4.5 rounded up

Thank you so much @tordotcompub Publishing for the complimentary DRC.

If you’re looking for a tense, weird book, that will have you whisper screaming WTF, OMG, and oh no oh no oh no oh no, then pick up The Parliament. Thousands of owls descend on the library and from there on everyone is stuck. Being trapped in a library sounds ideal to all of us, right? But there’s the tiny issue of food and meds, and eventually water. Anyone who tries to leave is torn apart by the owls. As Madeleine tries to keep the kids calm, she begins to read them a story from her favorite book as a child, The Silent Queen. I almost loved the Silent Queen as much as The Parliament. The only issue I had is that the chapters are so long, it took me a bit to get back into things when it swapped between the two stories. There’s a great cast of characters, with some funny moments to give you a breather from the severity of this situation they’re all in.

As I read The Parliament by Aimee Pokwatka was pulled me in the most was the compelling drama of both the situation in the library but also the tale of The Silent Queen. Both pieces of the narrative were engaging and dynamic, with a distinct voice from both the characters and the trials they face.

One of the most interesting elements to the story is the mystery of why the owls are attacking which kept me guessing throughout the novel. The situation for Mad and the other people trapped is especially harrowing and intense. The author has infused the story with the emotions and hardship but also love and determination. Mad is engaging, because she has endured trauma as have the children and adults with her. That connection in the novel is part of the intriguing mystery of the owls.

What the story focuses on is dealing with trauma and how we each individually face it, ultimately how each person faces the aftermath. The author focuses on that loss but also the ability to hold onto joy, how to find it when you have endured trauma. Ultimately the story gave me a compelling drama with engaging characters and an interesting resolution. There is magic but it is used to infuse the narrative, to enhance the duality of the story and adds to the drama. If you love drama and mystery, I highly recommend The Parliament.

I would give this more stars if I could! I laughed, I gasped, I clutched my chest. This book put me through all the emotions! The comps to The Birds is accurate! The Princess Bride comp is a little less accurate, but there is a unique group of people who don’t understand the full range of their skills that come together to fight for something.
I ended up falling in love with several characters and that surprised me. When I began reading the book, I wanted to know how they were going to get out of the situation. I didn’t expect to care so much about the characters. Some of them really annoyed me. Some of them felt like good friends. There were a range of characters ad would be expected.
There was a touch of gore. It was just enough to make me fear the owls and fear for the characters.
The outside people were very inept and even heartless. So the people in the library were really all on their own. That definitely increased the tension because I did not know if everyone would get out safe or not.
Mad’s tragic backstory was scary and unexpected. It was used to effectively throughout the book to influence her behavior and decisions.
I was impressed with the way the characters got information and ideas about how to save themselves. They used the library effectively. Then the way they implemented those ideas! That was impressive. And then ultimately the solution! So good.

- THE PARLIAMENT is two books in one: a claustrophobic horror novel with a YA fantasy novel tucked inside.
- The imagery in this book is truly terrifying, and the sense of creeping panic in both stories was excellent. Also, the story within the story felt like it could have been a real YA novel from the ‘90s-‘00s.
- Unfortunately, beyond the atmosphere a lot of this book fell flat for me. The younger characters in the library were mostly interchangeable. Similar events repeated themselves multiple times without much new information coming from them. And the main character spent most of the book keeping a “big secret” that very obviously wasn’t going to be a big deal.

I wasn't sure what I was in for, but I was quickly engrossed with both storylines. Trust, grief, survival - all explored with care up against the overwhelming.

I was so excited about this book and thought the premise was a unique and exciting one. I saw a few reviews saying the interspersed ‘Silent Queen’ book that the main character reads was divisive for readers and I think I should have heeded those notes. Books within books is not really my thing and knowing the story was going to be a children’s book the main character had read growing up and I struggle with YA/Children’s lit, I should have passed this over. But I was just too pumped about the rest of the story!

