Day 2! Review: An Eye For An Eye – Malorie Blackman

Date	Post
7th September	Announcement
8th September	Noughts and Crosses Review
9th September	An Eye for an Eye Review
10th September	Callum Review
11th September	Knife Edge Review
12th September	Checkmate Review
13th September	Double Cross Review
14th September	Nought Forever Review
15th September	Crossfire Review
16th September	Dissecting the Blurb – Endgame
??? September	Endgame Review

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trigger Warnings: Abortion; Gun violence; Racism; Shooting; Stalking

An Eye For An Eye is a novella which gives us a glimpse into the events between Noughts and Crosses and Knife Edge.

Despite being a short story, the tension and drama throughout An Eye For An Eye certainly made up for its size. Throughout this book, I had a gut feeling of what would happen. This really did build up tension throughout, as I was desperately hoping that my gut feeling would be wrong, but at the same time, I couldn’t see an end that was any different. Although at times, I missed the complexity and details in Noughts and Crosses’ plot, I fully appreciate that this would be near-impossible in a short story.

Something else that I found interesting to read about in An Eye For An Eye was the clear contrasts to Noughts and Crosses. Sephy has gone from living in a luxurious house (dare I call it a mansion?) to living in a tiny, squalid flat. Meanwhile, Jude has gone from living in Meadowview, a deprived neighbourhood, to working on Liberation Militia missions, never residing in the same place, under the same name, for long. This was really surprising to read, as it is very interesting to see how just one decision has completely changed the lives of these two characters.

Understandably, there was not much room for plot development in An Eye For An Eye, however, it was packed with information and drama throughout. I was definitely content with An Eye For An Eye’s plot, as it really helps to bridge the gap between Noughts and Crosses and Knife Edge. I highly recommend that An Eye For An Eye is read inbetween these two books, as the events of this book are mentioned in further books, and it is an amazing read.

An Eye For An Eye only featured three main characters – Sephy, Jude, and Minerva. This really helped to build up tension throughout, especially when I knew that it was highly likely that only one character would make it out of Sephy’s flat alive. It was also really interesting seeing a different side of Jude. He was a side character in Noughts and Crosses, and I found it really interesting to gain a direct insight into his life, especially to learn his thoughts on the events of Noughts and Crosses.

Although An Eye For An Eye was an easy book to read quickly, it was still a difficult read due to the sensitive topics mentioned above. Therefore, I would recommend approaching this book with caution.

Overall, I recommend An Eye For An Eye to anyone who enjoyed Noughts and Crosses, and this series to an audience aged 13+, as long as they are comfortable reading about the trigger warnings mentioned above.

Tomorrow’s post is my review of Callum.

Thank you for reading this post.

Hannah