Review: Aerie by Maria Dahvana Headley

Aerie by Maria Dahvana Headley

Book Two of the Magonia series

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication Date: October 4, 2016

Rating: 3 stars

Source: eARC from Edelweiss

Summary (from Goodreads):

Where is home when you were born in the stars?

Aza Ray is back on earth. Her boyfriend Jason is overjoyed. Her family is healed. She’s living a normal life, or as normal as it can be if you’ve spent the past year dying, waking up on a sky ship, and discovering that your song can change the world.

As in, not normal. Part of Aza still yearns for the clouds, no matter how much she loves the people on the ground.

When Jason’s paranoia over Aza’s safety causes him to make a terrible mistake, Aza finds herself a fugitive in Magonia, tasked with opposing her radical, bloodthirsty, recently-escaped mother, Zal Quel, and her singing partner Dai. She must travel to the edge of the world in search of a legendary weapon, The Flock, in a journey through fire and identity that will transform her forever.

In this stunning sequel to the critically acclaimed Magonia, one girl must make an impossible choice between two families, two homes—and two versions of herself.

What I Liked:

I actually think this book was okay, but I didn't love it. It was worth reading because I had read Magonia (and didn't hate it), but the duology in general wasn't really worth reading. For some reason, I really thought this was a trilogy series! A duology series worked so much better for this series. 

It's been a year since Aza's last birthday, when she was dying and died and was in Magonia. Her family and her boyfriend are so happy, but Aza isn't. Deep down, she longs to be in Magonia, soaring above the clouds with her heartbird. And Jason, her boyfriend, knows it. There are things that Jason isn't telling her, things that have been set in motion. But there are things that Aza hasn't told Jason. When the time comes, will Aza choose life on earth, or life on Magonia?

Like I said, I didn't know this was a duology! I really like that the series consists of only two books. The ending of Magonia was huge, too intense for a "book one of three". The author set the series up so that this book would contain the big showdown, the big choice. This was well-done. 

Things I liked - I remembered next to nothing from Magonia, but the author made it easy to get back into the story and the world. I kid you not, I remember just about nothing. I forgot Jason's name, I had no idea who Eli was (Aza's human sister), I forgot what the Magonians were. But the author provides a lot of information from book one, interspersed throughout the story.

I also liked that this book was fairly short, and it was interesting enough to almost be a page-turner. I wouldn't say I understood everything that was going on, but I was never close to not finishing, at any point. There was a lot going on, though not at first. 

About the romance - I guess I liked it. I'll talk more about Aza and Jason individually below, but in terms of them being together, I guess I liked them. It was clear that they loved each other and were very devoted to each other. There is no love triangle. 

The ending is pretty satisfying, and wraps things up somewhat well. I'm still a little confused about Magonia and human-Earth, but I think the author left certain things open to interpretation (which I dislike, most of the time). But the ending was pretty good!

What I Did Not Like:

There were several things that I didn't like, which brought my rating down. For one, the beginning of the novel is incredibly slow, and there is so much moping and internal guilt happening. Jason is paranoid about Magonians coming down to steal Aza, and he also feels guilty about... something (which is revealed in the book). He's mopey because he knows that Aza wants to be in the sky, not here on Earth. Meanwhile, Aza is in denial, yet she is slowly starting to accept the fact that she really doesn't want to be on Earth with her family (which makes her feel bad).

Basically there is a ton of moping and angst and it was so over the top. I'm not sure if it was just how the author wrote the inner monologues of each character (this book is written in Aza's and Jason's alternating first-person POV), but there was something seriously overdone about the moping and complaining. 

To make matters worse, there is so much relationship drama in this book. Aza and Jason have a big fight about things, and then a chapter or two later, we (and Aza) find out what Jason has been hiding, and there is MORE drama. 

Let me be frank - sometimes, drama is totally warranted and necessary for the story. Aza had every right to be angry with Jason. But she overreacted, and the way her reactions were written, it was just so over the top. Way too dramatic. Just too much. It's like the author was trying too hard, trying too hard to write a teenager's reaction to something like that. Aza seemed so childish. And Jason! He spends the entire book suffering, drowning in guilt and despair. He's badly hurt physically and emotionally, and all for Aza. This makes me sad... Aza suffered very little, but Jason was tossed around and hurt and he didn't quite care because he thought he deserved it. 

The ending confused me a little. Heck, the whole book is confusing at times, but the ending wasn't entirely clear. I got the general idea, and it seemed nice, but the logistics didn't make sense to me.

Basically, this book was okay. It definitely did its job as a conclusion novel. The author got me back into the story and the world well. But the drama was just way too much, especially in terms of Aza and Jason's relationship, and, like Magonia, this book was confusing.

Would I Recommend It:

I find it hard to recommend this book, even if you read Magonia. If you really loved Magonia, then this is definitely worth the read. But if you're like me and barely remembered a thing about Magonia, don't even bother. And if you haven't read Magonia, definitely don't bother.

Rating:

3 stars. Meh. Not bad, I can see the appeal of the author - she has an interesting writing style. But this story was weird, confusing, and not great. I don't think this author's books are for me, but that's okay! Now I'm sure.

Author Website | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Was this review helpful? Please let me know in the comments section!