And I loved the writing of the rest of the story, the ominous tone and dread, the owls, the gore, the slice of life-type feeling of watching everyone figure out what to do and all the little interpersonal stories coming out of being stuck together with family and exes and friends and strangers. But the ‘Silent Queen’ bits were so far outside of the style I like to read that they ended up bogging my reading down, making it so I could only read in fits and starts, and would end up putting the book down every time ‘Silent Queen’ chapters came up. I ended up wanting to skim or skip them entirely.

That all said, I think this book will find its readers and many will really enjoy both aspects of the story. It was just that only one half of this story was for me, and that’s okay!

Owls.

They're often depicted as ADORABLE, big-eyed. huggie-wuggies. Sometimes they're used as the symbol for preternatural intelligence. But in actuality, owls are vicious killing machines. Sharp, nasty beaks and frightful talons . . . all the better to rip apart rabbits, snakes, and maybe a hapless library patron or two.

That's right. When a parliament of pissed off owls sets up camp outside a library, those trapped inside are helpless, and running out of hope. It's a bit like Dawn of the Dead had a fledgling with The Birds. Things grow tense for our tiny band of survivors as food supplies dwindle, tempers flare, and owls take over the bathroom. To pass the time, some of the gang reads chapters from the main character's favorite childhood book, "The Silent Queen." This is where things fell apart for me, as I hated this book within a book. The main story is frequently interrupted by a chapter of this fantasy novel, and it completely blows any suspense the action scenes have built. I can take the fact that the characters are dull and nearly interchangeable, but, truly, one story was enough for this book.

IF you like "The Silent Queen" bits, you will probably enjoy this more than I did. It's odd though . . . I do have a craving for Tootsie Pops for some reason.

I loved the premise for this book: getting trapped in a small town library when a group of owls descends on the town. Part survival story part sci-fi/fantasy and thoroughly enjoyable. This was my first book by the Aimee Pokwatka and I'm excited to read more! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

I will never forget watching the TV-edited version of The Birds as a kid and being equally horrified and intrigued. The thought of something so commonplace and benign turning on you was so fascinating to me and one of my first forays into the horror/magical realism genre. Fast forward a few decades, and I was delighted to see a book published by my favorite publishing house with a similar premise, only the birds were owls and were terrorizing the patrons trapped inside a public library! Yes, please! (That being said, The Parliament is definitely more magical realism than horror, so this won’t really deliver if you want a horror book).

The premise of this book definitely delivered, and the characters, especially the middle school students, were wonderful. The story is told in tandem with a subversive fantasy novel being read aloud to the kids, and while I think I understand what the author was trying to do, I could have done without those chapters entirely. I felt like the book ran too long, and eliminating the second storyline would have fixed that issue. That being said, the two storylines are definitely connected, although I had to force myself to read slowly through the story chapters in order to connect the dots while I was very much tempted to skim them.

I also could have done without the romance plot - in fact the male lead was annoying as hell with the stupid jokes - but I’m pretty sure that’s just because I wanted more murder owls and less kissing/hand holding. There are strong themes of grief and shared trauma which are powerful, but I was expecting more of a social commentary about groupthink that was lacking at the end of the book.

I did enjoy most of this book! It’s deeply unsettling and mysterious with a great story and intriguing themes. It would have benefited from some stronger editing and more focus on the owl mystery, but it was still a really good read!

Mad does her best to avoid returning home whenever possible. Despite this, she finds herself agreeing to teach a science class to middle schoolers at her hometown public library. Then, the evening plans drastically change when a owl dives through the window.
Told as a story within a story, The Parliament is a tale of modern and fantastic survival.

You'll see a lot of reviews quoting The Birds meets The Princess Bride," which is admittedly what drew me to this story initially as well. The Birds I will give it. The Princess Bride....? Not so much. I think there's a lot better fantasy to compare The Silent Queen to. I'd probably be more inclined towards The Princess Academy, if I were to make a comparison immediately after reading.
On The Birds end, though, that's a very apt comparison, and also the primary story.

Opposed to The Birds, which is just kind of weird and deeply unsettling, this story hinges more on the realism of a horror survival situation, which I think will be very appealing to many readers. Personally, I was hoping more for the weird, unsettling, and unexplained, but, y'know. You get what you get with a premise as intriguing as that one!

