Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Parliament.

I wanted to read The Parliament the moment I read the premise.

I really liked Hitchcock's The Birds when I first saw it at an age I shouldn't have been watching it and the premise of The Parliament was right up my alley.

I didn't know a group of owls is called a parliament, though a group of crows has the best name.

There are scenes of terror and blood so readers with sensitive stomachs should be aware.

First, I wasn't a fan of Mad; I understand she's been traumatized as a child after surviving a horrific school tragedy, and has never been the same since.

But, I didn't connect with Mad, nor really care about her.

Second, in the beginning I enjoyed the excerpts from The Silent Queen, but then found it distracting from what was happening in the present.

Third, there's a romance-y angle when Mad's crush and eldest brother of the school shooting victim from the past is also trapped in the library with her.

A romance or even a hint of a romance isn't required in every book, nor did I believe it moved the narrative forward.

The writing was good, but the characters were unmemorable (I forgot who was who), the pacing dragged at times, sounded repetitive, especially when we're in Mad's head.

I did like how the author gives the readers a look at the survivors of the parliament attack in the future.

The Parliament wasn't scary (not to me but it takes a lot to spook me) and is really a story about survival, resilience, and teamwork.

This is a fascinating, deeply imaginative blend of genres and ideas. The character building was deep and immediate, and the world was so strange and disturbing from the beginning. (The murder owls really come into their own within the first couple of chapters, so beware if you have issues with gore.) The interspersing of the protagonist's favorite YA/children's fantasy book was such a cool idea as well, and the way everything thematically threaded together was stunning. I didn't love everything about it, but I'm so glad to see weird things like this coming out and getting hype.

Oh my gosh, I loved this book so much. The Parliament has it all – some fantasy, a little bit of horror, lots of fantastic characters, an original plot … and murder owls. So many murder owls.

The Goodreads blurb describes this book as “The Birds meets The Princess Bride,” which is really an odd combo and left me kind of baffled as to what to expect. I mean, I might've imagined a owl hooting out “Never go in against a bird of prey when death is on the line!” as he pecked out someone's eyes, but that's about it. (Turns out I was way off base with that one.) What I definitely wasn't expecting, however, was for it to be such a heart-warming tale of friendship and love and bravery. There are definitely some horror-y parts – murder owls are not to trifled with – but it's also so much more than that.

There are really two stories at play in this book – Mad's fight against the owls at the library is interspersed with chapters from her favorite childhood book, The Silent Queen. At first I was slightly irritated that Queen Alala's adventures were getting in the way of me reading the “real” story, but over time this second storyline really grew on me. I loved the characters and their determination to improve the situation in their kingdoms no matter the personal costs.

Mad's storyline was also tremendously enjoyable in a “filled with murder owls” sort of way. The main characters were sympathetic and likable, and I really loved the way that Mad came into her own as far as taking responsibility for the children was concerned. I also thought that her relationship with Nash was so sweet and realistic, and I'm normally someone who hates romance in novels. I'll never admit to it in real life, but I might've even gotten a little teary-eyed at the end.

Really, this was just a well-written and original book and I can't think of a single bad thing to say about it. After all, “[Owls] cannot stop true love. All [they] can do is delay it for a while.”*

Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review.

*Yeah, yeah, I know it's a bit of a stretch, but I was a few keystrokes away from typing out “Hello. My name is Owlo Hootoya ...” so consider it the lesser of two quote-mangling evils.

The writing was extremely exposition heavy and didn't grip me. I stopped at the end of chapter 1 (5%). I don't think this has mass appeal, but I hope it surprises me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the ARC.