This was one of those books that never quite delivered on its potential. From the book's description, I was anticipating something like a The da Vinci Code meets the The Inheritance Games, but that's not really what we got. There are a lot of puzzles, which I appreciated, but there was minimal plot in between. We never get to know much about Arizona, her mother, or the side characters. We barely get to understand why the villain is the villain. And the conclusion felt rushed and more tell than show. The themes run very YA, which is completely fine, but paired with this lack of character development, it just felt very juvenile and incomplete. On the whole, this had a lot of potential but it felt rushed and incomplete like the author was so excited about the puzzles that they couldn't wait to publish. A very quick read, but I think I could have enjoyed this more than I did in the end.

A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

This book completely caught me off guard—in the best way possible. I didn’t expect to get so hooked, but Arizona’s story grabbed me and didn’t let go. She’s a brilliant, neurodivergent 17-year-old traveling with her mom to scatter her dad’s ashes after he passed away. But then her mom is kidnapped, and everything changes. Suddenly, Arizona is thrown into this wild, high-stakes journey, solving puzzles and ciphers tied to her dad’s mysterious past to save her mom.

The character, Arizona is incredible. She’s so smart and determined & being able to watch her work through these insanely clever puzzles was 🤯🤯🤯. There’s stuff about ciphers, alchemy, geometry, and even Lewis Carroll poems. Sure, some of the technical details (like fractals or monoalphabetic substitution ciphers) flew right over my head, but it didn’t matter because the thrill of the hunt kept me glued to the page. And thanks to the author for includes diagrams and maps? It helps to feel included in solving the puzzles.

But what really I really loved was Arizona herself!!!
She’s introverted, logical, and used to doing everything on her own, so seeing her slowly open up and trust other people was such a satisfying arc. And her dog, Mojo? Absolute MVP. He’s loyal, funny, and the kind of companion everyone wishes they had on an adventure like this.

The story gave me National Treasure and The Da Vinci Code vibes, but it also had so much heart. It’s not just about the puzzles; it’s about Arizona learning to step outside her comfort zone, process her grief, and let people in. The blend of history, mystery, and personal growth was just perfect.

By the end, I didn’t want the story to be over. It’s smart, thrilling, and surprisingly emotional—a total page-turner. If you love puzzles, cryptic messages, or historical mysteries, you need this book in your life. Big thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine Books for the ARC. This was such a fun, rewarding read, and I already want to go back and reread it to catch all the little details I missed!

I was genuinely impressed by "The Language of Birds," a remarkable debut novel by K. A. Emerson. The protagonist, Arizona, is an exceptionally intelligent teenager with a unique perspective. When her mother mysteriously disappears, Arizona is compelled to unravel intricate puzzles to locate her. The narrative is reminiscent of "The Da Vinci Code," featuring ciphers and conspiracies that kept me thoroughly engaged. Throughout my reading experience, I found myself rooting for Arizona in her quest to reunite with her mother. This is truly a fantastic book!

It's hard to believe that The Language of the Birds is a debut novel. It's so well written! An engaging heroine, interesting supporting characters and locations. The heroine is neurodivergent and a genius. She struggles with "normal" interpersonal interactions, and it sounds as though her parents have been over-protecting her recently. When Arizona's father dies suddenly and then her mother is kidnapped, the kidnappers believe Arizona can solve a series of puzzles, leading to an amazing secret. She rises to the challenge, making friends along the way. My quibbles are that I don't think we were ever told HOW the kidnappers knew Arizona has code breaking skills, and how (as a teenager) she has access to funds, as she moves an RV from one place to another (site fees, fuel, and of course food for herself and her dog). The "bad guys" don't come off as terribly realistic, either, but overall it's an intriguing read, and a great deal of fun. Many thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books. I'm always excited to find a new author, and highly recommend The Language of Birds.

