Review: Magonia, by Maria Dahvana Headley

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley
Published by HarperCollins ISBN: 9780062320544
on April 28th 2015
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy & Magic, Love & Romance, Social Issues, Death & Dying
Pages: 320
My rating:
Check it out in Goodreads
Synopsis

Aza Ray Boyle is drowning in thin air. Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak—to live. So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn't think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name.
Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who's always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world—and found, by another. Magonia.
Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power—but as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war between Magonia and Earth is coming. In Aza's hands lies fate of the whole of humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?

I had mixed feelings about how Magonia started out. It was all a lot of telling, and explaining, and thoughts, and really, no action at all. On the other hand, it was entertaining. I wish all those quirky thoughts about Aza’s ‘sickness’ had been saved for later scenes.

Now that I think about, the whole book was a mixed feelings fest.

Let’s start with,

The Characters

Aza is likable enough, and so are the rest of the crew characters. But her character arc was somewhat blurry. I still don’t have clear what exactly wanted to be achieved with her.

Jason is a sweetheart, even though sometimes he bordered on the cardboard cut-out line. He has two moms, which totally rocks because it was written like nothing out of the ordinary. We don’t dwell too much on the social aspects, he just… has two moms and that’s it. And t works.

The Plot

The thing with the plot is, most of the time I had no idea of what was happening. There is a balance between keeping the reader guessing, and leaving him completely out of the loop. I was right there with Aza as she had these revelations and stuff happened to her. Normally, that’d be totally okay, but unfortunately, not for this story.

Speaking of stuff and revelations, one’s suspension of disbelief can only go so far. And, this book was constantly defying that limit.

I mean, a bird flew into Aza’s mouth and settled in her lung. IN HER FREAKING LUNG. Later, I understood the why, and how it made sense within the world the author created, but at the same time, it was difficult to swallow when the world I’d been introduced to was a normal one in which Aza goes to highschool, is constantly depressed, but managed to get through. I couldn’t wrap around my head the bird-in-her-lung event.

What I really liked is that it was very orginal.

The World-Building

You mean, just the ship, right? Because I have no idea of how Magonia actually is like. I just know about the ship. Maybe the book should be just called Amina Pennarum, like the ship.

The Love Triangle  The Romance

This is not a romance book. But it does have romance. And it’s not very good, honestly. It also contains a wannabe love triangle. But pay no mind to it, because it’s obvious in a way only Twilight can rival.

 

I know it sounds like I didn’t enjoy this story, but actually, I think it’s pretty cool. Not what I was hoping for, though.

 

Related Posts