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adventurous
fast-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I read "Blackbird" last month, and while I didn't particularly enjoy it, it had been a fast read and my library had the sequel, so I had planned to read that one, too. It took me a bit longer than I would've liked, but I finally got around to picking it up a few days ago! Unfortunately, it was barely better than the first book; maybe even worse.
My problems already started with the plot. The story was pretty action-packed, but somehow, Carey managed to write it in a way that was neither thrilling nor interesting. Just as in the first book, there were way too many chases that just bore me to tears, and the characters made so many dumb decisions that I just wanted to throttle them. How they even survived a single day was beyond me. At the same time, so many things were way too easy to solve or overcome, despite the fact that the organisation the characters fought against had existed for decades; you'd think it would take more than a bunch of teenagers and a few weeks to stop the hunting completely.
Carey also didn't elaborate on many things that would've been interesting to see more of, especially the organisation itself. Sure, there was a little bit of background, but barely enough, and it also didn't come until the literal epilogue? I want to read about that stuff earlier, not as an afterthought!
Plus, Carey didn't seem to have completely thought about the implications of the organisation's existence, what it meant to be a part of it. She just casually wrote about a bunch of rich people who've spent half their lives hunting these runaways, like that was just a very random but cruel hobby of them and not something that made them literal serial killers? I would have liked to see more of the villains' inner workings, how their brains worked, how they ended up being hunters and how they justified doing it. Seeing as there were some random chapters sprinkled in the story told from some of their perspectives, just as in the first book, my questions could've easily gotten answered. Which just made it twice as frustrating.
The book felt a bit too anticlimactic for me.That already started with Lena's name being revealed very early in a random conversation she had with Rafe. Seeing as you never learnt her name in the first book, I expected this to be some big revelation that added something to the story, but it literally didn't. I don't really understand why Carey waited until the second book to tell us the main character's name. Moreover, every time they found out something about the organisation, it was written about in such a boring manner that it didn't manage to hook me into the story at all.
Next up, the characters were just infuriating to read about, especially the main character and her boys. For example, instead of learning from her mistakes, Lena kept being overly trustworthy for absolutely no reason (why did she immediately trust Rafe, even though she couldn't remember everything about him? Why did she immediately forgive Ben? ). You'd think that someone who had been burned before would become careful and cautious, but nope, not this girl. She still assumed that everyone who wasn't an obvious part of the organisation had her best interests at heart. She also for some reason really thought she could just destroy the organisation with a snap of her fingers? Instead of planning every possible outcome, she just made one (1) plan and then went full-on Pikachu face when it turned out that it wasn't quite as simple. For example, did she seriously think Theodore Cross, a dude who had been hunting for half of eternity, would simply let himself be captured without a backup plan? That they would all go down quietly and without a fuss? Honestly, I found it quite astounding that she was supposed to be known as this infamous target at the organisation. Everyone wanted to have a piece of her because she was apparently so brilliant, and I was just sitting here like ... are we experiencing the exact same Lena?
What bothered me the absolute most in the book, however, was the fact that it introduced a second love interest and therefore created a love triangle. A love triangle . In a fucking duology. Just why. Why did Carey get up one day and think that that was a good idea.
Even worse was the fact that neither boy was in any way appealing. Ben, while being an extremely focal point of "Blackbird", was suddenly reduced to being a very insignificant side character who did nothing but keep repeating how much he loved Lena. (Let me remind you that at this point in time, he'd known her for a grand total of two weeks.) Lena herself didn't even seem to care about him anymore - which I get to some degree! He'd betrayed her in the first book! But then why re-introduce him as a love interest? Why even bring him back to the good side again and give him a stupid-ass reason for why he betrayed her in the first place? Seriously, I would love to have a love interest betray the main character for personal selfish reason and have them stay a villain for the rest of the series. Instead, I got Ben, who was just a one-dimensional character that got on my nerves because he didn't add anything interesting to the plot. Absolutely nothing.
