Book Blog #163: Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Title: Magonia
Author: Maria Dahvana Headley
# of Pages: 320 (hardback)
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: 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?
Review: I'm genuinely impressed.

I bought this book in a spur of the moment decision and only looked at the synopsis/ratings after I got home. It worried me because the average rating was 3.76, and the plot didn't seem like something I'd be interested in. Nevertheless, as it was one of  the smaller (therefore quicker) reads on my shelf, I began to read  it.

Magonia has been called a combination between The Fault in Our Stars and Neil Gaiman's Stardust. While I haven't read Stardust, I read Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book and loved it. With The Fault in Our Stars being one of my favorite books, Magonia had big shoes to fill.

The writing style, especially in the beginning, is somewhat similar to John Green's. Aza seems to be a quirky teenage girl who unfortunately suffers from a mysterious disease, which is strikingly similar to Hazel in TFIOS. The writing style and tone of the story in the beginning is different from the rest of the book, and Headley makes it her own.

I loved this book because I was really engaged in the plot, and I felt connected to the characters. There are some POV changes, which always irks me and was unnecessary.

I recommend reading Magonia! If there will be a sequel, I definitely plan on reading it.