this long for me to be able to get my hands on a copy of book 1 and I’m excited to finally dive in!

Multi-media formatted with notes and clue and doodles and phone numbers and yes. I’m excited for this contemporary, YA mystery!

Highlight here for tws:

Book three for September is Paradox Lost by George Mann, a Doctor Who book.

I’ve had this little box set of three books for about 4 years now, after my mum gifted me them one Christmas. I’ve read the other two books in the set so I thought it was about time for me to delve into the last one!

In this one there’s a mystery that has spanned a thousand years, and the Doctor is the only one who can solve it and who can save the planet.

Nothing new there then!

Highlight here for tws:

And last but by no means least! The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

This is the only non-fiction book on my tbr, and Rubenhold, a historian, delves into the lives of the five women who were murdered by Jack the Ripper, but who society doesn’t know.

I’m really looking forward to this, macabre as it may sound. I’m hoping that it’s going to be utterly engrossing and highly educational. I can’t wait to learn more about these women who had their lives ripped from them and who have been forgotten by time and society.

It’s one I’ve been seeing everywhere online so fingers crossed I love it!

Highlight here for tws:

I had been hoping to take part in G from Book Roasts Magical Readathon this month. As well as Becca’s Bookopolathon. But it just wasn’t to be. Maybe next time! And maybe for the magical readathon I can give myself a deadline extension and carry it out in October/Novermber??? 😉

Let me know what books you’re hoping to read in the month of September and whether you’re taking part in any readathons!!!

July Reading Wrap Up 2021

July was a MONTH. I had a lot going on in my personal and work life, meaning that my reading life took a back foot. I barely read anything at all for the majority of the month. However, at the very beginning and the very end of the month I somehow read a lot! And so that’s going to make this wrap up seem pretty full. But just for reference, here’s a picture of my bullet journal page for the month. Look how much space!!

I’m going to start of mentioning what I didn’t manage to get to from my tbr. First up, Pompeii by Mary Beard. I fully expected to not get to this book, it was my tbr jar pick and it’s a very dense book that was picked in a very busy month. It was just never going to happen. So I’m putting it back into the tbr jar and I’ll read it again another month.

Then we have Labyrinth by Kate Mosse which I have managed to read from! I’m 276 pages through this 500+ page book. I ended up having to stop focusing on this book as it was putting me into such a reading slump. Instead I’m now just reading a chapter each day. Weirdly despite the slump etc… I’m enjoying it! It’s a really interesting story and I’m looking forward to continuing reading it through the next month or so!

I also made some decent headway on Prodigy by Marie Lu which I’ve had on a few tbr’s now. I wasn’t exactly wanting it to be on my August tbr given the damn thing is too big as it is but hey ho!

As always, I read my pages of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy which I’m still really enjoying. I’m buddy reading this with Olivia Savannah from Olivia’s Catastrophe and we’re around 80% of the way through which is amazing! We planned for this to take us all year but I really think we could be finished by the end of October!

And continuing on with the Dead Famous Readalong I read 40 pages from Armageddon Outta Here by Derek Landy, which is a collection of short stories. They span across the first season of books so I’m reading the stories in chronological order. As always the ones I read this month were really fun. The Wonderful Adventures of Geoffrey Scrutinous and Just Another Friday Night. I love Geoffrey as a character, he’s so good at what he does…and nothing else! He really isn’t cut out for violence or fighting or anything like that, but sit him down with someone and he can work wonders on them, so I loved reading more about him. Just Another Friday Night was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the silliness as always as well as the new characters that we got to encounter.

Now for the books that I’ve actually finished.

Lady Susan by Jane Austen was my first read of the month, coming in at only 128 pages. This is one of the last works that was published, after Austen’s death, and instead of being written in the traditional novel style it is instead a collection of letters. I wasn’t keen on the ending as it felt quite rushed (although considering her life events that seems fair) but I did enjoy reading about a not-so-pleasant main character from Austen. This was read for me to take part in Jane Austen July, see more later in this post!

