Big mixed feelings on this one. I absolutely loved being dropped into this one sort of in the middle of things. The tension of trying to figure out what's going on along side the characters was so much fun. The owls were horrifying- people just can't seem to grasp my fear of birds- but I'm telling you, as proven by this story if they swarm, really swarm there's not a whole lot you can do to stop them. Horrifying. This book really brought my fears to life and I loved every minute of that.

I'm torn about the story with in a story thing. I really don't feel like having the chapters from The Silent Queen did anything for this book except slow down the pacing and make this book feel like, well, reading two books. That being said I absolutely loved the Silent Queen chapters so much, honestly I think I enjoyed that story more than the actual book.

Also- not every story needs a romance plot. I say this all the time, but it's even more in this book. The romance between Nash and Mad- why? unnecessary- added absolutely NOTHING and there was absolutely NO CHEMISTRY.

And then you have Mad's history with the school shooting, which again, added nothing but unnecessary drama to this story. I don't think it shaped any of the character's actions or decisions. It's like this author wanted to write three different stories and couldn't decide and shoved them all into one book. When really, the silent queen, the murder owls, the school shooting and lasting trauma all could have been entough on their own.

All that aside, I really did enjoy the bird story- the bumbling decisions of the town's police, the locked in library setting- cut off from the world. The resourcefulness of the characters and the potential explanation of the birds behaviors as well as the characters.

My favorite part was The Silent Queen and would've gladly read that as a stand alone novella, but think it just really screwed the pacing of this book.

I started this book last December and made it about 20% of the way in before I decided to put it down. I wasn't expecting to pick it back up, but for some reason I did and I'm glad I did! I ended up enjoying it much more than I expected to. What originally threw me off was the book-within-a-book. The Silent Queen chapters seemed to knock off the flow of the main story and I couldn't get into the groove of the book. But eventually The Silent Queen became in itself a very exciting fantasy book, and the main story became very tense, so it all worked well together.

SPOILERS: My one complaint is that we weren't given a why at the end of the book! Why did the owls chose the library? Why was the city so inept at rescuing the library crew? Why do the owls act the way they do? So much of the mystery remained unanswered, and I felt like there was a way to do that with all of the summarizing happening in the last 10%.

This book is a captivating and immersive read that hooks you from the first page. The writing is beautifully crafted, with vivid descriptions and strong character development that makes the story come alive. The plot is well-paced, balancing moments of tension with quieter, reflective scenes that allow the characters to grow. The themes explored are deep and thought-provoking, resonating long after the final page. Whether it's the emotional depth, the twists and turns of the plot, or the unforgettable characters, this book is a must-read for anyone who enjoys rich, engaging stories. Highly recommended

So I did have a bit of a tough time with THE PARLIAMENT, my last scary book for spooky season! I was so down with the premise of murder owls descending on a library after-hours, trapping librarians, teachers, middle schoolers, and other random folks. As they have to hunker down for a few days as they figure out how to get out without being eaten by owls, we also learn more about backstories as well as a book within a book (which I'm not 100% sure on the connection, cause I didn't love it). I vibed with the story, but still felt it was a bit of a slog and felt like there were way too many characters to keep track of. Still a great spooky book though, and for my second book from Pokwatka, I'm still gonna read more from her.

In this weird and fabulous new book by Pokwatka, Madigan Purdy, an isolated young woman returns to her hometown to teach an interactive chemistry class to a group of kids at the local library. As the class begins, the library is surrounded by "murder owls" - a swarm of tiny owls who are intent on devouring anyone who comes near them. As the group of adults and kids in the library become aware of the horror of their situation, Pokwatka skillfully develops individual characters and reveals the trauma at the heart of Madigan's ongoing isolation. The tension holds throughout the novel and Pokwatka's characters development as they interact and cope (or don't!) with the owl invasion. This is a great read - deeply moving and appealingly odd.

DNF - it was more about the feels than the murder birds. I wanted murder birds. I also didn't particularly enjoy reading our MC. Unfortunately, not for me.

This is a book with a lot of characters, and a lot of plot (there is a book within the book), but it hums along and has excellent pacing. Did I mix up some of the kids and forget if some of the adults worked at the library or were only visits? Sure! Did it matter? Not really. You could skip the Silent Queen chapters and not be the worse of it, but I actually enjoyed how it broke up the tension.

