Arizona is an expert and solving puzzles and codes as a teenager. Her mother is kidnapped & held for ransom. Can she solve this puzzled in time to save her Mom?

The Language of the Birds by KA Merson is a young adult mystery filled with puzzles: ciphers, codes and riddles.

Arizona is a 17-year-old neurodivergent homeschooled girl who is traveling with her mom & dog in their airstream through the western states to spread her recently deceased father’s ashes. Unfortunately, her mother is kidnapped and now she must solve a bunch of puzzles so that her mom will be released… and perhaps she’ll learn more about her father’s death… was he truly just a cartographer for the USGS or were there secrets he hid?!

Honestly, this book was really heavy with the puzzles and there wasn’t a lot of character development & the plot was lacking.. with that being said I did appreciate what the author was doing here and I think a mathematically brained person would be the target audience solving these puzzles one after another. I had a hard time enjoying this one, but I still stick with a 3 star rating because it’s not a bad book and I think there are folks who will enjoy this more than I did.

Thanks to NetGalley & Ballantine Books for sending me an email pre-approving me for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. I probably never would have chosen this book without the recommendation & I’m glad I got the chance to check it out.

Thank you Netgalley for the early copy of The Language of the Birds. The story begins with a mother and daughter camping in the Desert mountains a few weeks after the passing of husband and father. While on the trip the mother goes missing and her daughter, Arizona who is a brilliant and different minded 17 year old must solve ciphers and riddles to find out who has taken her mom and why. The premise of the story intrigued me. I’m not a brilliant 17 year old, so the cipher and riddles I pretty much skipped over. Some of my favorite parts were from the perspective of the mom trying to escape. I wanted more of that. Overall, the book was fine. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to Net Galley and Ballantine Books for the ARC. This book was not for me. While I enjoy solving puzzles, I found it boring to read about puzzles. Also, I did not enjoy the use of present tense.

Arizona is a smart, resourceful, and self-reliant seventeen-year-old trying to solve the kidnapping of her mother. The abductors give Arizona a series of puzzles, first to test her abilities and then to exploit her advanced skills to figure out puzzles that are beyond them, but that are somehow related to work by Arizona’s late father. The clues take Arizona and her faithful dog, Mojo, all around the area in either her motorcycle or her family’s trailer, so that the puzzle-solving involves a good mix of thinking and suspenseful, danger-filled action. It’s well-paced fun, if not terribly realistic.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for a digital advance review copy.

I really enjoyed this book! I loved how the puzzles were actually included within the book. I loved Arizona's character. She had such strength and determination. I thought the plot moved quickly and kept me entertained. I was constantly guessing who could and couldn't be trusted.

This book as an interesting twist on a kidnapping. Arizona's mom is kidnapped, her dad dies mysteriously, and she has to solve a number of puzzling clues to have her mom released. Arizona loves puzzles, codes, and books but doesn't interact well with people.

This journey offers puzzle solving and meeting and trusting new people in her life to save her mom.

I'm not a riddle lover so I skimmed the clues, however I was interested in finding her mom and solving the clues. A mix of National Treasure for young adults.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

This was a great book to read over my holiday vacation! The writing and the story were immersive, and I found myself so lost in Arizona's quest to find her mother. I like how this story felt quite off the beaten path of missing women stories, I felt like I was reading something entirely new while having read many books with similar high level plots in the past. I think anyone would enjoy this book, honestly!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
As I read this book, all I kept thinking was, this is a teen version of National Treasures. I enjoyed this book. I'm not really Yeh target audience. I did think that if my daughter was a reader, she'd probably gobble this book up. Thank you to the Publisher, Netgalley and the author for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

If you like history and puzzles, AND you like YA, you should give this book a chance. If YA isn’t your genre, you still might want to give this book a chance. But, if you don’t like YA, give this one a pass. It’s definitely geared towards YA as the protagonist is seventeen years old.

With that all being said, I think this was closest in vain to The Da Vinci Code but for teens and a great option for teen readers who are looking for a good mystery with some challenging puzzles. There’s a LOT of information and for struggling teen readers, I might suggest passing on this book. But, if you know a teen who loves history and loves puzzles, this will be a perfect option for them!

I do think the author does a good job of explaining things without dragging things out or creating info dumps which is an impressive task with all the information given to the reader.

The main reason it got a hit on stars for me was the ending. I feel like the ending didn’t live up to the rest of the book which was kind of frustrating. I also struggled to get invested into the story, but once in the story, I was good to go. But, I give it a solid 3.75 rounded up to 4 stars.

