This novelette (novella?) is not quite as compelling as Noughts and Crosses, which I finished earlier today, but it's still an interesting read. The argument, I suppose, is one of destiny... that no matter your choices, fundamentally you end up with the same fate. In the world in which this is set, though, destiny is closely related to, if not absolutely indistinguishable with, racial prejudice. No matter what Callum chooses - and the story is an exercise in what might have happened had he made a different choice in the novel - the society around him, both Noughts and Crosses, will not tolerate his deviation from the expected behaviour. His romance with Sephy is anathema, no matter what path he takes, and it might doom him differently, but the doom is ultimately the same.

It lacks the sustained weight of the novel. Being so much shorter, it can hardly help it, of course. But without that weight, the misery isn't quite as affecting. I still liked it, but the novel was better.