Then for the Buzzwordathon the prompt this month was “last”, so I read The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis which is the 7th and final book in the Narnia series. I know this series inside and out so I didn’t need to read the other books first in order to get to this one. It’s only 172 pages and a book I know very well so a nice quick read. Rereading it as an adult definitely brought more issues to light with the book however, and I’m glad that I read these as a child so I can retain my nostalgia, as they don’t hold up today. I’m planning on rereading the whole series for a full review, but essentially, racist, sexist, and portrays religion awfully.

On a more positive note, I read The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown by Vaseem Khan which is the second book in the Baby Ganesh Agency series and 345 pages long. A mystery series (think modern day Christie) set in Mumbai, India where a baby elephant takes centre stage! This series is so much fun and I’ll definitely be continuing!

For some reason I left this book riiiiight to the end of the month, but with 603 pages I finally read Death Bringer by Derek Landy, this months read for the Dead Famous Readalong. These are all rereads for me and I adore the series, so to no ones surprise I loved this!

Then I dove straight in (okay I waited a few hours but still) to The End of the World by Derek Landy, the short story (127 pages) that was released for World Book Day in 2012 and fits in between Death Bringer and Kingdom of the Wicked. This is such a fun short story, it’s so sweet whilst also being a lot of fun and I love the sneak peek chapters at the end that show us what the series could’ve been like.

Checkmate by Malorie Blackman, the 3rd book in the Noughts & Crosses series, coming in at 503 pages was my next read. This book made me cry. Actually cry. Full. On. Tears. I was almost crying in the living room sat next to my dad (who would just laugh at me) and I fully broke down in my room. This series is something else and if you’ve not read it yet you need to.

Finally another Jane Austen July read! (look I wasn’t going all out cause I didn’t want to ruin her books for me), I joined in with the buddy read of Persuasion by Jane Austen where 2/3 chapters were read each day. I had to catch up a little at the start but this was such a fun read. I loved the way that Austen took us to the inevitable ending whilst developing the characters so much further than expected throughout. Not as good as Pride and Prejudice for me, but I did still really enjoy it!

What a reading month! So many highs and lows! How much did you manage to read this month? Did you slump at all like me or was it plain sailing? Let me know!!

July 2021 TBR

As I write this I look over to my tbr stack, sat on top of my shelves. Jesus christ that thing is BIG. Wish me luck.

This month, as always, I’ve went overboard on my tbr. There’s two readathons in here, one is the Dead Famous Readalong, and one is a Jane Austen-a-long that Caitlyn from Mad Cheshire Woman showed me and oh look now I’m reading 2 Austen novels this month (god damn it woman). So let’s get into my far too big tbr.

Starting off with the Skulduggery Pleasant books, the next book for us is Death Bringer by Derek Landy. This is book 6 in the series, so we’re finishing off the second trilogy. I never clicked when I first read them that the books were split into trilogies so I’m looking forward to realising this when I read the end of this one and to seeing how this all wraps up. Then I also have The End of the World by Derek Landy which is the 2012 world book day novella which slots in here, and finally the stories from the Armageddon Outta Here collection which lay between this book and the next. A lot of Skulduggery to read! Last month I found out that I actually read through these books faster than my normal speed, at about 200 pages an hour, and that really helps to know when getting through these chonkers!

For the Jane Austen readathon I’m hoping to pick up Persuasion in a FlipBack format I have, and also Lady Susan which is included in a bind up I have of all of Austen’s works. I think Lady Susan will be my first read of the month because it’s nice and short and will get me into the swing of things. With Persuasion coming later one. I honestly haven’t even read the synopsis of these so I couldn’t tell you what they’re about!

As of writing there is one book I don’t know about. And that is my tbr jar pick. I do this live as I film my video and I haven’t filmed yet! So unless by some luck I pull out one of the 4 books I’m about to mention, I’ll be reading another book from my tbr this month too! I’ll make a little separate post once I know what that one is.

