Malorie Blackman's iconic and groundbreaking Noughts and Crosses is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2021 – and with it comes Endgame, the electrifying final book in the series.

The attempt to introduce a whodunnit storyline to a series that really didn’t need it, felt terribly forced and added nothing to the series as a whole. The action shifts from character to character, and there was - on occasion - a sense of deliberate attempts to misdirect us. The whole pace of the book was well balanced and shaped nicely, even with the intense moments scattered throughout the book. I almost forgot to say that 😂😂) I'm glad to be leaving this series on a positive note, because it truly has had its ups and downs.good stuff even if Blackman didn't totally hit the nail on the head for the type of emotive writing which would truly gut me. Originally written, in part, to highlight issues of race and racism within society by inverting the hierarchical structure, this final part of the Noughts and Crosses series continues to shine a light on issues of inequality and prejudice.

It still sticks to the alternating narrative, with more characters taking it in turns to show their perspective. Author Malorie Blackman, who is a 2013 Children’s Laureate, said the first book in the series written 20 years ago, was her response to the murder of black British teenager Stephen Lawrence in a racially motivated attack in Southeast London. But all in all it was a good book and Malorie Blackman never fails to make the audience a part of the series and feel the same emotions as the characters!

This gives a good place to stop if you need to go and do something, as well as clearly distinguishing the difference between the developments of the characters. I believe that the more you interweave modern concepts into the story, in an unsubtle way, it loses its dystopic nature, turning into a current affairs story with dystopic elements.