ARC Review: The Language of the Birds by K. A. Merson

The Language of the Birds
Author: K. A. Merson
Publication: Ballantine Books (May 13, 2025)

Description: A brilliant but solitary teenager must unlock ciphers, unearth buried clues, and reckon with the outside world as she pursues an ancient secret in this brainteasing, puzzle-filled mystery.

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.

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.

Featuring an indomitable young heroine and a plot that ingeniously weaves together real facts into a treasure hunt of epic proportions, The Language of the Birds is an irresistibly quirky, endlessly surprising adventure that will leave readers wondering where the truth ends and fiction begins.

My Thoughts: Seventeen-year-old Arizona and her mother are making a pilgrimage to a ghost town to scatter some of her father's ashes. He died just seventeen days before this story started in an accident while riding his motorcycle. She and her mother are both grieving as they travel.

But when Arizona's mother disappears as they went their separate ways at the ghost town, Arizona is left not knowing what to do. She's neurodivergent and talking to other people is hard for her. Asking the park rangers for help is hard and useless.

When Arizona gets a phone call telling her that "they" have her mother and that she needs to solve some puzzles for them if they are to release her mother, Arizona finds herself solving a variety of difficult puzzles and gradually uncovering clues to what might be a conspiracy that has hidden since the days of the alchemists. 

I enjoyed the puzzles and the many references to actual people, notably Herbert Hoover, and actual government documents. I liked the way Arizona and her trusty boxer Mojo traveled together to solve the puzzles and rescue her mother. 

This story was a journey ranging from the desert Southwest to a Pacific Island used as a US Navy missile testing ground. It was also a journey for Arizona from a lonely, isolated young woman to a more out-going young woman who proves herself and gathers some friends along the way. 

I thought it was an excellent story. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.