Review: Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Neil Gaiman’s Stardust meets John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars in this fantasy about a girl caught between two worlds…two races…and two destinies.
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?

Publishes in US: April 28th 2015 by HarperCollins
Genre: fantasy meets contemporary
Source: Harper Teen via edelweiss
Series? think so

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    I wanted to read Magonia because I was first drawn to the premise of the girl who has these respiratory issues because illness books have always appealed to me. But then I realized it was a fantasy and she is misplaced--because in this universe in the skies, she is strong and has no illness. 

   I like the main character Aza she was very smart and full of life even though she was so sick. her and her best friend Jason were pretty obscure people. they know all kinds of random knowledge and we're constantly challenging each other. since they've been friends for years and years since they were 5 they have a very special and deep bond.

    As part of her disease she sometimes runs fevers and hallucinates and when she all the sudden sees a ship in the sky, everyone assumes that it is a hallucination. But when they find a feather, of all things, in her lungs then we start to see the fantasy aspect of the story. jason is very well read so he's heard of mythology and such of people claiming to come from a place called Magonia throughout history and when they are on land, they say they for there by falling from the sky. there is a story event of a man who came out of nowhere with a rope and an anchor and it appeared like he was drowning in the air. the story especially stuck with Aza because of her lungs and her breathing problems that seems to be very unique to her and the disorder is even named after her.

      After seeing the ship, she sees all sorts of birds along with crazy weather. Them she starts to think that the birds are talking to her and of course that is a link with the feather. She is in her room and thinks that a bird flies into her chest and is speaking through her. Next thing we see her rushed to the hospital and then we know we are all of the sudden out of Aza and in Jason's perspective and it seems like Aza has passed away.

    Jason works hard, using all of his knowledge and connections into looking into ships  in the sky. He hears her screaming at him from a distance at her funeral and he doesn't stop searching.

    The world building takes a whole new step as we get back into Aza's perspective. She is all of the sudden able to breath, and her body feels strong. She learns a lot about her past, and shocking secrets about her family, and why her lungs were so bad on the ground. She tries to grasp the differences in this whole new species that she is a part of. They work with the birds, their skin is different, so is their language and thinking. She is surrounded by a whole new cast of characters and she is rightly suspicious of everyone. But she does form bonds with some of them, and some are good decisions and others lead to plot developments and twists she didn't want to believe.

    I enjoyed this book, and although it felt like some parts got a little slow, I was easily distracted by other things going on, and I am sure that had something to do with it. But I certainly want to keep reading, and find out more about this strange world in the sky and how Aza fits into it. I also am eager to see more of the chemistry and deep bond between her and Jason, how the alliances she made while sailing will play out.

Bottom Line: Intricate world building, relatable main character, and fun read.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Do you believe there could be other life we don't know about?