I’ve never been so unsure whether or not to continue a series…
Compared to the first book, Noughts and Crosses, this one was just BORING! Not only that, but what’s up with sudden poetic, lyrical snippets that have been added? It’s airy-fairy nonsense. I highly doubt most readers read lyrics in fiction novels.
This sequel also introduced newspaper clippings before reach section which did not add to the story, but seemed to be purely for world-building in a world that we are already familiar with because we read the first book!
Learning to see the human side of Jude was the saving grace of this book, but by the halfway point, his story was over, and I lost a reason to finish the book. In saying that, his never-ending hatred for all black people got tiring and uninteresting. He’s a two-dimensional character that has no profound thoughts of his own.
Sephy is suffering from depression or something similar. It’s never explained, so she’s just down in the dumps all the time, acts like a brat, and just makes life difficult for herself. She’s up and down about whether she loves her baby or not, which could hold the promise of an interesting discussion, but her thoughts on the matter are shallow, so you don’t get to understand her thought process. Frankly, it’s hard to create a character suffering from depression interesting.
Something that struck me while writing this review is that this book (and the first) are devoid of any intelligent characters. Malorie Blackman has done a good job of making us feel, amplified by the violence and heartache she’s written into the book. But there’s nothing in there to make us think.