For the 4 I do know? Let’s start with the biggest which is Labyrinth by Kate Mosse which is a historical fantasy that I’ve been putting off for a solid 4 years because it’s over 700 pages long and I’m a wimp. Simple as. But this year? This month? This. Is when I’m finally getting to it (oh dear god I really hope so). We follow two different time frames, one in near modern day and one back in the 1200s, and they intersect somehow. It sounds really interesting and I have the entire trilogy on my tbr so I really should actually read one of them!

Checkmate by Malorie Blackman is up next. This is the third book in the Noughts & Crosses series which I’ve been slowly re-reading lately. If I’m remembering rightly this follows characters which telling you about would spoil the first book. So I won’t say. But it’s a fantastic series which spins the narrative with whites as the minority and Black people in power. It’s an amazing series and I’m so glad that I’m re-reading this as an adult because I’m getting so much extra from it that childhood Abi missed.

The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown by Vaseem Khan is the second book in the Baby Ganesh Detective Agency series and this is going to be such a fun read! A “cosy mystery” sort of read set in India (and written by a British Indian), I love that this takes the traditional Doyle/Christie format and moves it away from that Eurocentric setting whilst retaining the quaint charm and vague silliness of those books!

And lastly we have Prodigy by Marie Lu, the second book in the Legend series. I first read Legend years ago now, and I found it pretty good. It’s a standard YA fantasy/dystopian where you follow one person on one side and another on the other. I enjoyed the writing and somehow still remember the outline of the plot so I’m hoping that I’ll enjoy diving into this one!

And that’s it (she says after listing 9 and a bit books), that’s my July tbr! Let me know what you want to read this month. Do you have a stupidly long tbr like mine? Or do you have something slightly more achievable? Let me know!

Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman

A classic of British YA literature, I first read Noughts & Crosses when I was 10 years old from my school library. I’m a little surprised that it was in my school’s library because this covers some incredibly heavy topics but I’m grateful that I was able to read it. I reread it for both the BookTube ReReadaThon prompt for July which was a book that had taught me something, and also the fuck white supremacy prompt for the Fuckathon.

This book took a long time for me to get through. I hadn’t been expecting that, because rereads are usually quick reads for me. It was too tough for me to get through. My depression was pretty bad whilst reading this and the dark topics just really triggered it and made it a hard read. I’m still glad that I read it again though, as there were a lot of things I didn’t remember or hadn’t quite gotten the nuance of when I was younger.

I’ve heard some criticisms of this book in that it’s “just a reversal” of real life and that it doesn’t capture the nuances of what really would have occurred if Black people had taken on the role of the white oppressor. I, however, think that this is silly. This is a book intended for children, for the YA audience. It’s a heavy topic and Blackman would have known that most of the children reading this would be white British kids, they had never experienced racism and had probably never been taught about it in school. Changing up too much, making it too unrecognisable for those children, would’ve lessened the impact that was had on them. They wouldn’t have been able to see the parallels between this book and real life. That was the important part of this book.

Nowadays this topic is more common, on social media and sometimes even in schools. And of course the series made its way across the Atlantic where racial differences are a hot button topic every day, week and year. You can write more nuanced books for kids nowadays, for American kids back then. But for white British kids in 2001? This was exactly right to open their eyes.

I’m really glad that I re-read this book and I’m definitely going to be carrying on with the other three books in the series. I’ll be waiting a little until I know my mental health can handle it though.

11 Doctors, 11 Stories

 

My last book for the buzzwordathon! I technically finishing this the day after the readathon ended but shhh!

This book consists of 11 short stories by a variety of well known authors, one for each Doctor (excluding the war doctor and also ones which have appeared after this book was published, Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker). Sadly I’ve only watched nuWho so far, and a bit of the 1st Doctor (I’m working on it!) but those respective authors really managed to embody the way in which each Doctor was portrayed and I really felt like I was watching the show.

Overall I gave the book a rounded up 4*s on Goodreads, as the average of my reviews was around 3.7*s. Now lets break these down into their individual stories.

The First Doctor: A Big Hand for the Doctor by Eoin Colfer – 4*

I really enjoyed this Victorian romp around, with Colfer really mixing the Doctor’s personality around to work for a more modern reader. Hartnel played the Doctor as quite stiff and although that does remain in this story he is a bit more relaxed as would fit a modern audience and I think Colfer blended the two really well.

