Heads up, that there might be some spoilers from Blackbirds here. But hey, look, Miriam is back so you already knew she was going to make it out of the first book. And further spoiler, there's a third Miriam book so yeah, she'll make it out of this one. So what I'm saying is any spoilers below are going to be fairly obvious ones, and ones you'd get if you read a basic summary of the book.*
Miriam is back again in Mockingbird still being herself. She still sees how a person is going to die when she touches them. She's still foul-mouthed, cynical, tough, hurt. Just the best. She's settled down with Louis, as best she can anyway. So, not that well at all. She's living in LBI, NJ (She never thought pine trees belonged at the beach but here they are. Of course, she never thought medical waste belonged at the beach either, but that's New Jersey for you) at a trailer park and working at a grocery store. Exciting stuff. She still hates her gift but at the same time she needs it. She NEEDS to be able to see how people are going to die. It's like an addiction.
Louis is trying to help her and actually gets her a job using her psychic abilities. Someone wants to know how they're going to bite it, Miriam can help. A teacher at a school for troubled girls thinks she might have cancer. Sure, she could go to a doctor and find out if she's sick, but that won't answer the question of if this possible disease will kill her and when. Miriam could help there. But of course, if that was all that happened the book would be very short. And boring.
Miriam is again put in the position where she sees how a death (or several) is supposed to happen and decides she's going to try to change fate. It's happened before. It could happen again.
She's a fate-changer, and fate has a funny way of pushing back hard. Real fucking hard.As with the last book, there is a lot of violence here. And like last time, it doesn't feel gratuitous. It serves the story. Everything about this book is MORE than Blackbirds. More action, more suspense, more violence, more Miriam. And I enjoyed it more. It's a book you fly through because you HAVE to see what's going to happen. I will definitely be picking up the third Miriam Black book The Cormorant. Not sure when but it will happen.
Because it (sadly) happens so infrequently, kudos to Wendig for creating a strong female character. And not a strong female character that's actually just a dude character but with boobs. Not a female character that is just super tough and violent but not actually a fully formed character. An actual, strong female character. YAY Wendig.
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*ALSO there was an interesting PBS Idea Channel about spoilers and I haven't bugged you guys about watching this channel in awhile. So here you go.
Title quote from location 3406
Wendig, Chuck. Mockingbird. Angry Robot, 2013. Kindle.
