I am a huge fan of puzzles, codes, cyphers, and history. I have ton tons of escape rooms for this reason and one of my favorite books and movies was National Treasure and the DaVinci Code. This book reminded me of those. I love a good adventure, and this book delivered that. I have visited many of the places mentioned in this book and that aspect made it much more enjoyable for me. This is one I hope they turn into a movie one day. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I confess: I thought this book would be about birds. Alas, it is not. "The Language of the Birds" tells the often sad story of 17-year-old Arizona, who has just lost her father a couple of weeks earlier.

Arizona is whip-smart, and has frequently been bullied by her classmates. She knows she's different.

Someone has it in for her family. Arizona's mother disappears and mysterious puzzles start appearing. They include threats against Arizona and her mother if Arizona doesn't solve them.

Well, this won't do at all. As you can imagine an unusual young woman like Arizona has a battery of unusual skills. K.A. Merson has written a singular book that overlaps the mystery, thriller, and woman-in-jeopardy genres.

Arizona and her mother are sympathetic characters. The puzzles are fun to (try to) solve. The action moves quickly and I always had the feeling that some unpleasant threat lay just around the next corner.

I highly recommend this book. I could see it being expanded into a series.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance reader's copy. This is my honest review.

This book was interesting!!!

It started off really fast, then had a slump and ended super fast.

I enjoyed the story line with the daughter and her trying to figure out how she could rescue her mother.

and the DOG!!!!!!! I will not ruin that for anyone.

I defiantly would recommend the book.

It has tons of excitement and mystery.

Eek was a convoluted book. I was rooting for it because it has everything I like - puzzles, codes, ciphers, and adolescence! I enjoy YA, and I could feel this book trying to be a Da Vinci Code. It was formulaic and was playing to be a mini-series or something else. I am also wary of books with characters on the spectrum as they are not done well, and this felt the same.

Three weeks after her father's death, Arizona, her mother, and her loving boxer Mojo take a road trip in their Airsteam to her father's favorite places to scatter his ashes. During their stop in Bodie, Arizona's mother goes missing and their Airstream is ransacked.

Arizona is given puzzle by her mother's mysterious kidnappers to solve in search for an unknown treasure. The search leads her all over the West coast following the clues. Can she solve the mystery her father was seemingly involved in and save her mother?

While not specifically labeled, Arizona's character is supposed to be on the spectrum with disabilities her parent's refer to as "differences." I'm assuming she's autistic due to her extreme intelligence (at 17 she has a Mensa card) and her social behaviors. This story reminded me of the National Treasure movies, deciphering clues left to cover up Presidential involvement in a well-guarded secret. The story was fast paces and engaging. It was easy to follow the thought process of Arizona deciphering the clues, despite how complex they were. Overall this was an enjoyable read with fairly low stakes involved. I loved the ending even though it was left a bit open-ended. Despite not wrapping up the mystery neatly, the end was satisfying in my opinion.

This book was very different to other books I have read before! It mixed fact and fiction in an interesting mystery. I loved all of the puzzles, codes, and mysteries!

Arizona's life has taken an unexpected turn. After losing her father in a motorcycle accident, she and her mother go on a road trip in their classic Airstream to scatter his remains in all the places he loved. While visiting a ghost town, Arizona's mother is kidnapped. Now Arizona must try to figure out a mysterious set of clues, given to her by the kidnappers, and unveil a secret the kidnappers are convinced her father took to his grave. Arizona did inherit her father's ability to solve puzzles and with the help of her dog, Mojo, and Lucy, a fellow camper she met the night her mother went missing, Arizona sets off on a strange journey to solve a mystery and save her mother. The novel started strong, but the ending was disappointing.

Wow! Nerd alert ...if you like solving puzzles, love learning about topics from alchemy to the Hoover Dam, and appreciate a female protagonist with a superbrain and a few social issues, this is one great read! What strikes me first is the amount of research that went into this novel for the clues provided to the mystery. The author must also have an intimate knowledge of the Arizona landscape to provide the details in such a strong visual narrative along with the more esoteric puzzle that is presented in the story.

When Arizona's father dies in a freak motorcycle accident, she and her mother revisit places that have meaning to the three of them, distributing his ashes along the way. But when Mom disappears at Bodie, a ghost town, AZ is launched into a frightening race to decode information as the only way to save her mother.