This was a great scavenger hunt but for a very, very important task, to save Arizona's mother. I know that this is a fiction but I was impress on how brilliant the main character Arizona was and how she overcomes her fear in order to figure out the next clue, and I liked how far she went to get the next clue. I know there are people like Arizona that can solve puzzles like her and it amazes me how they do it. I also like that some of the story is based on real facts, pretty cool stuff. While I read this story, I kept thinking of the Amazing Race series. and how exciting it looked while contestants would try to figure out where the next clue was and what it meant. I love the ending of the story, especially with what Arizona had to go through to save her mother., pretty sneaky.
Finally, I love how Arizona take cares of her dog, Mojo and that Lily and Arizona become friends.

I want to thank Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books and NetGalley for an advance copy of this exciting story.

The Language of Birds by K.A. Merson tells the story of Arizona, a seventeen year old who just lost her dad to a terrible accident. Her mother gets kidnapped and she has to solve puzzles and ciphers to get her back. Arizona is an eccentric teen who displays an affinity for solving puzzles and classic literature. Her best dog friend, Mojo, rides alongside her in a motorcycle sidecar.

I recommend this book for mystery readers who appreciate codes and puzzles. It’s a teen version of National Treasure that has a fast paced plot and many snippets of American history. The cipher deciphering parts were extensive to me, I appreciate the answer more than the process. Arizona, who is highly intelligent and mature for her age, seems not to struggle with her mother being held hostage while she focuses on solving puzzles for her mother’s captor. I had a lot of questions about how Arizona handled the situation.

Thank you Random House Publishing Ballantine and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

This book will be released May 13, 2025.

This was an interesting book that reminded me a bit of National Treasure, but with a West Coast desert vibe. I learned a lot about ciphers, history, and geology. The story was an engaging premise with quirky characters. Arizona is quite the traveler for being 17 and I kind of envy her.

Let me start by saying I am not the target audience for this novel. It’s listed as young adult and I am in my late 20s. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy young adult books from time to time. This one in particular was a little young for me. The puzzles the main character faced seemed too simple for my mind, but for a young reader this book would be great!

The Language of the Birds by K.A. Merson is interesting. It is not my usual type of book, but I enjoy it when young adults are solving a mystery, so I tried it.

Arizona is out one and come home to her airstream which has been ransacked and her mother missing. She finds a note. Her father took a secret with him and Now Arizona needs to solve it.
I liked the writing -- The story was interesting with all the coding and chasing to find the lost secret.

Thank you NetGallery for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book is very different than anything I have ever read before. You definitely need a lot of brain power to understand this book, and it is not a book to pickup if you are in the mood for a light read. That being said, K.A. Merson is a genius. I have no idea how he was able to write all of those poems and ciphers, and connect all of these clues to create the treasure hunt that ensued. The beginning of the book was hard for me to get into, but I got hooked at the end and couldn’t put it down. I did end up skimming over some of the parts explaining how Arizona decrypted the messages, but besides that I enjoyed this book a lot. I also learned a lot of U.S. history in this book, which is always a plus for me.

I’d definitely be interested in a sequel to this book!

The Language of the Birds is a fun mystery book for young adults. The main character, Arizona, is a smart teen who loves puzzles and codes. When her mom gets kidnapped, Arizona goes on a thrilling adventure to save her. She travels across the U.S., solving clues and uncovering secrets.

The book is a great blend of history and adventure. While some parts might be a bit much to believe, it's still a fun and exciting read.

I thought the author did a great job crafting a really intriguing storyline that gave me a bit of a YA National Treasure vibe.
I think that the inclusion of the puzzles really made the Mystery fun and the overall storyline standout to me. The plot has a great flow to it and I was invested in trying to solve the Mystery right alongside Arizona.
I'm looking forward to picking up a copy for my teens when this book is released and look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Thank you K.A. Merson, Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for providing me with an ARC of this book.

I really enjoyed it. Sort of The Hunger Games meets The Lost Symbol. The young girl is very resourceful in solving the many puzzles and riddles with which she is presented. Enjoyable, worthwhile and recommended.

This book grabs you from the very first page, and keeps you moving through the story at a very intriguing pace. Everyone sees something of themselves and their own insecurities in Arizona and celebrate with her when she finds her strength and confidence. The puzzles and riddles are sometimes a little overwhelming, but they are also well defined and explained and carry us to the conclusion with a great deal of skill. The overall themes of confidence, intelligence, trust and family are relatable and heartwarming. This story holds intrigue, mystery, conspiracy and all that makes us good humans.