ARC Review: Magonia




Title: Magonia
Author: Maria Headley
Series: Magonia #1
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy
Publication Date: April 28th, 2015
My Rating: 2 Stars

Aza Ray 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—and as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war is coming. Magonia and Earth are on the cusp of a reckoning. And in Aza’s hands lies the fate of the whole of humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?

  I was given an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

  Aza was diagnosed with a lung diseased that made it hard for her to breathe ever since she was a baby. The symptoms are so weird that what she has has been named after her. Lately, she has been hearing her name being called, and seeing a ship in the clouds. One day, she wakes up on Magonia, the ship in the clouds, and finds that she can breathe normally up there.

  Magonia was a really weird read for me. Yes, the concept and plot was very unique, but I found myself confused for the most part of the book. What I really hated about it was that I was already halfway through the book, yet I didn't know a thing about the Magonian world yet. It was like all the information was pushed into the latter half of the book, and even then I felt like there were still things which I didn't know.

  The world building was not that good for me. As I said a while ago, I was confused most of the time and the information I have regarding Magonia was really few. Maybe it's because I'm not used to Fantasy, maybe it's because I've never read a book like this before, but I was really weirded out by the bird creatures.

  Another thing is that Aza's tone was really weird for me. In the beginning and near the end of the book, Aza talked in that kind of sarcastic, but not-so-sarcastic tone which were chopped off in between sentences. In the middle, she talked normally. I really didn't like the chopped off sentences, and I didn't like the inconsistency. Also, Jason talked in that chopped off manner too, making them sound like one character instead of two.

  The book didn't really hold my attention. Originally, right after reading this book, I gave it 3 stars. But now that I've had time to think about it, I've decided to give it 2 stars instead. I realized that the only thing that I liked about this book was it's originality. Other than that, I didn't really enjoy the story very much.

  Is there something wrong with me for not liking this book as much as everyone did? *sigh*


2 sigh-worthy stars


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