Prepare to be dazzled and challenged by Merson's plot. Not for those who don't want to think too much when they read! I couldn't put it down!

A fun and engaging read along the lines of Davinci Code or National Treasure. Our main character, Arizona, is so genuine and relatable. She is simply wired differently than the average bear. I suspect she would be on the spectrum based on her behaviors and thoughts, but that is what makes her as smart and logical as she is. She is basically forced to uncover, interpret and solve a bunch of clues within hidden messages when her Mom is kidnapped by person(s) whose motives are questionable. That being said, these puzzles/clues were way over my head, but the author did an amazing job of explaining and recapping along the way so I never really felt lost...but it is a lot of information coming at you. I just had to put that aside and focus on the story. I did find my brain wandering and wanting to skim read. It's probably just my pea brain needing a break from information overload, but it truly was a great story and the author handled explaining stuff extraordinarily well. If you are looking for something a bit off the usual paths you to take in reading, I highly recommend this.

How rare it is to find a novel that is both pulse pounding and intellectually stimulating at the same time. This book is the best and most pleasurable of the many I have read this year. Avid readers are familiar with the odd feeling of wanting to see how a story ends but not wanting the book itself to end. I had that feeling in spades.

Arizona is a teen who, as the story begins, is in the process of grieving her recently deceased father, the person most like her. She seems to be drawn to be neurodivergent. She has strong reactions to certain stimuli, a difficulty with social relations outside her immediate family circle and a difficult time even naming the emotions she has. But Merson doesn't focus on these issues. Rather, it is Arizona's strengths and growth through the story that are front and center . She has an almost super power in figuring out complex puzzles and it is these puzzles that are an intrinsic to the plot. She must use this talent to rescue her mother from kidnappers who have taken her to gain Arizona's help in solving an impossibly hard puzzle for their own nefarious reasons..

At the start of the story, Arizona is surrounded by a cocoon of love by her parents to save her from a less than tolerant world. But now, with the death of her father and kidnapping of her mother, she. must gather her courage and, along with her intrepid companion, a Boxer named Mojo, venture out into the world to find and decode a series of clues and save her mother.. Along the way, she accomplishes a task even harder than solving the puzzles: she must learn to trust others and discover the possibilities of friendship. If you haven't already guessed this is a great story and one in which teens and adults would enjoy equally.

I love a book that makes you think and work to solve the riddles and clues hidden in the text. I had very high hopes for The Language of Birds and while I think it falls a bit short of my expectations, I also think it is a good book that will appeal to many YA readers. Interestingly enough, I think the difficulty of the puzzles may be what brings this book down toward the middle of the pack. I think this book will be a favorite for some - however, for many, it may land on the DNF pile because of the difficulty of the puzzles.

There have been some fascinating female characters in the thriller genre. There's the legendary Lisbeth Salander. There's the absolutely amazing Antonia Scott (my personal favorite). There's the nascent Nola Brown. And, in The Language of the Birds we are introduced to a fascinating 17-year old named Arizona. She is a character to keep an eye on. K. A. Merson has crafted an entertaining tale with cyphers galore. Arizona has the ability to solve these cyphers when others cannot. There are no shortage of puzzles in this tale and they keep you turning the pages to see how everything connects to the mystery at the heart of the story. This is a terrific introduction to a wonderful new character. Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for the advance reading copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I found the action to move quickly and kept me engaged throughout the entire book. Merson filled this story with plenty of puzzles, codes, cyphers and much more. This book will capture the imagination of YA readers with Arizona’s search to rescue her mother. We meet Arizona, a 17-year-old, who is an unconventional teenager with a mind that creates patterns just like her father. Her father just died in a car accident and her, and her mother are in the process of spreading his ashes in all the places that he loved to go to. At one of the stops a ghost town that Arizona’s father loved, her mother is kidnapped and the people who kidnapped her want Arizona to figure out where her father left something that is worth a lot of money. She is left a clue that will begin her journey in her family's airstream to find her mother. Along with her is her devoted dog, Mojo. Illustrations are embedded within the story that provide puzzles that can sometimes be distracting if you aren’t a puzzle solver. You also got to travel through the west coast as Arizona’s follows that clues that are left for her. Merson combines a great mystery, plenty of historical tales and information about our western states. I highly recommend this book to readers that love mystery, travel and puzzle solving. Thank you, Netgalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

For those who enjoy puzzles and mysteries, this is a terrific read. I think, as a teacher or 9th and 10th graders, exploring the ciphers would be tough for many of them, but I am excited to recommend this book for several of my students who enjoy solving puzzles. I really enjoyed it myself- and I learned a lot!