The main characters were so perfectly formed so quickly that I found it easy to be dropped into this event with them and to root for their survival. I was not expecting to tear up at the end! I really loved how there is resolution and hints of the future but nothing concrete and that it's maybe not a HEA but it's not not a HEA.

DNF couldn't get into that at all. I loved the cover and the blurb, but the actual writing was very dry and bland.

Thank you Netgalley for the epub! I loved the premise and the book met a lot of my "wheelhouses" - fast paced, dialogue-driven, weirdness. Unfortunately, I did feel it dragged a bit.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for honest feedback. An impressive melding of two different genres. I found myself just as eager to read the main plot as the book within the book.

A very interesting premise right from the start. Murder owls stalking a library building? Yes, please !

The protagonist, Mads, who is a chemist, is about to teach a sort of summer class on the library to a bunch of 11-12 year olds, as a favor to a friend. And then the owls attack, patrons get stuck in the library for a while, and bad decisions lead to a bunch of people hurt.

One of the high points for me in this book were the people in the library, both kids and adults. They felt very real, relatable in their response to the situation at hand. I was enjoying the read, and was invested in the workings behind the owl's odd behavior, but then soon realized that this was not the main focus of the book. The parliament focuses on Mad's PTSD ( something that happened to her as a child) and how she tries to deal with it and help the people on the library, which is an okay storyline, but not something I was interested in reading in detail.
I wanted to know more about the science of the birds, and the machinations to leave the library, but it all lost momentum too soon, and the explanations were superficial. Some readers will not have a problem with that, for sure, but I was here for the birds, so it fell short for me.
There is a romance subplot in here too, that I did not enjoy much, as it did not help further the story.

I also have to agree with some of the readers that we did not need the "book within a book" situation. "The Silent Queen" is a fairy tale book the protagonist reads to the kids to distract them, and it is interspersed within the actual main story. Although I can see why it was there, soon it became a bit too long and dull for me, and took away from the main plot line.

It's one of those cases where the book had a lot of potential, tries too many ideas/directions, and forgets to fleshed out what is important.

Thanks to TorDotCom and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This weird little book is really excellent. I love a book about a library, and I have a fascination with owls, so this seemed like the kind of book I would like. It was not at all what I expected, but delightfully so. I loved the story within the story, it was a solid fantasy novel woven into the contemporary narrative. I thought the author did a particularly good job of casting an oddball assortment of people trapped inside the library; the kind of cast of characters that seemed realistic to me, an actual librarian. I loved the group of kids at the centre of the story. I thought they were well developed and interesting. I liked that the author gave them credit for the intelligence that kids that age have, but is not often acknowledged. It did feel a little long. The pacing started out great and very page turning, but felt laggy in the back half. Still a super enjoyable and surprising read.

Aimee Pokwatka sort of just drops you into "The Parliament" and leaves you to flounder, making it at first read more like a novella than a full-length book because of the suddenness of the story’s take-off. There’s no setup, and she doesn’t give the reader time to get to know Mad, our protagonist, before plopping her into a library surrounded by deadly owls. And there are a lot of characters to get to know – a group of children, and also library employees and random library patrons.

All this gives the book a messy feel to it, because not only do you not understand why the owls are at the library and why they’re trying to kill people, you have a jumble of Mad, children, and library peeps in your head. Needless to say, it’s hard to ground yourself in the story, and I can’t promise the confusion will improve seeing as I finished the book without ever having the characters straight in my head.

Plus, there’s a book within the book, an additional fantasy tale called "The Silent Queen." Mad shares the story with the children as a way to pass the time, and I believe we’re meant to draw parallels between it and the main narrative thread. But the full circle connection never really happens, at least it didn’t for me.

Yet despite all the negatives – and I know I’m pointing out a good number of faults – I really liked Pokwatka’s latest. Somehow she makes it work. Mad's growth as a character is rewarding, and it’s a singular story that’s equal parts heartwarming and horrific. Never underestimate murder owls, Pokwatka makes that clear.

If you’re even the teeniest, tiniest bit intrigued by "The Parliament," I say give it a try. Just know what you’re getting into before you pick it up.


