Book Review: Mockingbird

Mockingbird by Chuck Wendig
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It all starts with a gun shot. Well, sort of. It starts with the vision of a gunshot.

Chuck Wendig's Mockingbird takes place a year after Miriam's introduction in the novel Blackbird. She's working a crappy job scanning groceries for tourists and living in an Airstream surrounded by meth addicts. Her off/on/it's-effing-complicated paramour Louis is constantly on the road. In other words, Miriam isn't happy. Then she gets fired and touches her boss's hand. Enter fate's worse enemy.

Wendig's second novel featuring Miriam is better than his second, a considerable feat considering how much I enjoyed the last one. This time around he focuses the story on her new found talent at changing lives by taking lives. While the main story arc starts in the typical, "This person contacted me for help," fashion, it doesn't take anything away. In fact, the main plot adds to Miriam's characterization exponentially.

While she's still the foul mouthed highway rat that we all know and love, she's matured. Miriam tries really hard at certain points to be less abrasive than she usually is, but fails when she gets irritated or under duress. Wendig has balanced her growth out nicely because she's recognizable as the character that the reader has fallen in love with but has "matured" past scavenging off others. (It's hard to use the words "mature" and "Miriam" in the same sentence.)

This second installment also has stronger paranormal qualities than the first novel. Since Miriam's power has developed, so has her connection with those that seemingly fuel her ability. Miriam has dubbed this twisted little clue giver as The Trespasser, and "it" fits well into the world that Wendig has developed for the reader.

Like the first book, this one is written in third person present, which lends an effective urgency to the language. The shortness of his sentences and brevity of the scenes give it an almost running cadence that is engrossing yet comfortable to read. If you can stand abrasive, volatile language and truly disturbing "images," than check out this book and the first.

In the words of the layman: "This book is freaking awesome! You have to read it!"


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Book Review: Blackbirds

Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read this in one sitting.

Blackbirds is the kind of book I was looking for. It had been so long since I found a good read that had me on the edge of my seat screaming at the pages like I do the TV screen. This book was it. I wanted to super glue it to my hands because I didn't want to put it down. That is how hooked I was.

Why?

Because of Miriam Black. She's the kind of female protagonist I was looking for. I was tired of the GI Janes and Princess Peaches that were so common in genre works. What Wendig gives you is a young woman who is unashamed of who she is while struggling on the inside with how much she should care about the people she sees die. She's not a softy, not by a mile. She'll kick you in the teeth while she screams slurred profanities with a cigarette in one hand and a bottle of booze in the other.

Yet, even with her hardened highway rat exterior, she's torn about whether she should save a genuinely nice guy. Especially since this nice guy called out her name in her vision. Miriam is a fully developed female antihero who calls her own shots if fate allows. She's exactly what the story needs.

What Wendig creates is simple, yet causes so much conflict for Miriam. Save him, or not. Regardless of what she decides, fate drags her to the end scene anyway. It is there where she is to make her final decision. The reader can believe they might know the outcome all they want, but Wendig plays it so close to the vest that you really don't. That is what I loved about it. I was so dragged in that I sat there with that little paper back clutched in my hand hoping.

The book is written in third, present tense which helps to carry along the pace at a galloping speed. It's Farrari fast and whip smart. I love this book.

Now, I will say this isn't for the faint of heart. Miriam's language is harsh and obscene, so don't read it if you get offended easily by hard language. Their is gore, so also not for the squeamish.

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