The second love interest Rafe, who got properly introduced in this book, was the absolute worst over the course of the entire book. He and Lena knew each other from before, except that he remembered her completely and she only remembered him in bits and pieces. This meant that they couldn't pick up where they left off, which bothered him a lot, and he didn't hesitate to show Lena just how frustrated he was with her and the fact that her brain didn't work properly. But because he was still in love with her, he was extremely possessive of her and jealous of her history with Ben. He made a lot of impulsive, dangerous decisions just because he couldn't bear to have Lena and Ben have a moment to themselves - for example, he'd randomly change a plan without telling the others. And sure, it never actually had catastrophic outcomes, but the fact that he didn't mind putting everyone in danger just because of his jealousy made me see red.
Rafe also reminded me a lot of Jeb from "Splintered" by A.G. Howard - he was controlling, had anger issues, and constantly touched Lena without her consent, her comfort be damned. He also talked about romance and his feelings, despite knowing that she didn't remember him as well as he remembered her. In general, he always put his own feelings first and acted extremely selfish. How was I supposed to root for him?
The writing in those scenes that I guess were supposed to be romantic was very cringe-y, especially since it started so early (literally in the first chapter). You can't try to make a romantic scene at the very beginning of the book with a character I've never even met before.That's not gonna make me want to root for a couple, my dude.
So, personally, I just didn't like Lena with either of the boys. She should've just ... not been with anyone. The focus should've been more on the hunt instead of the romance. (Btw, if you're being literally hunted by someone, how do you even have time to act out romantic feelings that seem like straight out of a teen drama show? *big asexual confusion*)
I also really didn't care for the villains, they were way too easy to defeat and absolutely not villainous enough. I especially would've liked to see more of Theodore Cross; it was said at one point that he'd successfully hunted over 30 people, do you know how interesting it would've been to get a closer look at the mind of someone like that? But nooo, everyone had to stay at surface-level. It was disappointing.
What I did like about "Deadfall", however, were the random chapters told from other people's POVs. While in "Blackbird", they were mostly confusing and didn't add anything, this time it was always clear who was talking, and it did give an interesting insight into their brains. Not enough, clearly, but those chapters were still certainly adding something to the story and made it a bit more thrilling.
I also didn't have quite as many problems with the second person, probably because I knew it was coming, so it didn't catch me off-guard.
Overall, though, the book was a big miss for me. The characters were just annoying and made infuriating decisions, the plot was basically the opposite of thrilling, and there were too many missed opportunities. Also, who the fuck decides to create a love triangle in the second book of a duology. Just who.
(Anna Carey, that's who.)
My problems already started with the plot. The story was pretty action-packed, but somehow, Carey managed to write it in a way that was neither thrilling nor interesting. Just as in the first book, there were way too many chases that just bore me to tears, and the characters made so many dumb decisions that I just wanted to throttle them. How they even survived a single day was beyond me. At the same time, so many things were way too easy to solve or overcome, despite the fact that the organisation the characters fought against had existed for decades; you'd think it would take more than a bunch of teenagers and a few weeks to stop the hunting completely.
Carey also didn't elaborate on many things that would've been interesting to see more of, especially the organisation itself. Sure, there was a little bit of background, but barely enough, and it also didn't come until the literal epilogue? I want to read about that stuff earlier, not as an afterthought!
Plus, Carey didn't seem to have completely thought about the implications of the organisation's existence, what it meant to be a part of it. She just casually wrote about a bunch of rich people who've spent half their lives hunting these runaways, like that was just a very random but cruel hobby of them and not something that made them literal serial killers? I would have liked to see more of the villains' inner workings, how their brains worked, how they ended up being hunters and how they justified doing it. Seeing as there were some random chapters sprinkled in the story told from some of their perspectives, just as in the first book, my questions could've easily gotten answered. Which just made it twice as frustrating.
