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A review by luanagomes
The Parliament by Aimee Pokwatka
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.25
A very interesting premise right from the start.
Murder owls stalking a library building? Yes, please !
The protagonist, Mads, who is a chemist, is about to teach a sort of summer class on the library to a bunch of 11-12 year olds, as a favor to a friend. And then the owls attack, patrons get stuck in the library for a while, and bad decisions lead to a bunch of people hurt.
One of the high points for me in this book were the people in the library, both kids and adults. They felt very real, relatable in their response to the situation at hand. I was enjoying the read, and was invested in the workings behind the owl's odd behavior, but then soon realized that this was not the main focus of the book. The parliament focuses on Mad's PTSD (something that happened to her as a child ) and how she tries to deal with it and help the people on the library, which is an okay storyline, but not something I was interested in reading in detail.
I wanted to know more about the science of the birds, and the machinations to leave the library, but it all lost momentum too soon, and the explanations were superficial. Some readers will not have a problem with that, for sure, but I was here for the birds, so it fell short for me.
There is also a romance subplot in here that I did not enjoy much, as it did not help further the story.
I also have to agree with some of the readers that we did not need the "book within a book" situation. "The Silent Queen" is a fairy tale book the protagonist reads to the kids to distract from the birds, and it is interspersed within the actual main story. Although I can see why it was there, soon it became a bit too long and dull for me, and took away from the main plot line.
It's one of those cases where the book had a lot of potential, tries too many ideas/directions, and forgets to fleshed out what is important.
Thanks to TorDotCom and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Murder owls stalking a library building? Yes, please !
The protagonist, Mads, who is a chemist, is about to teach a sort of summer class on the library to a bunch of 11-12 year olds, as a favor to a friend. And then the owls attack, patrons get stuck in the library for a while, and bad decisions lead to a bunch of people hurt.
One of the high points for me in this book were the people in the library, both kids and adults. They felt very real, relatable in their response to the situation at hand. I was enjoying the read, and was invested in the workings behind the owl's odd behavior, but then soon realized that this was not the main focus of the book. The parliament focuses on Mad's PTSD (something that happened to her as a child ) and how she tries to deal with it and help the people on the library, which is an okay storyline, but not something I was interested in reading in detail.
I wanted to know more about the science of the birds, and the machinations to leave the library, but it all lost momentum too soon, and the explanations were superficial. Some readers will not have a problem with that, for sure, but I was here for the birds, so it fell short for me.
There is also a romance subplot in here that I did not enjoy much, as it did not help further the story.
I also have to agree with some of the readers that we did not need the "book within a book" situation. "The Silent Queen" is a fairy tale book the protagonist reads to the kids to distract from the birds, and it is interspersed within the actual main story. Although I can see why it was there, soon it became a bit too long and dull for me, and took away from the main plot line.
It's one of those cases where the book had a lot of potential, tries too many ideas/directions, and forgets to fleshed out what is important.
Thanks to TorDotCom and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.