My sincerest appreciation to Aimee Pokwatka, Tordotcom, and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions included herein are my own.

A dual storyline, with one setting a library being inundated with killer birds, and another setting a fairytale that the main character reads to the kids trapped inside the library.

I really enjoyed the fairytale! The characters were compelling , and I was interested in finding out what would happen. I quite enjoyed this fantasy world.

I didn’t care so much for the main story, and actually found it a bit dull. Also, some of the characters’ actions didn’t seem to make much sense. I had a hard time remembering which kid was which, because they all acted pretty much the same. Just like the book group people and the Terrys (Barrys? Jimmys? I’ve already forgotten).It is an intriguing plot, though. It just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to the publisher and author for this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Definitely meant to remind readers of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" (originally a short story by Daphne du Maurier), Aimee Pokwatka's "The Parliament" is a tense and increasingly claustrophobic and frightening story about an unexpected attack by owls.

Madigan "Mad" Purdy has spent her life, since surviving a school shooting when she was a kid, trying to not make connections, still feeling intense guilt that she survived, and that a good friend in her classroom did not. (When police arrived, they found her holding her dead friend's hand,) This moment looms huge in her memories, and keeps her cut off and lonely, by choice. Now an adult working as a chemist for a makeup company, she's arrived, reluctantly, at her hometown library to give a workshop, after a persistent request by another childhood friend, Farrah. And to make matters worse, Nash, Mad's former best friend and crush, and the brother of her dead classmate, is also at the library.

The kids attending the workshop have their own issues, one recovering from a dead brother's death, and other heavy things, and but all are smart, funny, intriguing, difficult to impress, and at times adversarial; i.e., kids on the cusp of adolescence.

When a massive number of owls descend on the library, and begin attacking and killing anyone who ventures outside, the library becomes both a place of temporary safety and imprisonment. To keep the kids' spirits up, Mad begins reading them a book called "The Silent Queen", a dark fairy tale about a mute princess of a land whose wealth comes from its mines. And a terrible beast that maims, mauls and kills the girls of all the lands in this story, but gives them each a gift afterwards. It's a gruesome, terrifying world, and tale (how does this in-story tale bear ANY resemblance to "The Princess Bride"??) that brought Mad comfort when young, and does so for her worried and stressed group. In fact, the kids are not only are captivated and calmed by the story, but also begin researching, at Mad's urging, ways to potentially calm the owls and send them away.

Mad feels responsible for the kids, as she knows that they're going through something life changing that will linger in their memories for years after. While she does her best to protect them, Nash does his best to maintain the kids' and the other patrons' health with very limited supplies and food, as he's a pediatrician. He and Mad also begin dealing, despite Mad's incredible reluctance to open up, with her childhood trauma, and its effect on their relationship.

This is definitely a horror-filled novel, from the murder owls, to Mad's early experience with violence, to the increasingly desperate situation for everyone in the library, to the various methods the town uses to deal with the incident.

At the same time, it's a terrific novel about friendship, people working together and supporting one another, and second chances. Mad is a likeable character, and her flaws and her behaviour all make sense. She's prickly, caring, and does her best to rally the kids; her journey from unwillingness to open up to Nash at the beginning, to her willingness to finally really reconnect with him, and to also going from wincing at the thought of spending an hour with the kids to inspiring them into their adulthoods was fantastic.

This was an unexpectedly enjoyable book. And much as I love going to libraries, I would hate to be forcibly confined in one, as the characters here were, but I still really liked spending time with Mad and the murder owls.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Tor Publishing Group for this ARC in exchange for my review.

I adore this book! The moment that things took a turn in chapter 3 (I won't say what) I audibly freaked out, confusing my dog and waking my partner. The mix of different traditional "horror"/thriller elements and "slice of life"/"cozy small town" feelings was such a fun combo.

Aimee Pokwatka has a tale of ordinary people surviving extraordinary circumstances. Madigan Purdy isa chemist who is persuaded to teach a small class of preteen girls in what had been her home town library, set in a former bank building, Then The Parliament (hard from Tordotcom) of murder owls attack the library in a swarm, killing any who try to leave. To confuse the reader, part of the tale is another tale about a monster who gives enhancements to young girls taking body parts in payment. Only The Silent Queen can save her kingdom. There is no reason given for the owl attack, but both tales are fascinating. Aimee Pokwatka is definitely an author to watch

Publisher Tordotcom described The Parliament as “The Birds meets The Princess Bride,” and it’s a pretty fair comparison. Aimee Pokwatka’s combination of fantasy and horror makes for a truly unique read. This fantasy/thriller bounces between adults and children sheltering in place and the book that keeps them calm during the crisis: a children’s book called The Silent Queen. The result is a story that’s more than just The Birds with owls.

