As stated in this post where I outline my bookish goals for the year, focusing on my backlog is one of the key goals for 2025. I have so many books I tend to forget about because of all the interesting new stories being published. A book I indeed forgot about was Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman. This book about classism and racism has been in my Audible library since 2020, when there was a huge influx of recommendations for books written by black authors. This one sounded really interesting and I therefore wanted to read it. Fast forward five years and I found this one back. I actually wanted to read it in 2023 already, but obviously didn’t do so. I decided that now was the time to prioritize this book which leads to you reading this review right now. Did this story still spark joy for me?

About the book

Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman
Series: Noughts & Crosses #1
Published by Doubleday on January 15, 2001
Pages: 443
Genres: Dystopian, Middle-grade

Callum is a naught, a second-class citizen in a society run by the ruling Crosses. Sephy is a Cross, and daughter of the man slated to become prime minister. In their world, white naughts and black Crosses simply don’t mix — and they certainly don’t fall in love. But that’s exactly what they’ve done.
When they were younger, they played together. Now Callum and Sephy meet in secret and make excuses. But excuses no longer cut it when Sephy and her mother are nearly caught in a terrorist bombing planned by the Liberation Militia, with which Callum’s family is linked. Callum’s father is the prime suspect…and Sephy’s father will stop at nothing to see him hanged. The blood hunt that ensues will threaten not only Callum and Sephy’s love for each other, but their very lives.
In this shocking thriller, UK sensation Malorie Blackman turns the world inside out. What’s white is black, what’s black is white, and only one thing is clear: Assumptions can be deadly.

My review

Before reading

Because this book has been sitting in my Audible library and on my TBR for nearly five years before I finally picked it up, I wasn’t as excited as I was when I purchased the audiobook. My reading preferences and habits have drastically changed overtime, whereas I mainly read YA back then, I hardly pick up these books now. This particular book is even recommended for the lower YA age range, something I don’t really do well on. However, I was afraid that this story is timeless, especially because of its themes. Unfortunately, racism is still a poison in our society and it’s not limited to just race and colour of skin. In this book however, it is, but with a different approach. I was curious for it nevertheless, but was also a bit afraid because of my earlier mentioned change in reading preferences. Plus, it’s part of a series yet again. Despite its themes, I still expected this to be an easy read because of the target audience. Some of my expectations are met, others aren’t.

Characters

This story is alternately told by Callum and Sephy. Despite their different classes, they are the best of friends since childhood. However, Sephy is a Cross and Callum is a Nought. According to Crosses (who are black), the Noughts (who are white) are inferior to them and are lower-class citizens. Somehow, Sephy and Callum still find their ways of maintaining their friendship, only society makes it difficult for them. The problems become more visible when Callum gets accepted into Sephy’s elite school and their friendship might blossom into more. I was really curious for these characters, because they should have been elaborated in depth. Even though they are for this type of book, I didn’t feel like it. To my preferences, they were lacking. It was hard for me to resonate with them, even though the pain of Callum and Sephy is written really well. It iss tangible from every page. Callum’s family barely gets by because of them being a white Nought and this causes a lot of pain. Blackman voiced this pain well too. The fact that these characters have been followed over the course of multiple years was interesting as well, because this way it becomes visible what classism can do to people. However, this didn’t help in providing more depth to the characters to the extend I prefer, because we only get glimpses of their lives. This mainly applies to the final quarter of the book. It’s obvious however how much Callum and Sephy struggle with what they need to be and what they want to be. I think this is the main aim of this story, so that’s fine for me.

Writing

This book is nearly 25 years old, but it has been written well. The chapters are very, very short, which makes this book attractive for the younger readers. This novel is recommended to readers aged 12-15 and the writing meets the needs of this target audience. Besides the short chapters, the language used is easily understandable and not to difficult. The characters are both 13 and 15 at the start of this novel, so the younger readers can easily identify with their struggles. First love, first kiss, finding their way at school et cetera. I wasn’t a fan of the formatting though. To me, it felt like the chapters were really long, but there actually were just about five tracks in the audiobook. New chapters don’t seem to start on a new page. I’m wondering if this was done on purpose, or if it’s just something that occurred when digitalising this book. If you’re a reader who needs to stop at a new chapter, you will have a hard time with this one.

Plot

This book is a mix of being plot driven and character driven. Both are equally as important. Because of the events in the plot, there are a lot of emotional struggles for the characters. Due to everything happening, they need to come of age very young. This makes the atmosphere of this book quite tense. There is not much room for lighter and hopeful moments, as they are overshadowed by the main themes classism and racism. Furthermore, there are also struggling within both respective families, which also lead to a lot of tension. Besides classism and racism, attention is also paid to terrorism and rebellion. These themes will be important from the halfway point of this novel. Even though this book is aimed towards younger readers, some scenes are pretty graphic. I didn’t mind this, because they add up to the intrigue of this novel. Without these scenes, this book is already thought-provoking, but these scenes just provide more impact. In my opinion, all actions are logical accordingly, every action leads to a reaction and so on. However, this novel wouldn’t stand like it does now if it weren’t for the main themes. They are even more important than our main characters.

Final thoughts

Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman is a nearly twenty-five-year old novel which unfortunately stands the test of time. The novel addresses various themes that are still important in today’s society. Unfortunately, I didn’t resonate with the main characters Callum and Sephy, to me they lack a bit of depth. However, their elaboration suits the target audience, readers aged 12-15. The writing is accessible for this target group as well. The book is not that long, but thought-provoking nevertheless. This is the first book in a series and I’m not too sure if I want to continue this story. The newer books take place fourteen years later and I’m not sure if I feel the urge to add more to my TBR.