Crossed

Crossed is riding the heights of topical subjects, that of environment, ecology and global warming. In the very near future a cartoon is created that will ultimately change the world. It follows the adventures of a sea turtle who crosses the ocean and encounters other marine life struggling within a polluted ocean.

This sparks a wave of environmental awareness accross the worlds youth and some form a world-wide movement who call themselves "Crosses". Crosses believe that those most responsible for the damage to the environment should be eliminated. The movement draws millions of disillusioned youths and things escalate from there.

It's an interesting take on current trends, visible signs of global warming and human polution are growing and it has finally prompted world leaders to at least agree to act. At the moment though its still just a load of hot air and our world is increasingly tied to commercialism where profit goes above all else. What Blackwell proposes here isn't much of a step, we've already seen the ferver that the internet can help give rise to and media is more and more invasive. It isn't the first book to use the internet as a tool of social change but it is still in a very small group, not to mention a fine example.

The story is told in a series of audio logs, diary entries, legal documents and online chat logs, in a similiar vein to Robopocalypse and World War Z. This method of story telling can be difficult to get right, to keep the suspense and move the story forward. Blackwell totally nails it though, the writing is outstanding,  impossible to put down and full of suspense.

Although it's a short book at only 120 pages there is little wasted space and plenty of ideas explored, the use of 21st century technology and media portals to spread social change, radicalism and terrorism along with modern politics to name a few.

Crossed is a sobering tale that feels all the more powerful for the fact that it isn't that big a leap. People do grasp onto fervor — you only have to look at the Nazi movement and more recently ISIS to see how easily people can be swayed to a cause regardless of it's merits.

Well written and neutral in it's arguments, its a fantastic piece of literature that really makes you think.