It’s true that there are plenty of gruesome owl attacks throughout the story. Anyone foolish enough to leave the library is almost instantly dismembered. But the real tension is psychological. The people trapped inside are completely cut off from the world and reliant on each other to survive. They’re also quickly disillusioned by the rescue attempts, which focus on destroying the owls even at the cost of the survivors’ lives.

Our protagonist, Mad, survived another terrible event as a child. This experience impacted every aspect of her life. She knows thousands of survival skills and useless tricks, but hasn’t allowed herself to connect with anyone else. Her background makes her uniquely suited to help the kids in the library, but she isn’t able to fully connect with them because she hasn’t dealt with her own trauma.

Instead, she relies on her favorite book from childhood, The Silent Queen, to keep everyone calm. Between attempts to communicate with the town, we read chapters of the fairy tale alongside the children. It’s an engrossing, unique story that easily keeps readers in and out of the book. Reading the story allows the kids – and adults – in the library an opportunity to take their minds off of everything going on outside. While The Parliament is definitely a work of psychological horror, it’s also a love letter to the power of literature.

The Parliament is an engrossing story of grief, courage and hope. Pokwatka’s new novel is well-written and original: I don’t think you’ll find another book like it.

tl;dr, carnivorous birds attack a public library. great, fantastically absurd premise that aimee pokwatka excels at, plus a soft boy character (another element she excels at). the dialogue was fantastic and realistic, the book had such a standout voice to it, and i was on edge the entire time. the pacing raised the stakes perfectly and the descriptions were visceral and chilling. i just love this author’s writing and will read everything she ever writes. this one reminded me a bit of seanan mcguire. the parliament is out now! thank you so much to Tor for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Parliament left me feeling equal parts perplexed and moved, and I’m still not entirely sure if I would recommend it.

What we have here is a book within a book, and the two stories are vastly different. In the main story, chemist Madigan (Mad) Purdy has returned to her hometown library to teach a group of young teenagers how to make bath bombs, as a favor to her childhood friend, who is the YA librarian. What she doesn’t expect is that the library will be surrounded by a parliament of murderous owls, who literally rip apart anyone who tries to leave. Trapped in the library, Mad introduces her charges to her favorite childhood book, “The Silent Queen,” as a way to pass the time while the group figures out what to do. “The Silent Queen” is a dark feminist fairy tale set in a fantastical, monstrous world, and its chapters are interspersed with the main narrative.

The Parliament straddles a line between whimsical and horrific, with heart-warming moments followed by scenes of extreme violence. I think The Birds meets The Princess Bride is a pretty apt description, as strange as that combination sounds. This is a book that doesn’t fit neatly into one genre, with a narrative that includes elements of horror, fantasy, romance, and survival thriller. It also delves into the devastating effects of childhood trauma and the way that trauma manifests in an adult’s responses and behaviors. Mad is a strong protagonist who shows a lot of growth over the course of the book as she is forced to come to terms with both her past and an uncertain present full of murder owls. But aside from Mad, the large cast of secondary characters weren’t developed enough, and I kept forgetting who was who.

The library storyline and “The Silent Queen” chapters deal, on the surface, with common themes: teamwork, resilience, bravery when faced with senseless violence, overcoming trauma. But I struggled to find the deeper connection between the two that I desperately wanted to be there. I enjoyed them both separately, and I thought the fantasy world was particularly well-developed and intriguing, but the two stories just didn’t come together for me in that impactful aha moment I wanted.

Also, it was difficult for me to suspend my disbelief when it came to the town’s ineptitude in dealing with the murder owl crisis – and as far as the owls themselves, there’s no real explanation for their origins or behavior. This is definitely one of the most original books I’ve ever read, but it didn’t all come together for me the way I’d hoped it would. Thanks to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for the complimentary reading opportunity.