BLACKBIRD by Anna Carey

Rating: D+
Release Date: 9/16/14
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 on the book:
I wasn't sure if I would like Blackbird or not because of the second person POV. It turns out that reading a book in the second person did bother me. A lot. Aside from that, the story could have been fantastic and kept me on the edge of my seat, but all of its potential was ruined by a subpar romance. Novels like this don't even need romance, in my opinion. Also, the plot didn't feel fully developed, which bothered me. I just feel like this book could have been a lot more, if written in the first person and minus the romance. 

None of the characters were very well developed. I mean I get it with Sunny because she has amnesia, and what we did learn about her made her a bad ass. She had the potential to be a great YA heroine, but she just fell short. Her relationship with Ben made her a typical YA leading female, and while she could fight, her character just didn't feel well-rounded to me. Ben was all right. Typical YA "bad boy" who is really just a nice guy with issues. He didn't do much for me. I didn't like him or hate him, and again, he just didn't seem fully developed. All of the other characters were cookie cutter, including the villains. No one was unique, which was a disappointment. 

The plot itself had great potential, but much like Sunny, it fell short. The first half of the book had a ton of coincidences, and I hate when authors manipulate the story like that. The last half was faster paced and full of suspense, but it felt rushed. The second person writing really bothered me. I felt like I was either being lied about or told what to do. I know that's probably just one of my quirks and it won't affect others like this, but it didn't work for me. The writing itself didn't stand out one way or the other. The twist at the end did surprise me, at least, and I enjoyed that. The romance felt forced and really detracted from the story, in my opinion. The ending just barely scratches the surface with answers, setting up the sequel perfectly. 

Overall, if you're looking for something different (at least in some ways), then I'd say give this book a try. It didn't really work for me, but that doesn't mean that you won't enjoy it. In my opinion, this novel had the potential to be a fantastic and unique work and fell short due to the aforementioned issues, but the second person narration does give it a different feel, if you can tolerate it. 

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