Wow! This was a really unique story with crazy great characters. Filled with puzzles, treasure hunts and lots of emotion. An intense read.
Thank you NetGalley, KA Merson and Ballantine Books for the opportunity to read and review this book

If you enjoy solving puzzles alongside helping to solve the mystery- this is a great book for you! I am not much of a puzzle person so I found myself skipping through a lot of that portion. However, the underlying story was still very entertaining and easy to follow even while not trying to solve the puzzles. The Language of Birds takes you on a journey through the Southwest US which I really enjoyed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I honestly had no expectations for this book. It is a little outside my normal reading area, and was by a newer author. It took a little while for me to get into it, but it starts off the mystery right away with a bang. If I had to describe it simply, I would say it is a young adult version of a Dan Brown novel. Lots of hidden messages and cyphers leading to the solution of a mystery and a race against a mysterious cabal to save a loved one.
Overall, I enjoyed it. It was a relatively quick read and the mysteries were interesting. Some of the actions and abilities of the protagonist stretched the imagination a little, but not terribly so as long as you forget that her main income parent was a government employee working in a lower level position.

Merson has a poetic touch, and there were definitely lines that felt beautiful or thoughtful. The whole theme of communication, silence, and what’s left unsaid had potential, and I appreciated what the book was trying to explore. But somewhere along the way, it just didn’t fully click.

The plot moved kind of slowly, and not in that dreamy, atmospheric way where you don’t mind lingering—in this case, it just felt like not much was happening. I kept waiting for something to really hit, but it never quite got there. Emotionally, it hovered at the surface more than it dove deep, at least for me.

I enjoyed this book enough to finish it within 4 hours despite not being able to continuously read it due to life. At first, I didn't think I'd be able to get through the book at all because of all the different codes and things the author included in the pages, but I ended up skimming over those once I realized looking at all of them wasn't really essential to the story. It had a good air of mystery about it throughout the whole book despite all the codes and sequences. Most definitely, if you like puzzles, this book is for you! I wouldn't NOT recommend it, but I'd definitely make sure it was recommended to the right audience.

A mystery filled with ciphers, secret codes and a treasure hunt. Fans of National Treasure and The da Vinci Code will feel at home in The Language of Birds.

Our protagonist, Arizona, is a neurodivergent teen whose mom is taken from a national park. In order to free her from the bad guys, Arizona must find a treasure as ransom.

My favorite parts of the story were the character growth of Arizona and of course her beloved Boxer Mojo.

The ciphering was very interesting but got a bit too much. While I enjoyed being shown the process of solving the puzzles it went on too long.

All in all a fun and out of the box read.

Title: The Language of the Birds  
Author: K.A. Merson         
Genre: Mystery/thriller  
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Seventeen-year-old Arizona’s favorite things include cryptography, geocaching, the writings of Jules Verne—and exploring the Sierra Nevadas on her Russian Ural motorcycle, with her dog Mojo riding shotgun in his sidecar.

She’s not, in other words, your average teenager.

So when she learns her mother’s been kidnapped and finds a cryptic test accompanying the ransom note, she’s not just horrified—but electrified. Solving puzzles and cracking codes are what she does best, and she knows exactly how to tackle the challenge the kidnappers are dangling in front of her.

What she doesn’t yet realize is that she’s been enlisted in a treasure hunt, on the trail of an occult, centuries-old secret her father supposedly took to his grave. And if the prize at the end is real, it could shake the world.

As Arizona chases the truth through fiendish puzzles and ancient texts, unearthing clues both buried underground and hiding in plain sight in the Western landscape, she’s forced to navigate the outside world in ways she never has before―and begins to forge connections she never dreamed she could.

 The vast majority of the puzzles and ciphers in this novel were way over my head—and probably over most other readers’ heads, too. Getting bogged down in the details of those puzzles really detracted from my enjoyment of this read. I liked Arizona and it was good to see her actually growing and learning from her experiences, but her insistence that the world change for her without her putting out any effort to adapt at first irritated me. This was a decent read, but the minutiae of the puzzles made it difficult to truly enjoy.

