I could not put this down! In The Language of the Birds, seventeen-year-old Arizona finds herself faced with a daunting task - chasing a series of clues, seemingly left behind by her recently deceased father, in order to save her mother from shadowy kidnappers. With her loyal dog Mojo by her side, and some new friends she picks up along the way, Arizona sets out on a journey through the American West, U.S. history, time and space, and more, to crack codes, unpack riddles, and solve mysteries hidden in plain sight. Definite National Treasure and Dan Brown vibes. The ending of the novel was not what I expected but was satisfying.

The Language of Birds was an interesting conspiracy thriller featuring a neurodivergent teenager named Arizona, Unfortunately I couldn’t really get into the story. It starts off far fetched as Arizona argues with her mother about going for a walk while her mom does a tour and is apparently kidnapped by what appears to be someone dressed as a park ranger. The captors want Arizona to solve cryptic riddles to free her mother. Arizona is ill equipped for such tasks. The story continues to grow increasingly unrealistic as Arizona can apparently access her mother’s money to travel and to expertly drive while towing a camper. It just doesn’t feel plausible to me although the idea in and of itself was great. The execution of the skill sets and capabilities of Arizona are highly in question. She also really knows nothing about her father’s death and what happened so she is an unlikely target for this misadventure. I feel someone l might enjoy the book if they can look past the storyline flaws and want a dogged teenage protagonist this book will satisfy.

This was an interesting conspiracy thriller featuring a neurodivergent teen protagonist, but it didn’t really come through for me in the end. Arizona is still reeling from the death of her father just weeks before when her mother is kidnapped. Her captors want Arizona to solve cryptic riddles in order to free her mother, which Arizona is oddly equipped to do. And then things get more unrealistic. Somehow, 17 year old Arizona has access to all the money she needs for both supplies and large unexpected expenses and is able to expertly drive while towing a camper. The conclusion to this mystery wasn’t super satisfying for me, and really left things unresolved.

The Language of the Birds is an unusual mystery concerning a 17 year old who has to decipher a code to rescue her kidnapped mother.
I found it a little far fetched but I did like Arizona who is not the typical teen - she is very smart but has social issues. I thought it was unrealistic that she could cope so well on her own. The cipher puzzles went too long for me - every time Arizona solved one I thought it would be done but it wasn’t. Still a fun enjoyable mystery.

This was a very creative and enjoyable book. It is really heavy on the puzzles and that’s more work than I wanted to do as a reader, but I just skim those sections and didn’t try to figure anything out on my own. I do highly recommend it. It’s a great story..

#TheLanguageoftheBirds #NetGalley

I did like the characters in this book; but I found it a little slow and the story and puzzles never quite came together the way I wanted them to. I had a hard time getting excited about the central mystery/secret to be revealed.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy

I received an e-arc of this book through Netgalley. In this copy, it was hard to read the puzzle pieces so I just skipped over those and let Arizona solve the puzzle without me trying to at the same time. She shares her process so I don't think I lost any of the story by doing so. The story has a bit of "National Treasure" historical mystery to it as Arizona's mom has been kidnapped and she has to solve the puzzle to save her. Arizona is a likeable, 17-year-old on the autism spectrum who has a lot of resources at her fingertips to race around with her sidekick Mojo. An enjoyable read.

This is a mind-boggling adventure, full of ciphers, puzzles, riddles and clues waiting to be decrypted. Arizona is on a road trip with her Mom to spread the ashes of her father, when her Mother is kidnapped. Force to decipher ciphers for the kidnapper, she uses her brilliant, logical mind to solve these puzzles and get her Mom back. Along the way, she meets people who help her see there is more to life, than hiding from the outside world.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read although at times, I had to re-read passages to understand how a cipher worked or the prose of a poem to understand it. It was fascinating how the author tied facts about President Herbert Hoover along with some fiction to create the underlying premise. The author did a wonderful job of creating a young character with depth, brilliance and yet still be vulnerable. This book will have you going down rabbit holes, wondering about conspiracy theories, and contemplating more than you ever thought. Don’t miss this engrossing read.

