Review: The Bird by Jo Michaels

Goodreads Summary:

Stormy Terrabonne's life is about to be changed forever by a bright red cardinal. She soon finds herself being whisked away from all she's ever known to save an entire race of people known as Trobodytes. When she's presented to the Queen, Stormy learns how she's expected to help: By killing an evil wizard named Bordash Bladeslinger and stopping him from cutting down the sacred trees that bind Trogon to Earth.

Now, there are only two trees left. One of the trees presents a double dose of jeopardy: It's also tied to the renewed life of Stormy's mother. While Stormy learns more about the gifts she gained by becoming a Trobodyte, someone manages to poison that all important tree.

It's a race against time as she faces a legion of fairy tale creatures she never knew existed, learns to harness the power within herself to battle Bordash Bladeslinger, and tries to find a way to heal the dying tree before it collapses and takes her mother with it.

Publication Date: February 26, 2013

I’m normally not a fan of fantasy novels. Blame it on my ADD, but I have a hard time keeping all of the characters and world building straight. The Bird is a fantasy novel, but I never felt overwhelmed by information dumps or elaborate back-stories that were hard to follow. It was a great read and I thought it was creative the way Jo worked in themes about feminism and nature into the narrative.

The Bird has parallel plots going on. The first plot centers on a woman named Stormy and her quest to bring down a wizard in an alternate world. At the same time, Stormy’s mother is given a second chance at life and is reborn as a thirteen year old. I liked the way Jo tied the two worlds together and how things occurring in Trogon affected her mother in the human world.

What I always enjoy about Jo’s books is that she writes strong female characters. The men usually take a backseat and the women shine. The Bird was no exception. Stormy is a force to be reckoned with and that’s even before she becomes a master of weapons. As tough as she was on the outside, I liked how her romance with Michael was able to bring out a softer side.

The plot’s pacing was good and the action started quickly. Some of the character’s choices were rash and I felt myself wanting to yell at them through the book. But it only shows how invested I became with the story.  

There were a few great twists I didn’t see coming and the ending tied everything together nicely. This is a wonderful indie fantasy novel and I highly recommend it to all readers.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars