Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig

Miriam Black knows when you will die. Still in her early twenties, she’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, suicides, and slow deaths by cancer. But when Miriam hitches a ride with truck driver Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days Louis will be gruesomely murdered while he calls her name. Miriam has given up trying to save people; that only makes their deaths happen. But Louis will die because he met her, and she will be the next victim. No matter what she does she can’t save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she’ll have to try. 

I managed to get a review copy of Blackbirds from the wonderful NetGalley, and I have to say it’s probably the best book I’ve read and reviewed from there so far! I’m not usually so into the urban fantasy genre as much as others, but there was something about Blackbirds that not only intrigued me, but struck me as something a little different.

I’ve never read anything by Chuck Wendig before but I’m glad I can say I have now. His writing style throughout Blackbirds is so alive that you will not want to put it down. It’s dark, edgy, brutal and very quick-witted, and at the centre of it all is Miriam. I can’t even tell you how much I loved Miriam. She is everything I want in a female heroine and more. To be perfectly honest, she’s probably the kind of person you would hate in real life; she’s rude, obnoxious and generally unlikeable. But through all of that you will see the real Miriam. The one who has been through a lifetime of pain and grief. Just imagine for a second that whenever you touch another person, you instantly see how they will die, knowing that you can do nothing to save them. Imagine if that person was your boyfriend, or your father, or your best friend. How could you even begin to prepare for something like that? The answer is you can’t, you just have to see it through.

For the most part this isn’t a pleasant read; it’s violent, gory, gruesome and you will scrunch your nose up in disgust a lot. But there is also a ridiculous amount of fun to be had in reading this novel. There were countless times where I was laughing out loud, and consequentially reading parts out to colleagues and friends. There is often something about urban fantasy series that don’t pull me in enough to make me want to read more. But Blackbirds is definitely the exception, and I literally can’t wait to read the next instalment Mockingbird.

Blackbirds is available now, and a massive thank you goes to NetGalley and Angry Robot for sending me a copy for review.

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