Blackbird
by Anna Carey
Genre: Young Adult Mystery
Source: ARC received from the publisher (thank you, Sarah!)
This twisty, breathless cat-and-mouse thrill ride, told in the second person, follows a girl with amnesia in present-day Los Angeles who is being pursued by mysterious and terrifying assailants.
A girl wakes up on the train tracks, a subway car barreling down on her. With only minutes to react, she hunches down and the train speeds over her. She doesn’t remember her name, where she is, or how she got there. She has a tattoo on the inside of her right wrist of a blackbird inside a box, letters and numbers printed just below: FNV02198. There is only one thing she knows for sure: people are trying to kill her.
On the run for her life, she tries to untangle who she is and what happened to the girl she used to be. Nothing and no one are what they appear to be. But the truth is more disturbing than she ever imagined.
The Maze Runner series meets Code Name Verity, Blackbird is relentless and action-packed, filled with surprising twists.
Anna Carey has been a gift wrapper, face painter, nanny, horrific cocktail waitress, sofa saleswoman and children's book editor. She graduated from New York University and has an MFA in fiction from Brooklyn College. She currently lives in Los Angeles, where she can be found writing, reading, and telling elaborate, only moderately interesting stories about her dog. Look for her new series, Blackbird, in Fall 2014.
*I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I am not compensated nor associated with the author to review this book. All opinions are mine and are based on honesty.
I'll start of with this line: Second person point of view gets to me and I don't like the fact that it's me *points to self* doing the running, the hurting, doing everything that the book tells me what to do. I don't like nor fancy second person point of view because it is very disturbing, very unwise choice because let's admit it, we want the scene happening before us not the scene happening in front of you because it's you doing all the things you read. It's very disturbing. My first thought was to not finish the book but the pull that I am so interested in it drove me to finish reading it. And me finishing the book only worsens my disappointment.
So, a girl wakes up one day without any memories of her past. She doesn't know her name, where she lived or who her parents were. She has this tattoo of a bird on her wrist with a code: FNV02198 and a backpack with things she could use to survive. One thing she knows for sure is people are trying to kill her. On the run, she tries to recall who she was before.
When I first read it, I was all “I can't finish this.” There was this pull of struggle in me and I can't continue reading this. Choosing a second person POV is a poor choice, plus, I don't know what was happening while reading. There's a lot of chaos happening back there that I don't want to go back to. One moment The story is about the lost unnamed girl, then when you get to the next chapter, it's another person the book was talking about. I don't know who is talking about who! The story teller talks about too many characters that I am so lost, I don't know what was happening, I don't know who “She” or “He” was. I don't know what to expect of this anymore.
What. The. Heck. Where were the things I was expecting? I felt like I was reading snippets from the book. There wasn't any information to get a glimpse of what might happen next. Goodness. I know this is the first in a series, but there's too much running away in it, no path where the story might go, not much info about who the girl is, what the hell is the game for? What is what? I don't understand it. Period.
You know at first, I was all giddy and excited when I got the book since the blurb was all “Hey, this book sounds awesome and I kinda like the cover. It's so very Divergent-y and it's sounds so action-packed.” It was all action-packed. I loved that part but I was so excited that I read it first among all the other books that I was supposed to be reading and what does that gave me? It was intriguing, yes. But I was just so disappointed with how it lacked information about Sunny/Trinie or whatever her name is. I was already getting the vibes mid-book but it took a random turn, you know? It wasn't giving away any information at all but she kept running and going back to Ben's place without being followed. Here I thought that something will unveil before the book ends. I didn't get any besides the boy she met at the station, which she remembers. There was also no introduction of who he is. Gods, I give up. I wanted to know them, or at least a little glimpse of their past?
Then, there's the part where Ben enters. He acted so innocent and so real that he's all “Hey, let's move forward and let this all go. Start a new life, blah blah blah!” Like, please. I was already starting to ship you guys. What the heck? Where is this thing going? Then enters another guy! Please don't even tell me this is a love triangle. Of all the things romance go, I hated love triangles.
There are also terms the author used in the book like “Blackbird”, “Target”, “Watcher”, “Game” etc., that she could've introduced us to in the first place so we aren't kind of second guessing what the terms were. And we could use some names, please. I don't like calling a person “the girl” or even “the boy”. Ugh.
I would've loved the theme and story line of the book just that the above mentioned complications with me were just a bit out of hand, in my opinion. Heck, I didn't even know how I managed to finish this book. Maybe hope that it might be a good story? We can never tell unless you, my dear readers, read it.
2 stars.
Labels: Anna Carey, ARC, Book Review
