*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.
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.
*My Thoughts*
Anna Carey's Blackbird (Blackbird Duology #1) is an interesting ride from start to finish. The story is told in the infamous second person narrative which has turned some reviewers off. If you can get past the narrative like I did, you will find yourself reading a story that is fast paced, has lots of interesting dynamics, is filled with action, and has a character that you can't help but to feel some emotions for. In a way, I can see Blackbird being compared to the Jason Bourne novels as there ARE similarities.
Let's call the main character "Blackbird" since we really have no clue who the girl really is or how she ended up being dropped in the middle of Los Angeles subway tracks. From the moment she wakes up, things start rolling forward. First, she has no memories of her past, or who she is, but she does have a tattoo on her right wrist and scars on her body. She apparently has new shoes and clothes and a backpack filled with supplies, including a phone number telling her to call it before getting the police involved. She then goes on a hunt for answers and ends up in the middle of a twisted life or death struggle.
Blackbird is an interesting character. While slowly regaining some of her memories, she manages to stay one step ahead of her pursuer's, and learns enough to know that she's an unwilling participant in what happened to her. She's feisty, she's strong willed, she knows how to fight with weapons, and she is super fast to the point where's she's managed to outwit nearly everyone. While we do have certain flashbacks, are we supposed to take them as proof of her past, or were they planted to make her compliant? Blackbird is a bit too trusting, and that comes from not understanding the full realities of what has happened to her.
Thankfully, Blackbird is part of a 2 book duology with the second novel releasing Spring of 2015. Yes, folks, there is a cliffhanger ending, and lots, and lots of unanswered questions. Why was she chosen? Who is the mysterious boy she continues to have flashbacks about? How many others are like Blackbird? What does her Tattoo really mean? What was the funeral scene about, and does she have any surviving family members?
Let's hope that Carey doesn't string readers along too long in her concluding novel, or leave us hanging like she did at the end of her Eve series. That would really be a major let down after wading my way through the mine field known as second person narrative.
Author - Anna Carey Title - Blackbird (Blackbird Duology # 1) Published by HarperTeen Released: September 16, 2014 Genre: YA, Contemporary Thriller Format: E-Book 256 pages
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