K.A. Merson lives in the Sierra Nevadas. The Language of Birds is his new novel.

(Galley courtesy of Random House/Ballantine in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 5/14).

Book: The Language of Birds
Author: K.A Merson
Rating: 3 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Ballantine Books, for sending me an ARC. This was a very difficult book to rate. On the one hand, I enjoyed it. On the other, I found it exhausting. I don’t know why. This is not a bad book. It is full of puzzles and mystery. If you are a fan of National Treasure, I think you would enjoy this one.

Seventeen-year-old Arizona has always preferred puzzles to people, and books to conversation. So when her mother vanishes during a family trip, she tries not to panic. But the family’s Airstream is in shambles, and an ominous note makes one thing clear: her mother’s been taken—and the kidnappers believe Arizona’s father, who died years ago, held the key to a powerful secret. Arizona must unlock the truth her father left behind to get her mother back. Arizona sets off across the American West with her loyal dog Mojo at her side, chasing clues hidden in ancient texts, forgotten history, and the vast Sierra Nevada wilderness. As she deciphers codes and unearths buried truths, Arizona finds herself on a quest more epic and strange than she ever imagined—one that could change everything she thought she knew about her father, herself, and the world.

Arizona is neurodivergent. I don’t know about you, but I have not read a lot of books told from the point of view of a neurodivergent character. I enjoyed getting the story from her point of view. She is smart and awkward. She is good at puzzles and wants to find her family. She is the most interesting character I have read in a long time. I love her focus and dedication to finding her parent. I love how the author blends her way of thinking and seeing the world in a way that feels right. This is one of those books where differences are not just there for the sake of having that representation but are there because that is who the character is.

The writing was pretty solid too. This is one of those books that pulled me in right away. The author has this way with words and a way of weaving them so you are in the world. You get to get into Arizona’s mind. You get to see everything. After a while, though, I did find myself losing interest in the story. Again, this does not mean that this is a bad book; I think I am not the intended audience for it.

I did enjoy the puzzles at first, but as time went on, I did find them to get rather old. Don’t get me wrong, they did add a lot to the story and I don’t think the story would have worked without them. After a while, though, I just got tired of them. I can see though way so many people have enjoyed this aspect of the book. It just wasn’t for me.

Overall, I think I mainly liked this one. There was just something missing from it for me to give it a four-star rating.

This book comes out on May 13, 2025.

This was a very interesting tale of grief, suspense, friendship, and puzzle solving. Our 17 year old protagonist, Arizona, recently lost her father while her family and dog (a superstar of the story-Mojo) travel the country. Very early in the story, she discovers her mom is missing, and when she goes to report it, confusion spurs. She is left the very cryptic clues to a mystery that her father was close to solving and forced to unravel the pieces to save her life and rescue her-- something she has seemingly been training her whole life to do.

As a character, Arizona is very intriguing as she has been used to being alone without siblings or peers. One of the heartwarming parts of this story is watching Arizona embrace friendships. As a whole, the characters were likable in this story. Mojo, the dog, is naturally the MVP! Arizona is both smart and fearless, as we see her adventure to many places in hopes of solving the puzzle.

At times in the story, the pacing seemed to be a little slow, however, I attribute this to the times that Arizona is solving the puzzle. There is a lot of text for her to decipher, so a lot of text for a reader to take in. However, I think other readers more versed in the cryptology arts would enjoy this more than I did! I will say, it was very cool. I do think occasionally Arizona's extreme grief was glossed over, however, this also is not unrealistic to the world of grief and seems like how a 17 year old like Arizona may handle such a loss.

Plot and premise wise, this was so intriguing and definitely a page turner as the reader becomes more invested in who took Arizona's mom, why, and will the puzzle be solved? I must say this was a very unique book.

