The Girl in the Bird by Christine M. Talley

The Synopsis:

This is the story of a group of individuals in the Society for Creative Anachronism, a medieval reenactment organization and aliens who use advanced technology to observe Earth without being seen. It begins with an alien watching people during the Pennsic War, an annual camping event that typically draws ten thousand people from all over the world and from almost every walk of life. Members develop their own “persona,” adopting a fictional medieval name of their choosing, of a country and century of their choosing, following their dreams and talents of life in the Middle Ages. It chronicles the search for romance of a witty, charming but homely nurse and her interest in a handsome sword and shield fighter. The rocky romantic journey of her friend, a female heavy weapons fighter and her lover on the opposing side, includes a life threatening hurdle. It also tells the story of a teenager with a developing alien power that becomes known across worlds.

I received this book from the author for the purpose of this review. All comments and opinions are entirely my own.

Review:

The Girl in the Bird takes on the challenge of blending science fiction with romance with medieval fantasy and with contemporary. And though the story-line was intriguing to say the least, I wouldn’t say that it accomplished exactly what it was going for.

The Girl in the Bird is primarily focused on about 5 main characters in the SCA (The Society for Creative Anachronism) organization, which honestly I had no idea existed before reading this book. So I certainly learned something new.

But because there are so many main characters, the story is kind of all over the place. We also switch between character point of views suddenly and without warning, so there were several spots when I was confused. The writing style also slips from 3rd person past tense into 3rd person present tense several times.

There are some mild curse words used throughout the book and both indirect and direct sexual comments are present frequently. There are no sex scenes, however there are many sexual actions taken, such has butt-grabbing and other things of this nature.

So, even though I was interested in the story-line, it just feels like perhaps with a bit more brushing up on the writing style, The Girl in the Bird would have received a better opinion from me. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.