Blackbirds

Miriam Black, Book 1

By: Chuck Wendig

Narrated by: Emily Beresford

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 he will be gruesomely murdered while he calls her name.

Miriam has given up trying to save people; that only makes their deaths happen. No matter what she does, she can’t save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she’ll have to try.

©2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.; 2012 Chuck Wendig

Critic reviews

"Blackbirds is a story of loss and what it takes to make things right. It’s a story about fate and how sometimes, if we wrestle with it hard enough, maybe we can change it. It’s the kind of book that doesn’t let go even after you’ve put it down.” ( Stephen Blackmoore)

if rough language offends, avoid; else, enjoy!

Any additional comments?

Rough, raw, gritty language and violence. Very funny in places. Excellent writing and plot. Highly recommended. I'll be listening to other books on the series soon. Narrator did a nice job. I wish she was better at "voices," but I'll gladly listen to her again.

Very original story

great read very original story. buy it you won't be sorry. I'm buying the next one

A Story of Fate and the F-word

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I have been following Chuck Wendig for a few years now, and I have come to enjoy his writing style immensely. The story of Blackbirds is dark, following the story of a troubled young woman who can see when you die, and can't do anything to change it. The writing is fluid, the characters are interesting, and the plot is riveting.

My only critique is that the main character sounds much like Chuck, or at least sounds like the voice he presents during interviews and on his blog. This is not a bad thing, per say; but, it distracted me from remembering that the character was in fact a troubled woman, and not the middle aged self proclaimed pen monkey that entertains almost daily.

It's a cooling breeze on sweltering night in June????

The reader was such a refreshing delight. I can't say how much I enjoyed her. A very diverse talent with a great bag of tricks. Her voice was the perfect voice for the atmosphere of the story, and played well with the dark humor.
Chuck Wending was unknown to me, but what a wonderful talent. I'm looking forward to the next books so much. The story is very dark, but so funny the women in this story are so great, well written characters. It was a great time it everything from tragedy, to laugh out loud humor, some truly scary stuff, one time I had to grimace along with characters. This is a good audio choice, with a great catcher and a ton to keep you interested.

I liked the story but the cursing was excessive,

I liked the story but the cursing was excessive, but creative, even for the type of character being presented. The book comments "...she curses like a sailor. " I never met a sailor or soldier that cursed that much.

Engrossing, if not particularly enjoyable

This is one of those weird cases where I'm not sure if I really ENJOYED this book, but I couldn't put it down. Miriam Black has a really crude attitude and vocabulary that didn't really resonate with me. I wouldn't consider her badass so much as a bad-mouther -- she has enough self defense to keep herself safe(ish) in her transient lifestyle, but she talks rougher and cruder than her skills can really support. But regardless of my relative apathy towards her and most of the characters, the book moved quickly and was action packed, simply pulling me along in it's wake. This book culminated with a feeling of setting a stage for much more expansion in the next installment, similar to the end of a TV pilot, and I would be interested to see if the series improves for me.

Very fun urban magic tale

I’ve enjoyed this genre for the better part of twenty years. I’ve read a number of books and this is a really fun character driven story.

The lead is relatable and frustrating. She acts a lot like I did at her age and it brought back a bit of the nostalgia of being 22.

It’s nice to find an under powered character who has to use problem solving to get around problems as opposed to utilizing her power.

There’s a bit of the Steig Larsen “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” vibe with a hint of magical abilities.

I enjoyed it and I’d recommend it.

Not for the faint of heart or kids but exciting

Blackbirds is the second Chuck Wendig book I have tried to read. The first was Blue Blazes but I abandoned it. Chuck Wendig, however, comes highly recommended from multiple sources I respect. Blackbirds is the story of a young woman who sees the way people die if she comes in skin to skin contact with them. She has tried to fight fate in the past to save people, but it has always knocked her down and put her in her place.The book is a paranormal thriller. What could you possibly not like…and what can you like?

Chuck is great at building a descriptive world. You can smell, see, hear, and unfortunately taste it. This world is one of dirty hotel rooms, dirtier dive bars, and hitchhiking a small town grimy America. You might not want to experience the taste that goes with that. The book hooks you and is action packed. You need to know what happens next.

That being said his characters are not lovable. They are psychopaths, sociopaths, con artists with attachment disorder, etc. I know a Miriam, she didn't see people’s deaths, but as I experienced Wendig’s crass scavenger that will do/did everything in her power to push people away, I cringed. I recognize I probably have some negative transference, but Miriam’s still hard to like. When I say she’s crass I don’t mean she uses some profanity, this isn't a common use of typical profanity. This is very creative thought out ignorant descriptions in an extremely ignorant and vulgar fashion. It, however, is purposeful and serves the storyline. But...this is not for children, or the faint of heart. It’s also rather violent.

Emily Beresford did not do a bad job, in fact, I think in many ways she may have captured Miriam's crass spirit a little to well. I had a literal negative physical reaction to the way she said some of Miriam's lines. Remember, Wendig created her this way. I did, however, end up getting this on whispersync and chose to read most of it.

I will again say it is a well written, good thriller. It has twists I didn't see and a luke warm uplifting ending. Maybe Wendig is saving that for a series finale but I just don’t quite think uplifting happy rainbows is his style. I haven’t decided if I’m reading the next book. I feel dirty. I think I will take a shower and decide later.

A sympathetic but not likable psychic

Miriam Black has the power (or curse) of knowing exactly when and how someone will die. The moment she touches someone, she sees a vision of their death and knows to the hour when it will happen. And she can't change it - she's tried. As with any story about time travel or precognition, the story comes around to the inevitable question of causality. Miriam knows, from past experience, that trying to interfere with someone's death just means she ends up playing a role in it. Then she meets someone whose death she really wants to prevent, and the question becomes, is fate actually immutable, and will she cheat it?

The most compelling aspect of Wendig's writing, and probably the most annoying, is Miriam's voice. She is a cynical, chain-smoking harlot with a deathwish and a mouth that can make a sailor blush. We get dribs and drabs of her background - an uptight, puritanical mother who naturally turned her daughter into the sinful, rebellious manifestation of everything she was trying to prevent, and the crushing burden of seeing people die over and over, peacefully in bed or violently squished between vehicles, young and old, whether she knows them or not, and finally, the death that she thinks earned her her "gift."

None of this really makes Miriam likable. She doesn't want to be likable. She revels in being unlikable. She's taken up a vagrant lifestyle, following people around when she knows they're going to die soon, and stealing their stuff, a psychic vulture. She runs into a nice guy named Louis, a truck driver, and a not so nice guy named Ashley, a con artist. Ashley figures out what Miriam can do, and Ashley also turns Miriam on. Unlike sweet, gentlemanly Louis.

At this point, all I could say was, "Run, Louis!" but obviously that's not the way the story is supposed to go.

Miriam is brought to the attention of a creepy bald drug dealer and a murderous pair of assistants, thanks to Ashley, and so Louis is dragged into the situation, and so Miriam has to figure a way out of the visions she's already seen.

Props to Chuck Wending for an ending that did not feel like a cheat, and for a witty, funny, profane voice. But Miriam's awfully hard to like, and while I'm somewhat interested in where her story will go next, I can only take her in small doses.

Quirky, dark, yet sweet

I bought this audio book yesterday. Now I have to buy the next one! Great story with good narrator.