If you are looking for a suspenseful and emotional story of a nomadic, puzzle solving teen-look no further! Thank you to K.A. Merson, Netgalley, and the publisher for the ARC.

The Language of the Birds is the female-based Davinci Code/National Treasure I've been waiting for since I've first read those books! Arizona is a 17yo, neurodiverse, homeschooled teen whose dad has recently died in mysterious circumstances - and then! her mom gets kidnapped. The kidnappers force Arizona to use her skill with cryptography and her extensive knowledge to decipher clues about mysteries held within a government issued pamphlet. Arizona finds strength in her "weirdness" and turns her grief into perseverance.

I truly loved the amount of natural sciences, cryptography, and history facts layered within the plot. Arizona's dog, motorcycle and budding friendship add nuance and charm to the plot. I really really really want to mention how amazing the story weaves in a certain historical figure and the design of the location but they are better left revealed to you, Dear Reader.

High props to KA Merson. I would love to read this book again, and will be recommending it to teens, adventure readers, cryptonerds, neurodiverse folks, and anyone who will listen to me.

This book was a super fun and adventurous read. There were a lot of cyphers and puzzles, which I enjoyed. The writing was great and I loved the ending. I would definitely recommend.
Thank you to the author and Netgalley for the ARC.

The Language of Birds is smart- probably too smart for me. Arizona is 17, neuropdivergent and extremely intelligent. When her mother is kidnapped, Arizona goes on a quest solving codes to get her back.

This is filled with history, science and puzzles. I really enjoyed the puzzles but I must admit, they went over my head for the most part and I had no chance to solve them. This made me appreciate just how clever our main character is. While I felt this to be a fun read, I felt that the puzzles, clues and poems kind of took me out of the story.

Thank you so much to the publisher, author and Netgalley for this ARC!

This book started out as an interesting mystery of kidnapping and crime solving. However, for me it was way over my head dealing with ciphering and such that I do not understand. I found myself skimming thorough highly detailed facts. A 17 year old girl is trying to save her mother. I did not engage with the characters or story and finally gave up about half way through it. I feel this book must be targeted to a younger crowd than I am and feel they might love it but sadly I did not.

I wish to thank Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed this advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The summary caught my attention because I enjoy a good mystery/thriller, and a teenager solving her mother's disappearance during a family trip appealed to me.
Arizona is an intelligent teenager traveling with her mother on a family trip when her mother goes missing. Initially, she isn't worried until their airstream is ransacked and an ominous note is left behind. Arizona's mother was kidnapped due to a secret her father took to the grave, and she must uncover the secret before her mother can be returned. Arizona is not your typical teenager; she is more comfortable with books than with people and has extraordinary fondness for puzzles, codes, and riddles. Arizona sets off with her dog Mojo to find her mother on her own terms. Using a cipher, she cracks codes and pores over ancient texts to uncover mysteries hidden in plain sight. She races to stay ahead of her adversaries while uncovering family secrets and learning that she is stronger than she thinks.
The plot was intriguing, and I enjoyed how this brilliant teenager could solve what the kidnappers couldn't. However, I wanted to stop reading quite early into the book, as it felt like a chore to get through. I love a good mystery, trying to solve it, and anticipating the ending, but this was too cerebral for me. I understand that this is Arizona's thing and necessary for the plot to watch her pore over riddles and codes, but instead of enhancing the story, it became the story and ruined it for me. I felt exhausted reading pages and pages of codes; it was just too much. Her genius could have been shown and appreciated without dragging us "mundanes" through the ringer, but if you enjoy codes and ciphers, you will likely love this.
Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

An intriguing thriller centered on Arizona, a 17 yo. girl, who is coerced into solving a series of puzzles in order to get her kidnapped mother released. Arizona, an incredibly bright girl on the spectrum, must use all her code solving skills to work her way through incredible clues. Often with her boxer, Mojo, in the sidecar of her motorcycle, Arizona crisscrosses the desert in search of hidden items that will help her figure out the solution.
While I found the basic storyline engaging, the code deciphering went into great detail and was way over my head. But if you’re smart enough to follow or want to glide through to the next step she needs to take, a good read.