I really wanted to love this book as I was intrigued by the premise. Unfortunately, I had to DNF it at 36%. I thought I was near the end and was so surprised to find I had only read a third of the book. It was too much detail for me about the puzzles. My brain doesn't work like this so I found myself skipping much of the information about the puzzles and how Arizona was solving them. As a middle school ELA teacher, I will, however, recommend this book to my students who love math and solving puzzles and riddles. I think they will really enjoy it.

I just finished a NetGalley copy of this story and overall I liked it. It was a good story and full of adventure. The descriptions of the puzzles and the solving of them did go on a little too long for me. I lost I treat in the long explanations of what went into the solving them. It’s not that it was bad it just took me out of the story personally. Overall good story.

We stan a neurodivergent repped queen. It's so often not done in a way that's realistic or accurate, but I feel the author does it very well. I did feel like there were several lulls/dry parts. But I'd definitely read another book from the author. Excellent debut.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and K.A. Merson for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for The Language of the Birds coming out May 13, 2025. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I believe this is a debut author. I received the book directly from NetGalley. I think the beginning was really good. I occasionally enjoy books about puzzles if it’s more of a murder mystery whodunit sort of thing. I think parts of this book went over my head. I would say it’s a smart book and Arizona was an intelligent teen. It was just a bit dry for me. I would check out other books by this author.

K.A. Merson delivers a sharp and clever “DaVinci Code” for young adults, but instead of the brilliant professor, our heroine is a neurodivergent seventeen year old.

Arizona, whose father recently died, has been traveling in an Airstream trailer in the Southwest with her Mom and dog, Mojo, spreading Dad’s ashes at his favorite places. They reach a ghost town in Bodie State Park near the CA/NV border and suddenly Mom has suddenly become a ghost, too. Arizona is a different teenager, her brain is filled with mathematical equations, pattern recognition, misophonia, and poetry (much like her late Dad) and she is different enough to have been bullied at school. She’s been homeschooled for the past 3 years. Alone (no close relatives) except for Mojo’s unconditional love, she goes to the park rangers and realizes the ranger she spoke to earlier was an imposter. And when she returns to Airstream, it’s been ransacked and there’s a ransom demand for her mother with an attached cryptogram — the kidnappers want information her father supposedly had. This also creates the assumption that her dad’s accidental motorcycle death might have been murder. Wanting to avoid foster care and an animal shelter for Mojo, Arizona decides to save her mom without official help.

This, of course, seems upside down — why abduct the parent instead of the child? But Arizona understands — she really has her father’s keen mind.

Author Kerson takes the reader around the West and integrates history, horticulture, ornithology, geography, geology, alchemy, and cryptography into an exciting adventure. This is one of those books that invites you to Google along with it.

This might be written for young adults, but it definitely can be enjoyed by all ages (even with the cartoony villains). 5 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Arizona, the main protagonist, has green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO The author knows the Western landscape extremely well. The Flower of Life plays a part in the ultimate puzzle.

Thank you to Random House/Ballantine and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

This is a difficult book to rate and review. I found it dry and lacking depth, I could not associate with the characters. The puzzles are interesting but by the end I found my interest lagging. I am sure some readers will enjoy this story, just not for me.

The Language of the Birds by K.A. Merson is a National Treasure mixed with The 39 Clues and Nancy Drew. Arizona a brilliant, yet neurodivergent teenager, finds herself in the center of a mystery when her mother is kidnapped. A rogue cult, who is looking for a treasure, thinks that Arizona is the only one who can solve the puzzle that will lead them to eternal life. Arizona has to put her code breaking skills to the test to help save her mother.
I loved this book. Arizona is an unique clever girl with a heart of gold. You just fall in love with her character. This story has intrigue and adventure, with a little romance on the side. It appeals to all of us who like to solve puzzles and who like adventure stories. I'd love to read more Arizona adventures.
Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, and Ballantine books for the advanced copy. The opinions are my own.

First and foremost, thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Ballantine for providing me with an eARC for an honest review.