In terms of the secondary story, chapters from Mad's favorite childhood book, The Silent Queen, I've seen there be some division between those who enjoyed the pauses in narrative and those who were bored by it. I'm honestly somewhere in the middle. I enjoyed the ending chapters much more than the early ones, and I found myself skimming quite a lot of it, but never felt like I missed too much.

Overall, I would say I enjoyed this story, but more so the beginning and the end. The middle just dragged a bit for me. In terms of the characters, while the child cast was generally cute, none of them really stuck out to me, mostly because there were so many of them. I did really like Mad, though.

Scary and emotional, this story of people trapped in a library by a swarm of murderous owls contains themes of grief, loss, and trauma, but ends up being an uplifting read as well. The story-within-a-story format works very well -- I couldn't put it down.

The Parliament by Aimee Pockwatka follows a group of characters, particularly Madigan (Mad), who find themselves trapped in a library when a massive amount of owls surround it and viciously attack anyone who leaves the building. It’s labeled as a sci-fi/fantasy book but it definitely strikes me as fitting into horror as well, given the traumatic situation our characters find themselves in but also in themes of grief and trauma that are explored in the novel.

I do think I read this book too fast. There were many times that I HAD to turn the page, keep going to figure out what was going to happen next, and other times that I just kept pushing through the story instead of taking a moment to think about it more, which would’ve helped me appreciate it more in the process.

When I finished the book, I thought it was a 3 star but as I reflected more on the book it worked its way up to a 3.5 for me (though I did round up to 4 on platforms that don't accommodate decimal ratings). I definitely appreciated it more after reading it than during the read, though I found the book enjoyable to read, I didn’t make some connections until after the fact. In some ways, the pay off can be better that way, but I did feel like the connection between the main character and the book within the novel was tenuous until the very end. In retrospect, I can make more connections between the characters in the library and those in the story-within-the-story, and maybe it’s more interesting in that it’s not immediately clear. It’s not made incredibly obvious to the reader. You have to think about it more and engage deeper with what’s happening in both stories to find those connections.

Overall I think this was well-written, entertaining, hard to read at certain points, and a compelling commentary on the power of marginalized groups when they band together and use their voices together. There’s also a lot of focus on grief and the everlasting impact of trauma and grief on us–how it impacts our own perception of ourselves, how we live our lives, what we allow ourselves to have.

This was a fantastic read, I just suggest slowing down and engaging more with the story throughout rather than only reflecting at the end. Though, I viewed the story very differently when I was done and reflected on it, and still have immense appreciation for this story and these characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Billed as a cross between ‘The Birds’ and ‘The Princess Bride’, ‘The Parliament’ by …. has all the makings of a fun and entertaining read.

It centres around Mad (Madigan) who has somewhat reluctantly returned to her home town, and whilst there is plagued by memories and guilt from her childhood past. A trained Chemist, she is asked to lead a workshop for local children in the town library. There she is greeted by an old friend and the brother (also ex-crush) of her best friend from the age of 11.

What starts off as a relatively normal evening teaching middle school kids, soon turns into an ornithophobe’s nightmare when a flock of owls (known as a parliament) descends, torments (with murderous results) patrons of the library. Trapped inside, food and water running in short supply, with no exit, Mad and the remaining patrons are left at the mercy of a town seemingly incompetent at the task of evacuating them.

Whilst I enjoyed parts of the book, unfortunately there were elements that just didn’t fit, which left me feeling it could’ve easily have been a lot shorter. The most glaring element in question is the inclusion of a separate storyline in the form of another book within. The MC reads this book to the children, which doesn’t add up to the main story, and serves little towards developing the plot. Other reviews I read disgree, but it had me checking how many pages I had left to endure.

I was hoping this book within a book might act as a metaphor for capitalism or injustices towards women, highlighting the struggles girls face in their rise to womanhood, and the experiences they suffer just to have their voices heard. But frankly I don’t think it’s that clever.

The characters are sadly lacking and not fleshed out as I would’ve liked, which left me not caring much for any of them; and whilst I appreciate a dad joke (or three) the book is laden with them which just becomes grating and dull.