I seem to be on a run in which the books I thought I'd most connect with turn out to be the ones I have the most issues with - and this is a prime example. I was very intrigued by the concept, cover, and title. I liked the way things kicked off, and thought I'd really enjoy the puzzle-based quest. Unfortunately, I quickly started to find the explanations of what the various codes, ciphers, and puzzles entailed - as well as the actually problems themselves - to be distractions that kept pulling me out of the drama of the story. I was getting lost in the descriptions, and finding it difficult to keep my attention on the main narrative of the secrets here father left behind... The writing was fine, but the back-and-forth felt disjointed and distracting and it caused me to lose interest. This one wasn't a good fit for me.

The Language of the Birds by K.A. Merson Is one of those stories that keeps you engaged with the story thanks to the many puzzles that are throughout the story to help find the main character's mother. I enjoyed the way the characters were written and was really surprised by the ending.

It is not clear whether this book is a treatise on code breaking or the story of a young woman somehow involved in rescuing her mother from kidnappers who want to have codes broken. In any event I found myself skipping the decoding explanations until I realized there were just too many. I did not finish and certainly could not give a favorable review.

"The Language of the Birds" stands out as a unique mystery at the intersection of science, mathematics, literature, alchemy, and history. The story centers around a young girl named Arizona, who is possibly on the autism spectrum and undeniably intelligent. The plot unfolds with the death of her father, the abduction of her mother, and evolves into a quest for the alchemical secret of life extension. Arizona must decipher numerous clues to reach the ultimate solution and secure her mother's release. However, true to form, the real mystery only unveils itself in the final pages, providing a satisfying conclusion to an engaging tale. "The Language of Birds" is a compelling read—highly recommended.

The Language of the Birds by K.A. Merson is an engaging read from start to finish with a well developed plot and characters. A recommended read!

Thank you to Random House - Ballantine Books for the e-ARC of The Language of Birds by K.A. Merson. The opinions stated are solely my own.

Genre: General Fiction/Mystery/Thriller
Length: 368 pages
Pub Date: May 13, 2025
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis:
Arizona is a 17 year-old neuro-divergent teen who finds herself wrapped up in a historical mystery when her father suddenly dies in a motorcycle accident. Her father left a string of puzzles and ciphers behind for her that a mysterious organization is also yearning to solve, possibly unlocking a life-altering item.

Extremely intelligent, but awkward, Arizona and her faithful pup, Mojo, embark on a journey that has a deadline, as the mysterious organization has kidnapped her mother to speed up her pace. Can she unlock the puzzles and ciphers in time to save her mother and discover just what her father's job truly was? Also, can Arizona learn to trust the right people to help her?

Opinion:
This book definitely gave vibes of the National Treasure or DaVinci Code with its historical connections that are based on real mysteries and famous people. I loved how Arizona was able to work through each puzzle and how they led to different important locations and objects along the way. I also love a great dog sidekick and side characters who turn out to be instrumental in Arizona's journey and life lessons. Great book and I definitely recommend reading the Author's Note about which parts of the book were actually real!

An enthralling read that surpassed my expectations. The story was everything I've sought in this type of book. Highly recommend.

Arizona is a brilliant 17 year old girl who is driving with her mother to scatter her father's ashes in their special place when her Mother goes missing. She has a very close bond with her parents, and especially with her father. They shared a passion for puzzles and ciphers. It was really interesting and fun learning about cryptography.
Apparently her Dad had some deep secrets regarding his cipher solving and Arizona treks across multiple states to get to the bottom of these codes and help her mother.
I really enjoyed this storyline. So unique!!
Thank you Net Galley for the ARC!.

Merson has a really great premise here, reminiscent of puzzlers like "National Treasure." The protagonist is really engaging as a savant, with the corresponding strengths and quirks, which add greatly to the story. The plot has the appropriate twists and turns. There is much to enjoy here. However, for my taste, the book spends too much time in arcana that the reader has no hope of disentangling and became tedious for me.

Arizona is an intelligent, determined character. She is adept and solving clues throughout this book. It gave me DaVinci Code vibes. Very interesting read.

Seventeen year old Arizona on a trip with her Mother after her Dad died to scatter his ashes. Her Mom was kidnapped and she found a note telling her to solve a problem to save Mom. Since Arizona is a Mensa student starts solving the message. While solving the clues for the kidnappers she meets Lilly and now has someone helping her. Lots of figures and number charts involved but become so intrigued had to keep reading about this seventeen year old Arizona who could figure out all the clues. Continued exciting up to the surprise ending!