 

The Second Doctor: The Nameless City by Michael Scott – 2*

This was my lowest rated story within this book at 2*s. I honestly felt bored reading it and struggled to get through it. The concept was fine but the characters fell flat for me. It would have been a 1* if not for the Flower of Scotland at the end!!! (I’m half Scottish) I’ve never read from this author before and I’m likely to not do so given my unenjoyment of their writing style here.

 

The Third Doctor: The Spear of Destiny by Maarcus Sedgwick – 3.5*

A fun viking based story which I was immediately engrossed in and really enjoyed, I gave this 3.5* as it lacked a little extra spark to push it any higher. I enjoyed the little details added in but I feel like it could have done with being a little longer, or a standalone book by itself as there were so many small details added which didn’t get to be explored.

 

The Fourth Doctor: The Roots of Evil by Philip Reeve – 4*

This was a great story, Reeve wrote just the right amount for a novella and the concept of a living tree which had been genetically altered for an evil use is such a great plot. Definitely a fun one!

 

The Fifth Doctor: Tip of the Tongue by Patrick Ness – 4.5*

I loved this story! Little truth machines which tell people exactly what you think of them, which is usually quite harsh or unwanted information. The Doctor and Nyssa don’t feature heavily in this story, with the focus being on the children involved, which I definitely think was the right decision by Ness as it brings the reader into their world very directly.

 

The Sixth Doctor: Something Borrowed by Richelle Mead – 4*

A world which based itself around Las Vegas, with the focus being on a shotgun wedding! This was another fun story, as is the theme of this short story collection, and I enjoyed reading about characters which I’ve heard of but not watched myself so far.

 

The Seventh Doctor: The Ripple Effect by Malorie Blackman – 5*

My favourite story of the whole collection! If you’re familiar with Doctor Who you’ll be familiar with the Daleks, but not like this! Blackman takes the story exactly where you would expect for her favoured writing topics and it works brilliantly with the Doctor and the Daleks. This novella is written brilliantly and I highly recommend it.

 

The Eighth Doctor: Spore by Alex Scarrow – 4*

A really interesting take on an alien virus and a great stepping stone from the original Doctors to the new series. There is a virus which is melting people down into goo and conglomerating it to make a form for itself. The Doctor goes in on behalf of UNIT and deals with the virus himself.

 

The Ninth Doctor: The Beast of Babylon by Charlie Higson – 3*

I probably would’ve given this story 2.5*, but I boosted it up a little because I loved that Higson chose to fill up the gap from when the Doctor left Rose after they first met and then appeared back, mere seconds later, to re-offer her the opportunity of a lifetime. This was actually a large gap in time for the Doctor, and this story takes place within that. Sadly the actual story wasn’t my favourite, the concept was good but it just wasn’t for me.

 

The Tenth Doctor: The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage by Derek Landy – 3.75*

In this story we follow Martha and the Doctor inside of a Famous Five story knock-off which has come from Martha’s own brain. This is very much Landy’s ballpark and you can feel him having fun with the story. Again, similar to previous novella’s in this book, I think this needed more pages in order to be a fully developed and enjoyable story.

 

The Eleventh Doctor: Nothing O’Clock by Neil Gaiman – 4.5*

Gaiman perfectly encaptures the madness of Matt Smith and Karen Gillian as their respective characters and really sticks with the style of story which was used within their series’ on the show. It was a great end to the book and I really loved it. I’d be happy to read a lot more from Gaiman writing for the 11th Doctor!

 

Overall, some of these stories did need more time and space in order to fully reach their potential, but I definitely recommend having a look at these. They were originally published as individual short stories for eBook so if you only want to pick up the ones from your favourite authors or a few that sound good then you can definitely do that. I’m really glad that I’ve finally read this book and it was a lot of fun being back in the Whoniverse while we wait for the next series with Whittaker to be released. Definitely recommended reading for Whovians!