The Language of the Birds is an exciting blend of puzzles, codes, history, and adventure that will captivate YA readers who love a smart mystery grounded in U.S. history and lore. Filled with conspiracy theories, hidden messages, and plenty of danger, this book is a thrilling ride from start to finish.

Seventeen-year-old Arizona has always thought differently. Homeschooled and a keen observer of the world, she sees patterns and meaning in places where others might miss them. Her passion for puzzles and codes is something she likely inherited from her late father, a cartographer for the USGS. But when Arizona’s mother is kidnapped during a family trip in their Airstream, Arizona discovers that her father’s work may have been much more than just mapping. He might have been researching a secret so valuable that it’s now putting her mother’s life in jeopardy.

Determined to rescue her mother, Arizona embarks on an adventure across the western U.S., following the trail of clues her father left behind. The best part of the story is that much of the history is real, and many of the puzzles are hidden in plain sight. For readers familiar with the western states, or places like Hoover Dam, the setting will feel especially rich and rewarding.

While I might not the target audience , I can see how it would appeal to fans of smart, fast-paced YA fiction. Arizona is a unique and compelling protagonist, but at times, it stretched my suspension of disbelief that a 17-year-old, even one with neurodivergent traits and a knack for puzzles, would take on such a dangerous mission without reaching out to authorities. A little more character development would have helped me connect more deeply with Arizona, but her drive and resourcefulness still kept me engaged.

Overall, The Language of the Birds is a fun, adventurous read that will definitely resonate with readers who enjoy mysteries, U.S. history, and a little bit of puzzle-solving along the way. It’s a great pick for anyone who loves a smart, fast-paced story filled with intrigue and adventure.

This was one of those books I couldn't tell if i Liked or not. It sort of plodded on with different character views that had me a bit confused. I finished it but didn't love it

In The Language of the Birds by K.A Merson, a girl named Arizona has to solve puzzles in order to save her mom. She has been kidnapped by a mysterious organization who is bent on finding an even more mysterious secret.

This is the latest of my Net Galley early reviews. The Language of the Birds is firmly in the mystery genre, with clever puzzles and a mystery to solve. Arizona is an interesting character and there is a good story here, though its held back from being a great book by two aspects.

The first aspect its held back by is the puzzles. As noted, the puzzles are clever but perhaps a bit too clever. The book spends a lot of time on the puzzles and lays them out in a ton of detail. Too much detail in fact. I found my eyes glazing over as I tried and mostly failed to read through the puzzles and the puzzles solving.

I don’t want to give away what the puzzles involve but its clear that the writer thought them out and seemed to know the process and tried to explain it. There will likely be some readers who absolutely love puzzles and will enjoy these sections. For other readers, they’ll wonder if less time could have been spent spelling out all the puzzles and more time spent getting to the heart of the solutions.

The other aspect that holds the book back is the shifting perspectives. Arizona is the main character and largely it stays her but occasionally it goes to other characters who I won’t spoil. And these characters give away some aspects of the book’s mysteries. It feels like the book should have stayed only with Arizona and revealed what was going on with these other characters later in the book.

Despite these problems, The Language of the Birds is not a bad book. Its overall story is interesting, although the ending isn’t entirely satisfactory. Its possible that people who love puzzles a lot will geek out at the puzzles in this book.

It is neat that the book has a lot of illustrations. The author tries to make the puzzles interesting and inventive. If less time was spent on the puzzles and the other people, this book would’ve been shorter and a bit more interesting.

The Language of the Birds is far from the worst book I’ve ever read. I did, in fact, finish this book. It held my attention, mostly, until the end. I wanted to know what would happen. I could see Arizona popping up in another story. If she does, I hope she’ll be the sole focus and less time will be used on showcasing the puzzles. There is so much potential with this book. It could easily be the start of a series. Of course, it could easily just be a one-off book too. In any case, The Language of the Birds was a somewhat fun place to visit.

As always, I was lucky to get to read this book early. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for providing an early digital copy of this book for review. The Language of the Birds by K.A. Merson comes out on May 13th, 2025.

A brilliant but extremely shy homeschooled 17 year old must search the west coast for clues to solve a series of cryptographic puzzles to free her mother from captivity by heartless cult members. The descriptions of the various locations the heroine visits brought back memories of past vacations. This is a thought provoking mystery adventure that in many ways rivals the plot of movies such as "National Treasure". This is a must read if you like cryptography, puzzles, history, American west, and to an extent coming of age stories.

