Blackbird by Anna Carey
Release Date - September 16, 2014 Publisher Website - Harper Collins
Publisher Social Media - Twitter/Facebook/SavvyReader/Frenzy
Pages - 256 pages
My Rating - 2.5/5
**received in exchange for an honest review from the publisher**
Here is the Goodreads synopsis
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.Blackbird caught my attention with it's mysterious premise, and it's promise for lots of action. Sadly, this one ended up not being for me. As someone who is a character driven reader, as I wanted more from pretty much every element of the story.
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.
While reading Blackbird something felt off during the entire novel. I couldn't put my finger on it until I was almost done. I didn't connect to the characters. I wasn't connecting to the story. I didn't feel the pressure or the rising stakes. There is little to no character growth or development because the writing style prevents it. It quickly become apparent that the writing style, second person point of view, was not something I enjoyed. It creates an insurmountable barrier, at least for me, and prevented me from fully getting swept away by the story. I am sure others will enjoy this style more than I did, and I am sure it presents it's own challenges while writing, but I don't feel it worked in this scenario.
There are plenty of twists packed within these 256 pages. Some of them fun, and breathtaking, others felt unlikely and didn't mesh as well into the story. When the truth behind what is happening to the main character is revealed, it is chilling. It has all the making of a pulse pounding, consuming story. All the elements from romance, danger, excitement, action are all there. It's the execution that didn't quite pull together for me.
An unusual writing style left me unconnected to the story, and sadly, made the story hard to get into. There is an intriguing premise here, and it may have worked better, at least for me, with a different writing style. Those who love second person point of view may enjoy it better, so I do urge you to check out other reviews.