Overall I wouldn’t say it was bad… some of the scenes are quite tense and even thrilling in parts, but it could have been about 150pp shorter.

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

It is me, here with nothing but love for a book with a whole bird on the cover. You know why? Everyone in the book hates these assholes just as much as I do! And not even just after they attack- no, main character Mad hates them before they even get extra awful. I have found my people, hidden in the pages of this bird book. Anti-bird book, if you will. So yeah, this book has birds, I loved it. This book has a story-within-a-story, which I usually do not like, but I loved it. How do I even begin to tell you why? I'll try.

►I adored Mad. From the start, she won me over. I mean, sure, partly because she "never liked birds", obviously. But beyond that, I just clicked with her whole character. She's been through some stuff, and she's done a crap job of healing, and she shuts people out because she's scared, and it's a whole relatable thing. So Mad finding herself teaching a bunch of teens? Yeah, not exactly what she'd expected she'd be doing, but she also never expected she'd be trapped in Bird Hell™ either, so.

►Speaking of, Bird Hell™! I mean- don't misunderstand, I did not like Bird Hell™, but I was certainly entertained by it. You know that is the apocalypse I'll find myself front and center in, right? Well, it isn't cute. And Mad isn't really equipped to handle it, and frankly, neither is anyone else who happened to have the bad fortune to be in the library that day.

►I actually liked the story! Mad started reading this story to the group, and it was actually really entertaining and it fit really well- I loved how all the kids in the group sort of had a different perspective on it too, the author did an amazing job using this story to really give us insight into the characters, and I thought that was genius.

►It's exciting! I mean. Duh. I was very much on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next, how they were going to get out of there, who would make it, etc. It's high stakes, compelling stuff!

►At the same time, I never wanted it to end! I loved getting to know Mad, and the other townspeople we get to know. I mean, I was glad that it had an appropriate ending and everything, don't get me wrong, but man did I enjoy being in this world. No worries, this one will be on my re-read list for sure!

Bottom Line: I am actively begging you to read this bird book, so I think you have to?

Magical realism takes fantastical events and portrays them in a realistic tone. So you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t agree with categorizing The Parliament as a fantasy novel like it’s being marketed. Because this isn’t a fantasy novel, dark or otherwise. This is a magical realism novel, first and foremost, with philosophically dark themes and horror tropes.

It was everything I hoped for from Aimee Potwatka’s second novel: The prose soared, I sobbed, I felt all the feelings, and I was completely swept away by this incredibly immersive story.

Calling this book “The Birds meets The Princess Bride” (as it states in the marketing material) is a gross oversimplification and absolutely does this book no justice. In mythology, owls symbolize everything from evil omens to talismans of wisdom. In fantasy, a parliament of owls has been used more than once as an unbiased council of judgment. In real life, they are beautiful and peaceful by day but chaotic and bloodthirsty by night.

“In the night, when the owl is less than exquisitely swift and perfect, the scream of the rabbit is terrible. But the scream of the owl, which is not of pain and hopelessness and the fear of being plucked out of the world, but of the sheer rollicking glory of the death-bringer, is more terrible still. When I hear it resounding through the woods, and then the five black pellets of its song dropping like stones into the air, I know I am standing at the edge of the mystery, in which terror is naturally and abundantly part of life, part of even the most becalmed, intelligent, sunny life—as, for example, my own. The world where the owl is endlessly hungry and endlessly on the hunt is the world in which I live too. There is only one world.” - Mary Oliver

I chose to view the titular parliament as a combination of that fantastical body of judgment and symbols of the underworld. It seems to best fit the themes of this book: grief, regret, anger, violence, abandonment, desolation, loneliness, helplessness, and trauma. Of losing your voice, not having a voice, fighting to have a voice, regaining your voice, and what comes after regaining your voice. Of flight, fight, and freeze. Of responsibility, fault, and blame. About sacrifice.

