I had very high expectation of this book. I loved the cover and the back cover summary was so appealing. But honestly I was a little disappointed.
Headley has an interesting writing style. And if you like knowing what your characters think all the time, this book is for you. For me the teen anguish is a bit much. I felt like I was reliving high school, unsure of where I fit in etc. So for me not a great read.
I also felt like for 200 of the 300 pages of this book, we were talking about feelings and then the last 100 pages we tried to actually get to the story line.
Magonia tells the story of Aza Ray Boyle dying and Aza Ray Quel returning home, or atleast to a home she didn’t know existed. Being torn between a new wonderous world and the one she left behind with a family and a boy crush. She finds she is destined for great things, according to her mother who seems to want refrain from telling her exactly what those great things are.
Headley touches on many current day issues, and although it is important to have an underlying message, I think there were far to many to effectively catch on to one.
That being said, I found Magonia to be a magical world, one can easily imagine through Headley’s amazing descriptions. This women has nailed world creation perfectly. You can almost feel the struggles and see the splendours of the ships. Those last 100 pages made me pick up the second book.
As for the fact that this is my first “spaced themed” (and I say that with great hesitation as this is not really set in space.) I found it was a great starting point to ease you into fantasy sci-fi. (an official categorization btw.)
Where is home when you were born in the stars?
Aza Ray returns to earth, starts dating the annoying nerd boy crush Jason. (Dai is so much more attractive in my opinion – the bad boy thing was a lot better than the insecure lanky one who always knows better.) But Aza never truly settles back in on Earth. She is continuously aware of Magonia.
Then the overprotective boyfriend does something stupid, the world becomes a great big mess and more teen angst.
So let me start off by saying you do not have to read Magonia to actually read this. Even though it is a sequel, Magonia is pretty much fully summarised in the first few chapters of this book.
I had such a high expectation as the plot concept is brilliant. Especially after battling through the entire Magonia build up, but I felt overwhelmed with the characters insecurities and thoughts making it quite difficult to follow the actual story line.
Reading Caffeinated 