Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley | Audiobook Review

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MY THOUGHTS

Magonia is the debut book written by Maria Dahvana Headley and starts a new fantasy series of birdlike beings living in the clouds, in a world called Magonia.  The heroine, Aza Ray has a disease.  A rare disease that only she has.  A disease that has kept her from breathing normally.  Until her 16^th birthday…

I was intrigued by this story when I first heard about it.  The book cover is also eye-catching so I decided to listen to it via audiobook.  I love that it is read by two narrators, the female reads Aza Ray’s part and the male reads Jason, Aza’s best friend.

Magonia is a very interesting read (although I had problems with parts of it so…).  It tells the story of Aza Ray, a girl who has a very rare disease that has kept her from breathing normally.  She has one best friend named Jason who has been in love with her (there are hints of this all through the book and I knew this was what it was).  When Aza Ray “dies” she wakes up on a ship floating in the clouds and hears about Magonia.  Aza Ray finds out that she is not human at all, but a daughter of the ship’s captain who was stolen when she was a baby.

I love the premise of the story.  I loved the relationship between Jason and Aza.  While listening to the story, I was found myself rooting for both of them, wanting them to reunite and be together.  The world building was perfect.  I loved how the author slowly introduced us to the world of Magonia since it wasn’t familiar to me.

The plot was fast-paced and full of adventure.  There were times where the parts dragged but overall it was a fantastic ride.

I did have a few issues of the book.  See, [spoiler]Aza Ray was stolen when she was a year old and was left with a human family who also have a one-year-old daughter of the same name (huh?).  Now, the family’s daughter was stolen so Aza Ray could take her place which got me to thinking that suuuuure, babies look the same but won’t the parents know the difference?  I know if families who have twin babies that don’t confuse the two babies so I don’t know how this happened (right?).[/spoiler]  I thought this was a loophole in the story.  Other than this bit, I was thoroughly entertained.

I am definitely looking forward to the upcoming books in this series.  I must say that I haven’t read anything like this before!

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