What was the purpose of this book? Seriously? I was happy to return to Castle Rock, but there was no point to this book at all. Adult Gwendy seems so much less than the teenage version we got. And the direction her life took didn't even make a lot of sense. 

So in "Gwendy's Magic Feather" we follow 30 something year old Gwendy. Her life has taken a lot of twists since she was gifted the Button Box. One day though the Button Box reappears, and Gwendy doesn't know what it means, or for long she is supposed to take charge of it. She's also scared she may do the wrong thing since the box seems to call out to her. 

So 30 something year old Gwendy didn't feel like the Gwendy we got in the last book. I know that people change, but the changes in her (without getting into spoilers) definitely did not seem very realistic. She is more whining in this one. She also runs around acting helplessly. I still don't get how the box did what it did in this one at all. It was so confusing.

We also have a serial killer on the loose which feels a bit off to me. It's not a typical King villain to me. Probably because once again King didn't write this one. It just felt tacked on and the missing girls sub-plot was not integrated well into things at all. 

The book takes place in Castle Rock in 1999. There are some call-backs to the Dark Tower here and there. A character uses the word "palaver". Gwendy's condo is 19B. We have something with red glowing eyes skulking about. We read about past events in Castle Rock (Needful Things, Cujo, etc.). So that part was good. Other than that....eh. 

The only reason why I gave this 1 star was that the illustrations were a great add on.

The ending was lackluster to the extreme. 

Yeah, I loved this.

It's late so I won't be going too in detail. But if you had told me a combination of natural history, sports writing, and true crime could be blended together, I wouldn't have thought it was good. But this was simply incredible. I had a hard time stopping once I got listening, which is bad because I listened to most of it at work.

Johnson does an incredible job of setting up the story and putting it into the context it needs to be held in. I HATE fishing so never knew much about fly fishing. Yet I was RIVETED listening to the explanation of fly tying and why it's relevant to feathers. And once I knew the historical and scientific significance of the birds, I felt emotional pain thinking about what was lost. I don't think I would have found it as gripping or emotional I'd Johnson hadn't set it up the way he did. I really want to commend him for how well and seamlessly he did so.

Final rating: 5/5. A wonderful blend of multiple subjects into one topic.

Edwin Rist should be dive bombed by ever seagull he encounters.

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Reaper is the fifth and final book in the Birds of a Feather series, and it goes out with a bang! Annie is spying on Wilder's ranch, with something to tell them, and not sure of her reception or the reaction once she does. It feels strange for her to mingle amongst people she feels like she already knows, and yet doesn't. Olly is his usual taciturn self, and yet Annie breaks through his barriers easy enough. Things don't go easy for the two of them though, and the whole gang gets involved to keep Annie safe until Olly retrieves his head out of his butt!

What a finale. Seriously, it was fantastic. I love Olly, I have done all the way through this series, but I will admit to enjoying seeing him make a fool of himself. I wasn't too impressed with some of his behaviour though, and was glad he was made to see the error of his ways.

So many characters, so many stories. I can't say out of all of them which are my favourites! Lena North has done an amazing job of making each of these characters and situations completely different, and yet maintaining the overall storyline. I wasn't sure at the beginning if I would like these as much as I did The Dreughan Trilogy. I can now confirm that yes, I did - absolutely!

For a fantastic coming-of-age story, then I can definitely recommend this whole series, and basically anything written by Lena North too!

* Verified Purchase ~ July 2018. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!