Book Review! Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig

Cover by Joey Hi-Fi
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There is no one out there like Miriam Black, and not just because she knows from the moment she shakes your hand exactly how you’re going to die. It has more to do with the fact that she’s an unbreakable survivor, a cynical, slightly twisted woman dredging her way through the roughest people to try and survive in a world where all she sees of people is their deaths.

Blackbirds is like the ‘Breaking Bad’ of literature, it’s gritty, intense, and in your face abrasive, but it draws you in with a weird seduction you just can’t ignore. Diving into the mind of Miriam Black is like jumping down the rabbit hole, but Alice cackles like a banshee and wields a knife. It’s the intensity of the book that grabs you, draws you in, and holds you down for every gut wrenching turn of the page.

This is not a story for people who want nice characters. This is not a story for people who despise vulgarity, or dislike profanity. It’s a violent, dirty, foulmouthed adventure.

Honestly, I was afraid I’d hate it, but there’s something inside Miriam, a real person hiding behind that waving middle finger. Someone who wants deeply to have a real connection to the world, but is endlessly battered by the stream of death visions she can’t escape.

Blackbirds is a story of a woman trying to survive her own curse, while at the same time desperate to find a way to beat it somehow. It’s hard to make friends when you already know, in intimate detail, how their last moments will feel. It’s even harder to gain a person’s trust when they don’t want to believe what you’ve seen.

Miriam’s been doing her best to keep people out of her heart and out of her life since death started to play its moving picture show inside her head. Unluckily for her, she knows something’s going to change when a stranger she meets dies saying her name.

All it takes is one vision and Miriam’s stuck on a path carved by fate, and no matter what direction she runs, and what sort of people she runs into, she can’t shake her feet from that road.

Ultimately, there is only one question Miriam wants to answer. Is there any way to cheat death? If Miriam isn’t careful, the death she’s getting closer to is her own. 

Blackbirds is a fantastic read. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read, and as I delved carefully into the first gritty chapter I felt, for a moment, afraid to go on. Like Alice, I glanced back before sliding down the rabbit hole, but once I got into the tale I was hooked. Miriam has a grit I can respect, she might flip you off, and curse you out fluently and vehemently, but once she finds that you don’t scare off that quickly, you just might see there’s more to her than even she wants to look closely at.

Beyond the heroine, Chuck Wendig weaves an intricate plot about the questions of death and destiny, choice and predetermination. Miriam’s no sweetheart, but the specter of Death that haunts her dreams is an even bigger dick. Even as Miriam fights to rip her feet from the trail laid out for her, Death walks beside her, appearing in visions and dreams, taunting her every choice.

The images in the writing are powerful, and some of the visuals linger long after. I have a very different perception of ravens now than I ever did before.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, and more than just being deeply affected by this book, I have to praise the writing. The imagery and craft is phenomenal, especially for the first book in a set. Chuck Wendig has honed his skills and delivers Blackbirds in a way that is powerful, flawless, and damned impressive writing.

For this Blackbirds earns the coveted 10/10. A+ Rating.

There’s only one thing I can say to top that off. The second book, Mockingbird? It’s just as good.