Review of Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

(So, before I begin the review I just want to say that I recently got a job reviewing books. I will be placing the views on here too. If you have a book you would like me to review, feel free to contact me.)

Title: Magonia

Goodreads rating: 3.78 stars (3,707 reviews)

Genre: YA, Fantasy

Author: Maria Dahvana Headley

Pages: 320

Publisher: Harper Collins

Formats: Paper back, eBook/Kindle, Audiobook

Aza Ray seems to be your normal teenaged girl. Your normal dying teenage girl, that is. I know what you’re thinking. This is not a “The Fault in Our Stars” re-do. The similarities end with teenage girl with lung condition.

The novel starts off normal enough, but we quickly get the sense that something isn’t all that normal in Aza’s life. Despite the rare, debilitating disease she is inflicted with, there are other oddities that push themselves into Aza’s existence. Like the feather in her lung, the hallucinated ships in the sky or the birds that seem to stalk Aza’s every move, you get a sense that there is something about to happen, a mystery is about to reveal itself. So you turn the page …

“I'm dark matter. The universe inside of me is full of something, and science can't even shine a light on it. I feel like I'm mostly made of mysteries.” 
― Maria Dahvana Headley, Magonia

Although Aza is the main character there are also chapters from the point of view of her best friend, Jason. I enjoyed these chapters almost more than Aza’s. He is a neurotic over-thinker and the only person that believes Aza when she says that she sees ships in the sky.

When things take a turn for the worse and Aza is rushed off in an ambulance to the hospital, the mysteries begin to unravel, slowly revealing themselves and that is where the real fun (and heartache) begin.

Magonia is a beautifully woven tale, full of all the things you want from a Young Adult novel. Maria Dahvana Headley paints the world of Magonia in a way that when you look back on the book, you no longer see inked words on a page, but the images she illustrated in your mind.