Aimee Potwatka delivers an amazingly complicated novel containing hugely emotional themes with a deft hand and sweeping prose that carries you away. You’ll feel drawn in and ensconced with these characters as they contemplate how to escape their judgment and survive the parliament of owls.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Body Horror/Disability Rep/Horror/Literary Fiction/Magical Realism

First of all, thank you to Tor Dot Com and Netgalley for providing an ARC of Aimee Pokwatka's second novel! I was very impressed with her debut, Self Portrait With Nothing, and was greatly looking forward to seeing more of her work.

The Parliament has a very intriguing premise -- the blurb invokes Hitchcock and The Princess Bride, and the vibes are certainly there. Except I somehow didn't expect the Princess Bride bit to refer most of all to a book-in-a-book trope, which -- honestly, this is on me. It's not my favourite literary device, which explains why it took me a while to get used to narrative being spliced up with excerpts from an in-universe book: if that's your jam, I don't think it would bother you! I really appreciated the murder owls and tension built throughout the novel, the sense of space created in the library, and overall impression is very solid. It's a different kind of beast that Self-Portrait but I remain excited to see what else this author will keep on bringing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for providing me with a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

I love a good locked room horror book; give me a premise where the characters are all stuck together, and I'm already hooked by the claustrophobia. When I read that this was a story centered around a bunch of characters locked in a library surrounded by thousands upon thousands of murderous owls, I was beyond excited! The contrast of a cozy hometown library setting with creepy owls intent on eating people just outside was such a fun setup. The Parliament is an interesting novel, featuring horror and fantasy elements, but it also holds a great deal of depth, as it explores grief, trauma, and surviving life's difficulties. I liked it!

The story follows Mad, a chemist who begrudgingly returns to her hometown's library in West Virginia to teach a class to middle schoolers as a favor to her childhood best friend. She had a traumatic event happen when she was growing up, and Mad's done everything in her power to leave home and never look back. On the first day of her class, thousands of owls swarm and surround the library, attacking anyone who exits the building. Mad is tasked with keeping the children in her class calm as she and the other adults in the library struggle to find a way out. To distract the kids, Mad reads them her favorite comfort fantasy story, The Silent Queen, which follows a woman trying to save the children in her kingdom from a monster. Chapters from the story are sprinkled throughout the novel.

This book has a lot going on, but I feel that it handled everything well. After glancing through some initial reviews, it looks like the novel is somewhat divisive - I'm not surprised. I anticipate that you'll like this book if you enjoy stories with multiple elements. If you're looking for a straightforward horror book, though, you may not be satisfied. While there is some horror in The Parliament, I wouldn't quite call it a horror novel. For as many horror scenes as there are, there are just as many heartfelt moments, silly dad jokes, and scenes exploring overarching themes. I also expect the chapters from The Silent Queen to work for some readers, but not everyone, as they are fairly tonally different from the main plot.

This book worked for me, because I found it really engaging in many ways.

The characters are interesting. I could connect with Mad, who is awkward and truly just wants to be back home eating pizza alone. She has trouble getting over the past and accepting the uncertainties of the future. She's a compelling main character. Her struggles feel authentic. I also liked the side characters. The love interest, Nash, and former best friend, Farrah, were my favorites. I thought the children in Mad's class were well-written, too. Their dialogue is realistic, and it's wholesome watching Mad grow from nervous around them to protective over the entire class as the story unfolds.

I also found the writing to be pretty good. It's smooth to read. Aimee Pokwatka has a clear voice for Mad (even though it's written from a third-person perspective); I had fun following her and reading about all of her random knowledge and survival skills. While the prose wasn't flowery, there were a handful of meaningful lines that stood out.

The last thing that worked well for me was how serious themes were explored with care. Sometimes authors try to take on too many themes at once in their stories, and none of them are given the time or attention that's necessary. That didn't happen here. The author selected a few key ideas and explored them beautifully. I appreciated watching Mad grow to be more vulnerable. At times, it felt like I was reading a cozy literary novel, while two chapters later, I was reading a fast-paced thriller story. I liked all of the moving pieces and how they connected to the larger themes. Although, I can see how it could be too much for some readers.

There are a couple of things I have minor complaints about, so I can't give this a perfect rating.