The Language of the Birds is a fun ride through and through! I genuinely enjoyed my time with it, and though I wasn't expecting it to be a YA novel when I requested it, but I think that distinction is often arbitrary, as this is an enjoyable story for adults and teens. I think that Arizona is a fun protagonist, and seeing the world through her eyes provided a very unique person. She is clearly coded as neurodivergent, which is not something we see often in a protagonist, and seeing her be able to solve her problems using those traits was a beautiful thing.

However, I think that the story often gets bogged down by the complexity of the puzzles and the level of documentation that the author used. This is also a positive, however, as it firmly roots this book in reality and history, and provides a level of depth that you would not find elsewhere. All in all, this was absolutely worth the read and I have already recommended it to a few people!

Thank you always, @netgalley, for an ARC of this book!

I love a good mystery, especially involving puzzles and cyphers, unfortunately this one fell a little flat for me and I was so excited to read it! The story is about Arizona, a teenager who is brilliant with puzzles but is grieving the recent loss of her dad to a tragic accident. When her mom goes missing, she realizes she is going to have to solve a mystery for a shadowy figure in order to get her mom back.

On the blurb it says this book has Blake Crouch and Andy Weir vibes - which is does but the thing about both those authors is their writing style is much more engaging. Reading through an Andy Weir book with his massive amounts of science included, is pretty much only bearable because his characters are very funny. Blake Crouch has very involved science fiction stories with strong character development. I really was rooting for Arizona but felt the dialog and character development to fall a little flat for me, possibly because this is a YA book and the main character is neurodivergent. Great to include this type of character (!) but her social awkwardness really leapt out on the page and I unfortunately didn't engage with her as much as I wanted to. I do think if you are a YA fan and like mysteries/puzzles this would be right up your alley, but I was a little disappointed.

This book was a quick read and enjoyable. I loved the story line. I think the author handled grief well. The mother/daughter relationship was lovely. Thank you for allowing me to read this book.

First off let me say this book is really creative and super intelligent. In some ways, I felt kind of stupid as I was reading it because there were a lot of words in there I had to look up. I love puzzles, but this was way too far over my head. I find it wild that a 17 year old would be able to best a bunch of adults. Although, I do think we adults overthink things that kids don’t. But in this case, Arizona is just way more intelligent than the average adult, let alone average 17 year old. And while I struggle to get behind that, I do think author did a good job setting that up with Arizona’s background. I live in the Gold Country of CA, where some of this book takes place and it was fun to trip around with Arizona through areas I know or have visited. I do think the geography details were a little extensive, in terms of details while she was driving and whatnot, but also I think the intention was to take on a huge trip through CA, so I also understand. I think it takes a super creative and intellectual mind to put together a book like this and while interesting, it was just a little too “over my head” for me. I like to be able to try and solve the riddles along with the characters and I could not even attempt that with this book.

The Language of Birds is reminiscent of The DaVinci Code - there are puzzles to be solved and an element of danger.

Arizona, a neurodivergent teen, must save her kidnapped mother by solving a variety of puzzles. There's a great deal of information about how she approaches solving them. Along the way, she also learns that she can trust and get help from other people.

I have been provided with a review copy of The Language of the Birds from NetGalley for an impartial review. I was just drawn into this wonderful story and I just couldn’t get enough of it. It was just so easy to get lost in this great story. I just didn’t want it to end. I just lost myself in and I just couldn’t get enough of these interesting characters. I can’t wait to see what’s next from this author.

If you love puzzles and mysteries you’ll like this one, solving riddles and some history at the same time. Interesting plot, kept me engaged. Not something I would normally read.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Arizona is going through a difficult loss when her mom goes missing, it is up to her to solve a puzzle. She enjoys puzzles. This book kept me on edge from the start.

When Arizona and her mom visit a ghost town, Arizona’s mom disappears while on a tour. Arizona receives a call telling her she needs to solve some clues to rescue her kidnapped mother. Now, Arizona is extremely bright and she has been solving ciphers since she was a little girl. This adventurous tale has you guessing and cheering for Arizona as she solves a mysterious treasure hunt that may have sourced back to the 1930s.