Language of the Birds is an interesting story of puzzles and cipher that may lead to a treasure. I didn’t really connect with the whole solving of ciphers and the relationship to the universe. I admit I skimmed over some of those pages as I felt it bogged down the story. I was rooting for Arizona to solve the mystery and save her mother although I didn’t feel concern for her Mom as I didn’t really know her. Mojo is a wonderful companion for Arizona as a comfort and protector. I really liked Lily and Gus also.
So while this book wasn’t necessarily for my taste, I can see it appealing to others. Probably more to young adults.
I received an advance copy of this book through Netgalley and this is my honest review.

𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑮𝑼𝑨𝑮𝑬 𝑶𝑭 𝑩𝑰𝑹𝑫𝑺 𝒃𝒚 𝑲. 𝑨. 𝑴𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 is a story of puzzles that I finished this week, #gifted to me by @randomhouse Ballantine via @netgalley that comes out May 13th.

May, you ask? Yes. Do I have books that I need to finish that published this week? Also yes. #moodreader

This is a coming-of-age adventure when 17-year-old Arizona must follow clues and solve ciphers to release her mother from captors after she was taken while they were camping. Arizona has some difficulty making connections with people, so being without her mom is extra tough. Fortunately, she & her late father were great at puzzles and she feels closer to him while she works to get closer to the strange truths she is uncovering.

This was a fun story to read and it went rather quickly. I won't even pretend to understand all the mental gymnastics Arizona used to solve her clues...in fact I may have skimmed a bit due to not understanding the details. I am sure mentalists will love these games! I was more drawn to the personal growth moments where others came into her path and she had to navigate relationships on her own. I could have done without the romantic undertone, but again, me and my 🖤.

Ultimately, this was a good new adult mystery story with way less of the romantic drama that seems to be prevalent in that genre. It was a fun read in parts with charts and maps, making the visible reading the best option for this book. (Think National Treasure) I felt like this could have gone deeper, but overall was a good mystery with some coming-of-age drama. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

An interesting mystery with the twists of a young lady solving puzzles to find her mother and better understand her father. A bit superficial in terms of character development but very detailed in various cryptic challenges. Good for someone who likes solving while reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine for the opportunity to read this ARC.

4.5 stars
STRONG recommend

This was a creative, thought-provoking, and unique book. It reminded me of the Enigma Project except the main character, Arizona, was THE Enigma machine. Arizona is a brilliant 17-year-old neurodivergent individual. I loved that someone with her disability was spotlighted and treated as just another character. This is how to normalize everyone!! I loved this!!

The storytelling, writing, and character development were strong.

My only issue was the puzzle-solving. I didn't get it. I don't think many people will get it, but that was the point! I just wanted to understand it better! Maybe an appendix could be added for those like me who didn't understand the puzzles in the book!

IF you want something different, this is an excellent choice. I liked the Arizona character so much that I would like to see more books including her and the other main characters. It would be awesome!

Goodreads: - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6902670552 - posted 4/3/2025
The StoryGraph: - https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/5a0fc9fc-171e-4a07-90dd-b36b23240f7a?redirect=true - posted 4/3/2025
booksbydorothea Blog: - https://booksbydorothea.blogspot.com/2025/04/review-language-of-birds-earc-ebook.html - posted 4/3/2025

It's only been a couple of weeks since seventeen-year-old Arizona's father died. Her mourning is interrupted when her mother is kidnapped and Arizona is forced to solve a series of arcane riddles to win her release. Brilliant, neurodiverse Arizona can handle the historical research and substitution ciphers, but her criss-crossing journey around the West forces her to open up to others in a way that is far outside her comfort zone. The narrative gets a little bogged down as Arizona cracks each code, but on the whole the narrative zips through stunning locations and wild historical surmise in an entertaining fashion. Also, Mojo is a very good boy. Thanks, Netgalley.