First, I didn't mind the chapters from The Silent Queen, but they could have been developed a little better. Alala's story is interesting, and by the end, it becomes clear how some of her struggles relate to the main story at the library. However, the fantasy chapters are quite long, so sometimes it feels like they stall the momentum that Mad's plot is building. If I were editing this, I would have trimmed the first half of The Silent Queen story quite a bit; they spent too much time journeying to the monster. I also wish that the author had tied Alala's plot more closely to Mad's. There are thematic threads connecting them, but they aren't clear at first. I think you could ultimately skip these chapters if you were really unhappy with them and only wanted to read the main story. You would be a little confused when the characters talk about The Silent Queen, but that's it. So, I wish that there had been more substantively relevant there, so that The Silent Queen wasn't so skippable.

Additionally, while I think this book is pretty good as it is, I would have loved the other adults at the library to be developed more and the overall mystery to be explained just a teensy bit more. The children and Mad's friends are easy to keep track of, but I was sometimes confused about which of the other library visitors were which. The owl mystery doesn't need a clear explanation - one of the messages of the story is about living to the fullest when life throws unexpected twists at you... but still... I wouldn't have minded a few more sentences explaining the owls' motivations and what happened to them after the conclusion.

Despite my small issues, I had a great time reading The Parliament! If you're looking for a story with some scary moments and some magical moments, but that is largely centered around human connections and overcoming grief and trauma, then I would highly recommend this. If you're looking for a true horror novel or something more focused on action, then you may not like this one as much as I did. I'll definitely check out other work by Aimee Pokwatka in the future.

4 out of 5 stars.

A perennial favorite meme in my household—now used as a shorthand in many gift-giving situations—is “I never understood the owls.” Reading The Parliament by Aimee Pokwatka is another perfect application of the meme, since who could ever really understand the sudden appearance of thousands of murderous owls?

Yep, owls. The ancient symbols of wisdom that are actually kind of dumb, and which in the modern era mainly feature in cute animal compilations. It’s hard to be scared of perpetually startled ovaloids, even if they are theoretically predators, but Pokwatka works very hard to convince us that a swarm of owls is no joke. She does succeed quickly in quelling any sense of absurdity: by the time the first body hits the ground, you won’t find the situation remotely silly.

Scary though? Not entirely. This book isn’t setting out to scare you, just to unsettle you with its non-explanations. Not understanding the owls is kind of the point. Beset by an inexplicable force (seemingly) beyond their control, a group of unlikely library patrons must come together despite their differences to protect the most vulnerable among them and—hopefully—survive an increasingly murderous natural phenomenon.

As a metaphor for our times, a horde of formerly-benign creatures descending to commit widespread but random acts of violence without method or moral is not inapt. Violence has become so endemic that it seems all but natural. The ineffectual fumbling of government and military are on the nose, too: when faced with something we don’t understand, humans don’t usually do a great job of responding with logic or giving their attention to those in need.

This isn’t climate fiction or even particularly issue-focused fiction. The theses of the book are both intensely personal and deliberately social, insisting on the need for both personal bravery and collective action. In that dualism, Pokwatka is wildly successful. Mad’s journey to breaking down her own personal defenses is poignant, and the gradual coming together of the community is moving without being schmaltzy. It’s a fairly realistic look at people of all ages, genders, political beliefs, and values who have to work together in order to protect children and not get killed. Basic stuff; they still almost don’t manage it.

Part of Mad’s strategy for keeping calm is reading a book she enjoyed as a kid, one that helped her with her own trauma and that she hopes will encourage the kids she’s cooped up with (sorry about the pun). The Silent Queen is a book within a book about a young ruler whose subjects are preparing for an annual pilgrimage to a dreadful beast, which gives girls magic powers but at the cost of parts of themselves: limbs, senses, and sometimes their lives. Queen Alala also went on this journey when she was younger, and lost her ability to speak. When she is given an unexpected chance to change the status quo, Alala must decide whether she is willing to defy the beast and relinquish its benefits to her kingdom for the sake of the girls. It’s a great idea and it’s a great execution: I loved the Alala sections and waited impatiently for Mad to return to The Silent Queen when she was dealing with the owl crisis, or more often, with the personalities trapped in the library by the owl crisis.