I thank the the author K.A. Merson, and Ballantine Books for kindly providing an advanced electronic review copy of this work.

This book was different than what I was expecting. Overall it kept me engaged but it wasn't something I kept thinking about like other books.

This book wasn't on my radar at first, but when I saw The Da Vinci Code and National Treasure as comp titles, my interest was piqued. And the part I enjoyed most about the book was definitely the puzzles. I have to admire any author who can construct a treasure hunt composed entirely of complex puzzles.

One thing I didn’t realize before I started reading this was that Arizona is very obviously autistic, although it’s never explicitly named in the book, which was quite odd. I couldn’t find much information about the author and don’t know whether this was an ownvoices depiction of autism—not that I believe authors need to share personal information about themselves on the internet, but I was afraid that some aspects of Arizona’s depiction felt a little…stereotypical? (For example: The coldly logical way she spoke to her mom in the beginning, in the wake of her father’s death.) I do really like the idea of an autistic protagonist solving puzzles, and Arizona does get to be a badass in many ways, but I don’t know if I could recommend Arizona’s portrayal in this book without reservations.

But the main drawback of this book for me was the writing style. The dialogue often felt artificial, and the narration felt distancing. It’s hard for me to explain, but the narration came across as listing things off, and sometimes jumped around to random tangents as though we’re hearing Arizona’s stream-of-consciousness. Which may be a realistic way for people to think (I know my own thought process tends to jump around a lot), but it gets irritating to read. Because of this, I had a hard time picking this book back up every time I put it down.

Lastly, I did find the ending to be a bit of a letdown. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say the ending was where the book diverged most from living up to The Da Vinci Code and National Treasure.

All in all, this was a bit of a mixed bag for me. But I appreciated getting a chance to read nonetheless.

What an interesting read....a neurodivergent teen is trying to find her kidnapped mother and is given a series of codes and ciphers to solve. (And they are VERY hard!). Arizona is a unique and wonderful protagonist and brilliantly solves the codes while investigating her mother's disappearance (and her father's mysterious passing). This story probably isn't for every teen but would appeal to teens and adults alike who enjoy solving codes, history, and the lure of alchemy. Definitely a unique read that is one to remember! I look forward to hearing more from this author!
Thank you for my copy.

When Arizona's mother goes missing shortly after the death of her father, Arizona has to solve the puzzles and clues left for her to free her mother. from kidnappers after her father's secrets. This conspiracy thriller will appeal to those who love solving puzzles and figuring out who did it. The book also features a neurodivergent lead.

I admit I'm not very good at the sorts of puzzles included in the book, but enough was explained for me to follow along with the story. This has riddles and ciphers that take up enough page time that if you aren't into that sort of thing, this might not be the right read for you. Those who do enjoy that will have plenty of puzzles to work through.

This is one of the more unique books that I've read in a long time. A teenage girl must solve a series of puzzles in order to find out where her mother has been kidnapped to. The puzzles are presented in-text, and they are tricky and fun for the reader to solve. If you are the kind of person who loves thrillers because you want to figure out who did it, I think this book is a really fun YA twist on that theme.

Imagine you are in your first staff meeting for a job you were hired for based on an inflated résumé. You realize you have no idea what’s going, but you are happy to be there. That’s how I felt reading The Language of the Birds.

I would say I enjoy puzzles more than the average person — undefeated champion in baby shower brain teasers and a regular at-home game contestant on whatever is playing on the Game Show Channel.

Reading along while Arizona solved the puzzles was like being apart of a top secret cipher spy group. When Arizona was explaining the process of decoding I didn’t comprehend some of it, though that it didn’t take away from the experience for me. The diagrams included are a definite help in following along. I would recommend the reading this book over listening to an audio vision so that you can see the pictures. Any puzzle lover would enjoy this book now matter the skill level.

I am a sucker for a strong female lead who thinks differently, knows they don’t fit in with society and doesn’t try to. So naturally Arizona had my heart for the beginning. Molly the Maid and Arizona would be great friends, and make an awesome crime solving team.

I can’t even begin to imagine the blood, sweat and tears that went into the research and puzzle tinkering for this book. Thank you to Amy Jackson at Random House Publishing for reaching out with the wonderful opportunity to read and review this book.

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.