Frightful’s Mountain

I was hoping to like this book better than its prequels and I did, but just barely. While it’s mostly from the viewpoint of the bird, there’s still plenty of storyline about people and conservation efforts in here. It would have been nice if the narrative had just focused on the peregrine falcon. Upon being released on the mountain, she struggles to feed herself, used to having a human partner to scare up game. Eventually she strikes up a loose hunting relationship with a half-feral dog (I really liked that part). She meets other wild birds- some attack her, others solicit her company. I never realized before that a wild falcon will take a new mate to help raise the chicks, if the parent of his brood suddenly dies! Frightful takes on this role as an adopted mother, but she doesn’t know how to feed and care for the chicks at first- instinct only nudges her so far. The way that was all written, without making the animals talk or appear too human, was pretty well done, I thought. But then there’s all the stuff about people. Frightful feels the urge to migrate, but is too attached to the area where Sam raised her, and the pull of his company. She roosts on a bridge that is to undergo construction, some local kids see her and start up protests to try and stop the bridge work. Sam himself gets involved in other ways, keeping hidden from everybody because he doesn’t want to get into trouble for “harboring an endangered species” again. So the kids get involved in environmental activism, Sam works hard to save the peregrine nest without being noticed, the bad guys who were illegally catching and selling birds of prey in the second book show up again, and the dog inadvertently helps out when conservation officers and police are tracking them down.The dog’s part made me laugh. But sadly, the book didn’t really engage me the way I’d like. Too much of it felt like a lecture stuffed into the characters’ conversations. Even the facts about the bird’s physiology and habits which interested me, felt a bit forced how they were presented. I don’t know if the younger readers this book is aimed at, would pick up on all that. Probably what feels like flat, somewhat uninteresting writing to me, would be just right for their reading level.