Reviewed for NetGalley:

Arizona, suffering the loss of her father, soon loses her mother in an apparent kidnapping.

In order to save her mother, Arizona must solve the puzzles to find the location of her mother before it’s too late.

I really enjoyed Arizona’s personality and smarts. I tended to gloss over some of the puzzle speak, but overall enjoyable.

This book reminded me of The DaVinci Code due to yhe puzzles. I enjoyed it because of the puzzles. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

While I love a puzzling mystery, this was too much. The puzzles were so complex that I found myself glossing over most of them. And as Arizona traveled throughout the western states in search of clues the story began to feel like a travelogue. Arizona and the other cast of characters were well drawn and kept the story moving with a few red herring twists – for much of the story I though Lily was one of the bad guys who had befriended Arizona for nefarious means. But in the end the whole thing didn’t work for me. The puzzles were too complicated, too much telling in the descriptions of the locations, and an ending that after all that puzzling didn’t solve anything. And don’t even get me started on the language. Any writer who insists on using the f-bomb in any situation, good or bad is a writer who lacks an imagination and command of the English language. 2.5 stars. rounded to 3.

I love a good puzzle and mystery so this novel appealed to me. I enjoyed it but at times had found myself eyes glazing over at the depth and detail of the ciphers. That said I found Arizona a lovely character and enjoyed following her through this puzzle/mystery. This book would be a lovely choice for a young adult who likes puzzles.
I was preapproved for this novel by Netgalley. Thank you Netgalley and K.A. Merson.

What a fun mystery. Full of adventure and puzzles it is never a dull moment. Like any good YA novel it’s a little hard to believe at times but it was still a very enjoyable read.

A missing mother, a tragically dead father, and, at the manipulative behest of a nefarious group, strange puzzles to be solved that point toward the unbelievable form the basis of an adventurous and deductive trek for one teen in The Language of the Birds by K.A. Merson.
Seventeen-year-old Arizona is traveling with her mom and her dog Mojo in the days after her dad’s tragic death when her mom suddenly goes missing. Slightly concerned, Arizona’s fears ratchet up when she returns to their Airstream to find it ransacked, with an ominous note left behind claiming her mother’s been kidnapped but if Arizona complies with their demands of solving the ciphers they require to lead them to the prize they seek everything will be fine. Luckily Arizona is more comfortable with books and puzzles than trying to deal with people and has a keen mind capable of solving the puzzles set before her, which all seem to have a connection to things that she and her dad were fond of; as she ventures where the clues lead, the facets of history and possible governmental involvement she’s uncovering become stranger and stranger as she hunts down the elusive alchemical-related prize hidden by the encrypted clues while she aims to remain ahead of her adversaries to rescue her mom from the clutches of her adversaries.
Presenting an entertaining puzzle and conspiracy surrounding the history of America’s government and development of a prominent landmark, the narrative weaves together a wide variety of knowledge bases, including literary, cartographic, cipher, and the elusive alchemical in an ambitious yet accessible combination that incorporates common favorites while offering new tidbits to educate while it blends fact and fiction. The narrative is primarily focused on Arizona’s journey from her third-person perspective, with the quirks of her neurodivergence shining through decently, though there are a few brief chapter interjections, with growing frequency in the latter parts, from a combination of two of the kidnappers and Arizona’s mom to help flesh out the conspiracy aspect of the story further, but these additions skew the balance and pacing of the whole in an odd way, raising more questions about their characters and for why it was presented in this manner rather than more consistently strewn throughout; the various ciphers and solving of clues also adds a layer of complexity to the narrative that slows the otherwise rapid pacing down and may lessen engagement with the characters and plot, particularly when it gets a bit repetitive-convoluted-rambling while trying to solve it, though the images do aid with clarification. Arizona’s character exhibits growth while managing grief of her dad’s loss and her growing acceptance of trusting others; however, while behaving as if you belong somewhere may work for a while, the fact that Arizona is young and is traveling vast distances by herself does continue to stretch the bounds of belief to the premise.
Overall, I’d give it a 3 out of 5 stars.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.