I’m usually a big proponent of realistic elements grounding fiction, but there is such a thing as too much realism, and The Parliament gets tripped up by insisting on both a bit too much detail and a bit too much randomness. In terms of detail, while I agree that anyone—and especially teens—would certainly complain and freak out, I don’t particularly want to read every single exclamation, accusation, and snippy comment. And though I agree it takes time to work through grief, Mad tortures herself endlessly with guilt while withholding the true cause of that guilt from the audience, suspense that became a bit tedious as the cause became obvious.

There’s also too much realism at a meta level, since The Parliament also doesn’t drawn very many parallels between its own narrative and The Silent Queen. I’m not asking for twee convergences between Alala’s and Mad’s circumstances in every set of chapters, but some additional confluences would have been nice. The dual (duel) narratives don’t really complement each other as much as they should. Until the last 20% or so of the book, it felt like I was actually reading two books, both of which were enjoyable, but which had been written at different times by different people for different purposes entirely.

Part of that is the fact that Mad’s narrative is so odd. I love odd, but a swarm of killer owls kind of needs to be its own book. To try to explain or gloss it with additional fantasy elements—especially a whole secondary world with its own set of inexplicable rules and dangers—just confuses matters. Though good unto itself, Alala’s story didn’t feel necessary to Mad’s, except that Pokwatka kept telling us it was. And because she kept insisting on that, I kept trying to see parallels that actually weren’t there for the most part, distracting me from both individual stories.

That Pokwatka manages to twine these two stories at all is remarkable, a true testament to her writing abilities and command of narrative. I give her credit for that, but remain unconvinced by the format. Maybe this could have been better if the Mad narrative had only alluded to the Alala story, and then the Alala story had been released separately as a novella or something.

Overall I still think this book is worth picking up, especially for the two very satisfying endings it takes pains to truly earn. Pokwatka took an impressive risk with The Parliament, and though it’s uneven, I am excited to see where her creativity will lead us next.

The marketing does this book a serious injustice. It’s not a horror book but a book about grief with horror elements? If that makes sense. I didn’t hate this though and the fairy tale was equally as engaging as the main story. My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I couldn’t possibly resist a book with such a bright cover that happens to be about murder owls. While I expected horror I actually got a somewhat emotional story about a woman working though some childhood trauma with her hometown friends she’s been avoiding for years.
Madeleine (Mad) Purdy is a cosmetics chemist who, at the request of her childhood friend Farrah, has returned to her small hometown to teach some classes at the local library. While she’s filled with anxiety about teaching a bunch of thirteen year olds, a flock of tiny, murderous owls has descended around the library, trapping them inside. Of course, people must tempt fate and someone gets eaten down to the bones by the feathery flying piranhas. Those who stayed inside realize they’re now stuck and will probably have to save themselves because the town is incompetent. To keep the kids calm, Mad reads to them from her favorite book called The Silent Queen, which breaks up the present day chapters with a more traditional fantasy story.
The addition of The Silent Queen seemed like an odd one at first, but it does start to parallel and inspire events in the present day library. I actually would have loved this as a standalone novella because it was interesting! Towards the beginning, the library chapters weren’t really grabbing my attention all that well and I kept reading for The Silent Queen chapters. Fortunately, as the book progressed everything became more engaging and was absolutely gripping by the end.
The Parliament definitely sounds like an odd book, but I enjoyed it overall and if you think it sounds interesting, I’d encourage you to check it out. The owl situation is disturbing and on a few occasions legitimately pretty horrifying, but the real stuff is happening on an emotional level. Mad keeps reflecting back to the day her childhood best friend Hollis was killed in a school shooting and how the current situation is going to traumatize the children trapped in the library too. She’s also working out some things she’s been avoiding because she’s stuck in there with Hollis’s older brother Nash. The comparisons to The Birds and The Princess Bride are accurate, but this is really about childhood trauma and the effects it can have on someone for their entire life.