Day 8! Review: Crossfire – 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: Blood; Car Accident; Child Abuse; Confinement; Death; Death of a parent; Kidnapping; Murder; Racism; Self-harm; Violence; Vomit

Crossfire is the fifth installment in Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses series, which follows the lives of the characters we already know and love, as well as two new additions.

Throughout Crossfire, multiple lines are running at once. Each section is headed with either NOW or THEN, showing each character hurtling towards the event that will forever define them. I really enjoyed seeing how these events were all linked and deeply intertwined with one another, especially when visiting the context and build up to certain plot points.

In terms of characters, I think it’s safe to say that I loved Libby and Troy! They were definitely unexpected arrivals, but I thought that their characters were really interesting, and I can’t wait to see more of them in Endgame. Whilst I felt that Double Cross perhaps lacked the mix of old and new characters, I feel that Crossfire got the balance spot-on. Throughout the novel, I was reading from Callie, Troy, Libby, and Tobey’s perspectives, which I loved. This helped me as a reader to get to know more about Libby and Troy, whilst still maintaining the familiarity with Callie and Tobey.

Crossfire was nail-biting throughout, packed with tension throughout each and every sentence. Just like all of its predecessors, the tension at times was too much, to the point that I wanted to look away and let everything unfold! Once again, it contained some sensitive and challenging topics, so I would recommend approaching this book with caution.

If I am going to be honest, I was a bit confused the first time that I read Crossfire (when it came out in 2019). I think that this was due to the multiple timelines, and I struggled to work out the order that everything happened in. However, this time round, everything slotted together perfectly in my head. I think that having time to reflect on the novel, and reading the series beforehand really helped with this. I would like to make it clear that this is no disprespect whatsoever on Blackman’s work.

Crossfire perfectly sets the scene for Endgame. Lots of loose ends are left, which I assume will be tied together neatly throughout Endgame – I can’t wait to read this! Towards the end, there was definitely an ominous feel – I can just sense that Endgame is going to be one explosive book, and I cannot wait to read how this incredible story will conclude!

Overall, I would recommend the Noughts and Crosses series to an audience aged 13+, as long as they feel comfortable reading about the trigger warnings listed at the top of this review.

Tomorrow, I will be sharing my predictions for Endgame.

Thank you for reading this post.

Hannah