The Mob Book

As an wildlife rehabber with a particular fondness for crows, this book seemed to be right up my alley. And it sure was! The author most certainly has an innate understanding of crows; I completely believed that if we could understand their world, it would be very close to what Martini describes. It's as if he's telling the story of something that really happened.

What I particularly enjoyed was the way the crows see humans. It's spot on and should be eye-opening to those who've never considered how animals might view us. Martini also illustrates the harsh reality of the natural world in a way the manages to enhance rather than diminish the glory and magnificence of nature. (In other words, bad stuff may happen, but instead of thinking it sucks, you're struck by the beauty and wonder and fragility of nature and want to enjoy every puny second you have, and hope that you can be half the creature that the main characters Kip and Kym are.)

The crows in this book are storytellers with a spiritual bent. I'm not a religious person by any means, but I'm thinking of converting to Crowism. (Crowianity?). Also, the characters are so very real; one of my favorites is Kuru, an elder male who swears constantly (he appears in the last book in the series, Judgement). The "swears" are adorable!

Finally, and I don't say this often, but this book is well-written. I wouldn't remove or change one single word. You should read it just for the descriptions of flying, and what flying means to a bird.