In the world of Noughts & Crosses, racism is not ‘fixed’ – it is simply inverted. Photograph: Ilze Kitshoff/BBC/Mammoth Screen

No, Anna,' said the General evenly. 'This isn't a dictatorship. If Jon or anyone else for that matter has something to say then I encourage them to say it. I hope each of you feels able to express your ideas and voice your concerns to me at any time. I value your input.' The General turned to face Jon directly. 'It's better that you don't know, Jon. You're a valued member of my council and I know you and everyone else here would rather die than betray your brothers and sisters in the L.M., but what I have in mind will make every one of us fugitives for the rest of our lives. The Secret Service will leave no stone unturned in their efforts to hunt us down. Only two people will be involved in the job I have in mind, myself and one other. And it'll be carried out on that basis.' The Noughts & Crosses series are still my favourite books of all time and showed me just how amazing story-telling could be' STORMZY But remember this if nothing else: I love you more than there are words or stars. I love you more than there are thoughts and feelings. I love you more than there are seconds or moments gone or to come. I love you.” Ah, where did this series go so wrong? I just feel like the direction of the story has taken such a sharp turn from Noughts and Crosses, it’s completely not even the same story and I’m so disappointed. It’s lost all of its momentum; I feel like the dystopian and unjust society they live in isn’t even a focal point of the story and has just been pushed aside for some really weak relationships ‘development’. I can’t even begin to express how sad I was reading this book. The series had so much potential but it really should’ve been a standalone, or the first book should’ve been the basis for a more dragged out story. Sigh.This book continues with the structure of alternating viewpoints, this time with Sephy and her daughter Callie Rose as the main ones, although it doesn't come across as quite as bitty as before perhaps because the alternative viewpoints of Jasmine, Sephy's mother, Meggie, mother of Callum (deceased father of Sephy's child) and Jude, the embittered surviving child of Meggie, are much more "meaty" and central to the book than in the last one.

Sephy Hadley was one of the guests that night. Haunted by the idea that she didn't do enough to stop the death of her first love, Callum McGregor, Sephy will not sit quietly and wait for accusations to fall on her now. She has her children to protect. These facts are the only things that are mine and real. So I don’t mind so much that I’m leaving it all behind. There’s nothing here worth holding onto. For once I didn't look away immediately. I forced myself to meet her contemptuous gaze. I allowed myself be swept away by it, to drown in it - the way I'd done so many times before. The way I would willingly do again. Because at least she was here to hate me. At least I had that. I watched my daughter conjure up the filthiest look in her vast arsenal before she turned away with complete disdain. I didn't mind that so much. It meant I could watch her, drink her in without her protest. What did Noughts see when they looked at me – a light-skinned Cross? What did Crosses see when they looked at me – a dark-skinned Nought? I had to stop seeing myself through anyone’s eyes but my own. But” Of course, General,' said Jonathan, not once averting his eyes. 'I want you to know that you can count on me and all I have in any venture you propose.'Rose has a Cross mother and a Nought father in a society where the pale-skinned Noughts are treated as inferiors and those with dual heritage face a lifelong battle against prejudice. As she discovers the truth about her parentage, she finds herself drawn into a dangerous game of high stakes Exhibit C - If you're going to write a book in first person jumping around characters, they need to have an individual voice. They all sound so logical and perfect, especially Sephy's 'mother' voice. She sounds like a generic maternal character who would get about 5 speech lines in a book; she's meant to be the main character. Jon, it's not our place to question the General,' Anna Tenski, the regional commander from the Mid-West, reprimanded quietly.