The book felt a bit too anticlimactic for me.That already started with Lena's name being revealed very early in a random conversation she had with Rafe. Seeing as you never learnt her name in the first book, I expected this to be some big revelation that added something to the story, but it literally didn't. I don't really understand why Carey waited until the second book to tell us the main character's name. Moreover, every time they found out something about the organisation, it was written about in such a boring manner that it didn't manage to hook me into the story at all.
Next up, the characters were just infuriating to read about, especially the main character and her boys. For example, instead of learning from her mistakes, Lena kept being overly trustworthy for absolutely no reason (
What bothered me the absolute most in the book, however, was the fact that it introduced a second love interest and therefore created a love triangle. A love triangle . In a fucking duology. Just why. Why did Carey get up one day and think that that was a good idea.
Even worse was the fact that neither boy was in any way appealing. Ben, while being an extremely focal point of "Blackbird", was suddenly reduced to being a very insignificant side character who did nothing but keep repeating how much he loved Lena. (Let me remind you that at this point in time, he'd known her for a grand total of two weeks.) Lena herself didn't even seem to care about him anymore - which I get to some degree! He'd betrayed her in the first book! But then why re-introduce him as a love interest? Why even bring him back to the good side again and give him a stupid-ass reason for why he betrayed her in the first place? Seriously, I would love to have a love interest betray the main character for personal selfish reason and have them stay a villain for the rest of the series. Instead, I got Ben, who was just a one-dimensional character that got on my nerves because he didn't add anything interesting to the plot. Absolutely nothing.
The second love interest Rafe, who got properly introduced in this book, was the absolute worst over the course of the entire book. He and Lena knew each other from before, except that he remembered her completely and she only remembered him in bits and pieces. This meant that they couldn't pick up where they left off, which bothered him a lot, and he didn't hesitate to show Lena just how frustrated he was with her and the fact that her brain didn't work properly. But because he was still in love with her, he was extremely possessive of her and jealous of her history with Ben. He made a lot of impulsive, dangerous decisions just because he couldn't bear to have Lena and Ben have a moment to themselves - for example, he'd randomly change a plan without telling the others. And sure, it never actually had catastrophic outcomes, but the fact that he didn't mind putting everyone in danger just because of his jealousy made me see red.
Rafe also reminded me a lot of Jeb from "Splintered" by A.G. Howard - he was controlling, had anger issues, and constantly touched Lena without her consent, her comfort be damned. He also talked about romance and his feelings, despite knowing that she didn't remember him as well as he remembered her. In general, he always put his own feelings first and acted extremely selfish. How was I supposed to root for him?
The writing in those scenes that I guess were supposed to be romantic was very cringe-y, especially since it started so early (literally in the first chapter). You can't try to make a romantic scene at the very beginning of the book with a character I've never even met before.That's not gonna make me want to root for a couple, my dude.
So, personally, I just didn't like Lena with either of the boys. She should've just ... not been with anyone. The focus should've been more on the hunt instead of the romance. (Btw, if you're being literally hunted by someone, how do you even have time to act out romantic feelings that seem like straight out of a teen drama show? *big asexual confusion*)
I also really didn't care for the villains, they were way too easy to defeat and absolutely not villainous enough. I especially would've liked to see more of Theodore Cross; it was said at one point that he'd successfully hunted over 30 people, do you know how interesting it would've been to get a closer look at the mind of someone like that? But nooo, everyone had to stay at surface-level. It was disappointing.
What I did like about "Deadfall", however, were the random chapters told from other people's POVs. While in "Blackbird", they were mostly confusing and didn't add anything, this time it was always clear who was talking, and it did give an interesting insight into their brains. Not enough, clearly, but those chapters were still certainly adding something to the story and made it a bit more thrilling.
I also didn't have quite as many problems with the second person, probably because I knew it was coming, so it didn't catch me off-guard.
Overall, though, the book was a big miss for me. The characters were just annoying and made infuriating decisions, the plot was basically the opposite of thrilling, and there were too many missed opportunities. Also, who the fuck decides to create a love triangle in the second book of a duology. Just who.
(Anna Carey, that's who.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Kidnapping