An EASY 5 Stars to Jennifer Brasington-Crowley’s book, Birdsong.
(Find on Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YRR4CDJ )
Sometimes you need to feel a little pain to find something beautiful – and author Jennifer Brasington-Crowley is a master of teaching this lesson to her readers. She skillfully takes us on an emotional ride of fear, hopelessness, hope, despair, laughter, anxiety, love… and finally, delivers on a promise of giving her protagonist (Robin Xavier, aka Raven Xerces) a fighting chance.
The first installment in the Raven Song series is Raven Song – that is where you meet a seasoned Raven Xerces. In Birdsong, the second book in the series, you come face-to-face with the teenager / young adult he once was: Robin Xavier. This book allows you to connect the dots and understand what drives a person to take the road they’ve traveled. Author Brasingston-Crowley made a great decision to give her readers the backstory in a second book. She excels at taking you back in time and the book’s placement in the series feels natural.
There is raw beauty in real language. Sometimes what makes us uncomfortable – catches us sucking in a breath or wincing against the “truth” placed before our reader eyes – is exactly the art our soul needs to drink in so that we can witness more of the human experience. Pretty words don’t necessarily make a good story – and true, there is no guarantee the ugly ones will work either. But author Brasington-Crowley’s talent for weaving gritty and beautiful together is exquisite. It’s terribly easy to slip into something superfluous, but this author doesn’t take the easy way out. She works those scenes until they are seamless and would create a hole in the story if they were not included.
I did not read Birdsong right after Raven Song because I worried I’d be squeamish with a story alluding to violent situations. I was wrong and that was a mistake. Please learn from me: Don’t be put off by what you might *think* you’ll feel. Instead, take Birdsong and read it with an open heart.
It will change yours.
And the beauty in the lesson is… At the end of the day, even a fragile little bird can soar.
Books in the Raven Song Series by Jennifer Brasington-Crowley in order:
- Raven Song
- Birdsong
- A Very Raven Christmas
Leave a Reply