Reviews of Song of the Crow

Song of the Crow:

A Book Sense Pick

“After reading this remarkable book, you will marvel at every crow you see along the side of the road and maybe even begin to listen to their songs.  Highly recommended for all collections.”

–Library Journal, starred review

“Maheu’s fable works beautifully, probing the relationship between creatures of the heavens and those of the underworld.”

–Publishers Weekly

“Maheu’s debut novel is full of richness and flavor—I felt as if Merlin turned me into a crow for an all-too-brief amount of time.”

-Ellen Perry, Browsing Bison Books, MT

“Maheu’s canny and skillful marshaling of folklore, scripture, myth, and literary reference provides scaffolding for events before, during, and after The Flood as experienced by a creature who, frequently airborne, enjoys excellent points of vantage.”

–The Bloomsberry Reveiw

“A gentle, powerful debut…Like a fable written by a poet, the story is a simple one, yet its profundity adds layers of complexity that shift, bringing in religon, nature, and morality…the author builds a tale both majestic and humble…”

–Foreward Magazine

“A cross between the Magic Realism of Garcia Marquez, Ted Hughes, and Roger Tory Peterson, Song of the Crow is an astounding first novel.  I believe that this book marks the start of a great literary career…Our #1 new literary pick for 2006.”

-Phil Bevis, Arundel Books

“Layne Maheu weaves a rich mix of fiction, crow biology, and mythology blending Christian and Native American legends to tell the crow’s story of humankind.  The reader feasts on a fabulous crow’s eye view of the birds’ world and its connection to the human saga.”

-John Marzluff, co-author of In the Company of Crows and Ravens

“Raucous and Rabelaisian, yet lyrical, and at times sweetly tender.”

–Seattle Times

“A unique treat…This story captivates the reader with its spirituality not just in Biblical terms, but also as any living creature must learn to live in harmony with both heaven and earth.  This engaging book is cleverly written and highly recommended.”

-Book Buffs, Ltd.

“No need to spend a long time pondering which book is this summer’s most inventive: hands-down champ is this knockout debut by a Seattle carpenter…[T]his richly imagined novel delivers an important parable for today from a startlingly fresh perspective.”

–The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“A wonder of lyricism mixed with dozens of passages of crow and raven lore.  But although he is a lyrical writer, he is also a realistic one, especially when it comes to what life on the ark must have been like.”

–New Century Reading.com

“It is a testament to Maheu’s gift and his ability to fully inhabit his narrator that the reader identifies more with I Am the crow than Noah the human.  Song of the Crow is an enthralling tale that ignites the imagination and reminds us that even the most familiar story has two sides.”

–BookPage

“Song of the Crow is worth a good, long look.”

–The San Diego Union-Tribune

“Fascinating…Maheu’s novel breathes fresh life into a Biblical tale which has become so bland and sanitized that Noah and his ark are most commonly found these days as bedspreads and wallpaper designs in nurseries.  Maheu saves Noah from a needlepoint-and-animal-cracker fate and forces us to see what is probably the world’s most catastrophic event with a new understanding and appreciation…Nearly every anthropomorphic tale in the past 30 years owes more than a passing nod of debt to Richard Adam’s Waterhip Down.  Song of the Crow is no different; but Maheu’s novel hold up to the comparison.  The bird, who eventually becomes a stowaway on the ark, is as real and compelling to us as Adams’ talking rabbits were to readers 30 years ago…Maheu brings global destruction down to a personal, tragic level with an admirable economy of words…cackle[s] with suspense…fresh and compelling.”

–January Magazine