Verdict: 4 Stars

The condor isn’t exactly the most charismatic bird. It’s not regal-looking like the eagle, it’s not an awe-inspiring killing machine like the hawk. It’s just a bird. And it’s had plenty of controversy around it in terms of legal and environmental battles, and now, it’s got blood on its hands, too. Or, wings.

In The Condor Song (Cross Dove Publishing), former attorney Nyznyk brings the legal thriller genre to the wilds with the based-on-reality saga of a lone attorney standing up to not only a legal dream team, but a team made up of his former employers and his former best friend. And why shouldn’t he? Sean Donovan has already lost his job at the prestigious firm, his family, and his friends. Sticking his neck out to right the wrongs of society against one species of bird.

While the action and explanations in this very well-written legal drama are excellent, at times the huge cast of characters proved to be a little hard to follow. That is probably very accurate for situations in which environmentalists, environmental lobbyists, businessmen, politicians, and the all-important lawyers ramble through page after page of crucial detail. And while the book is only loosely based on an actual event in which the Disney company, big supporters of Sierra Club, was actually blocked by Sierra Club from building a ski resort in an area that would have destroyed the habitats of endangered animals, there was a ring to it that perhaps this was trying a little too hard to bring new details to light from that former case.

The Condor Song is now available from Amazon.

Mercy Pilkington (1157 Posts)

Mercy Pilkington is a young-adult author and a teacher in a correctional facility. She does not have a single textbook in her classroom. With the top-of-the-line technology at her disposal and the low reading ability of many of her students, there’s no need for standard paper texts. Instead she relies on e-readers, iPads, desktop PCs, Polycom video conferencing equipment for virtual field trips, live streaming for science demonstrations, and text-to-speech read-aloud software to teach English and science. Within the next ten years, public school classrooms across the country are going to look a lot more like Mercy’s classroom because the educational possibilities with these kinds of technologies are limitless. Have a question? Send an email to [email protected]