quippe | Entries tagged with malorie blackman

The Blurb On The Back:

I am drowning in this roaring silence.

I am drowning. I'm going to die ...

Cameron is thirteen and desperately in need of a heart transplant when a pioneering doctor approaches his family with a startling proposal. He can give Cameron a new heart - but not one from a human, one from a pig.

It's never been done before. It's experimental, risky and very controversial. But Cameron is fed up with just sitting on the side of life, always watching and never doing. He has to try - to become the world's first pig-heart boy.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Moving and satisfying on an emotional and intellectual level. This deals with a complex subject in an interesting and thought-provoking way and never feels as though it's talking down to the reader.

The Blurb On The Back:

Callum is a nought - a second-class citizen in a world run by the ruling Crosses ...

Sephy is a Cross, daughter of one of the most powerful men in the country ...

In their world, noughts and Crosses simply don't mix. And as hostility turns to violence, can Callum and Sephy possibly find a way to be together? They are determined to try.

And then the bomb explodes ...

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

I've been left wondering what all the fuss is about. This is really soap opera dressed up in a "racism is bad, mmkay?" plot line that's too heavy handed to be truly thought-provoking. Whilst Blackman handles the most dramatic scenes well and keeps the plot moving, I just didn't feel emotionally engaged with either character, particularly when they are acting in a contrived and/or naive manner, which robbed the book of the Shakespearian tragedy overtones that Blackman is going for. If I can find the next two books in the trilogy in a library, I'll probably read them to find out how the overarching story ends, but I'm certainly not interested enough to buy them.