KNIFE EDGE, too, includes a side character who grabs readers as soon as she steps onto the page: Cara. The fundamental premise underlying this series is a vitally important one – what Malorie Blackman seems to have set out to do, is to robustly challenge (what may be many) readers’ current perceptions, presumptions, assumptions and views on race and (British) society.

In 2004, she also wrote a novel entirely in verse, Cloud Busting (2004), which won a Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Silver Award) the same year. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, is a classic theme in children’s literature, but Blackman gives it a modern edge by depicting a child-hero with sophisticated technological skills. First and foremost, I still stand by the fact that the political themes in this book are brilliant and well executed. But when he's offered the chance to earn some extra money, how much could it hurt to just this once say 'yes'?I wasn’t so keen on the format of this one and the song lyrics, for me it would have been better without them. Blackman herself is modest and sums up her intentions quite simply, stressing the importance of putting oneself in someone else’s shoes. You have the right to ask for a copy of the information we hold on you, and the right to ask us to correct any inaccuracies in that information. I didn't like Sephy's POV the second quarter of this book because all the business in the band felt really irrelevant, however she made a lot of enemies in that section of her life therefore I have a feeling it's going to come back in the later books and bite her in the arse.

Sephy’s involvement in the band in particular I also liked as it introduces comments on the music industry, including racism and how image plays a large part of success. The chapter style in this book was an improvement on the first, the chapters were longer which made the story feel less disjointed. Okay I loved the first of the trilogy and a good bit of this but by the end I wasn’t convinced - it might just be personal opinion but I think that within a book you’ve got to at least be rooting for someone but after a few shocking turns in this there was no one left to root for. For example in a Cross bar, Sephy is allowed to go through the front door but her bandmates are only allowed through the back whilst in a Nought bar the roles are reversed.She’s up and down about whether she loves her baby or not, which could hold the promise of an interesting discussion, but her thoughts on the matter are shallow, so you don’t get to understand her thought process. Malorie Blackman's ground-breaking, award winning series charts the lives and loves of generations as it takes on race and equality with breathtaking drama and heart wrenching sadness.

One of Blackman’s most well-known novels is Pig-Heart Boy (1997), which was later adapted into a BBC television series for children. Second Book Syndrome) in my last review (Check out my review on Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi to find out the meaning). She also allows him a potential saving grace in the character of Cara Imega but the pull of hatred is too strong for him to actually rise up against it and be better which does and an element of tragedy to his character even though he is obviously very evil. In March 2007, Blackman edited Unheard Voices, ananthology of stories and poems to Commemorate the bicentenary anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade.Her novels include: Hacker (1992); the story of Vicky, who saves her father from being wrongly convicted of stealing from the bank after hacking into the bank’s computer to solve the crime herself; Thief! And while I get that we’re dealing with the aftermath of the conclusion of book one, I feel that this doesn’t do it justice. Fear and hate, not a good mix, but it shows how Jude's life balances like a knife edge - one wrong move in either direction and the effects would be bad! The pacing is so much better, as the book take places over a much shorter time period than the first (which kept skipping several years randomly). Wenn das mal nicht das abgefuckteste Arschloch ist, über den ich je gelesen habe, dann weiß ich auch nicht.