Swoon Thursday (#188): Aerie by Maria Dahvana Headley

- From the book you’re currently reading, or one you just finished, tell us what made you SWOON. What got your heart pounding, your skin tingling, and your stomach fluttering

- Try to make the swoon excerpt 140 characters (or less), if you are going to tweet about it. Use the hashtag #YABOUND when tweeting

This week, my swoon is from Aerie by Maria Dahvana Headley!

"Why do you look like that?" she asks me.

"Because I'm in love with you, stupid.," I tell her.

She runs a hand down my side and kisses me again. After a moment, I kiss her back. I try to live in that for the moment. It turns out, I can.

"I'm in love with you stupid too." she says. 

I roll over and feel her underneath me, her hip bones and ribs and elbows. I can smell the smoke from the ampersand star I gave her, and I can see her face in the light of the Magonion star she's sung into being.

I kiss this girl who is mine because of some miracle.

- eARC, 8%

Website | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

I thought Magonia was okay, but so far, I'm liking Aerie a lot!

Review: Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Book One of an untitled series

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication Date: April 28, 2015

Rating: 3 stars

Source: ARC sent by the publisher

Summary (from Goodreads):

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?

What I Liked:

I think I liked this one overall. I was a bit confused at times, and I think certain parts were rushed and other parts were too slow, but then I enjoyed the writing style and the fantasy. I could see myself reading the sequel, and that's what tipped this one over to three stars, versus two stars.

Aza has a rare, unknown disease that prevents her from ever being "normal": she gets sick a lot, like she can't breathe on Earth. It's a lung disease, but no one knows anything about it. The doctors have called it "Azaray Syndrome". One day, Aza dies. That is, her human body is buried, but Aza herself finds herself on a ship in the sky, in a world called Magonia. Aza now knows what she is and where she belongs, but she lived for fifteen years with "drowners" (humans). But Aza doesn't know what to do about her newly discovered powers, and she certainly doesn't want to let go of Jason, her best friend, whom she is in love with (and he her). In the end, her decision might cost her life - and the lives of many others.

This book is written with two perspectives, Aza's and Jason's. Both are in first person. I actually really liked this dual sharing of point-of-views, because one is on Earth (Jason), and one is in Magonia (Aza). Both perspectives are definitely necessary for the development of the story. Aza's life in Magonia is obviously a huge part of the story, and Jason;s refusal to believe that Aza is dead is almost as important. 

I think I like Aza. She has no clue what is going on when she wakes up on the ship in the air, and she's not afraid to let everyone know that she knows nothing. She doesn't understand everyone's expectations of her. She wants to go back to Earth, but slowly, she realizes that her place in Magonia. She meets her biological mother, the captain of the ship she's on. Zal (her biological mother) explains little, but Aza finds out that she has great power, and that someone put her on Earth as a baby, supposedly to save her from Maganwetar, the capital/government of the ships in the sky. 

Things are definitely more interesting in the sky than on the Earth. Don't get me wrong, I like Jason and the second part of the story (with Aza in Magonia, supposedly dead), but I didn't absolutely love the beginning of the story. The ships in the sky are quite intriguing, as are the fantasy elements of the story.

The world-building is a strange thing. The author does a lot of showing, rather than telling. This is great, because the imagery is very rich and clear. However, it was also strange, because I didn't know how much of the world-building was given by the author, and how much of it was my imagination, in my head. 

There is the ships in the sky, and there is the whole bird thing. The ships hold people that are birds - not even kidding. If my understanding is correct, the birds are like humans, and can morph into human-like beings. Aza, her mother, and Dai (the boy who is first in command) are not like most of those creatures - but they have birds in their chest (at least, Aza and Dai do. Zal's canwyr was lost long ago). This allows them to sing, and channel their power through singing. Wild, no?

No love triangle, and I hope it stays that way. There are two males in the story (I'm giving you a fair warning), but Jason is in love with Aza, and Aza is in love with Jason. Aza has a partner on the ship, her ethologidion, who is her singing partner, one whom she shares her power (and vice versa), and to whom she is bonded 

The plot is a bit slow, and then at the end, things happen all at once. Which actually isn't a terrible thing, but I wish there could have been more things occurring in the middle of the book too. I liked the ending, though I saw it coming (kind of). I know there has to be at least one more book in the series, given the ending - and the Publishers' Weekly rights report confirms this! I'll be reading the sequel (most likely), when available.

What I Did Not Like:

This one isn't getting five or four stars, though it does seem like I liked a lot of aspects of this book. I definitely wasn't really feeling the beginning of the book. This is where Aza and her condition is introduced, and her hallucinations are made known. But they're not hallucinations, because Aza really is hearing someone call her, and there really are ships in the sky. Somehow, the beginning didn't really hold my attention, though the world-building on Earth was solid and there was a lot of great detail.

However, I can understand why people on Goodreads stopped reading after a certain part, so soon at the beginning. Because the beginning, quite frankly, was boring. I think I saw people say something about the author's writing style - personally, I like it, but I can see why people wouldn't. It kind of adds to the lull of the story. Things start to pick up a little a few days after Aza is in Magonia, on the ship with her mother and the crew.

I definitely needed more information than was given in this book. I have a feeling that the author will reveal more about the world, the capital (Maganwetar), the fight for power and rights, why Aza is SO important... but not enough was made known in this book. I was always feeling like something (some THINGS) was lacking. I hope this is rectified in the next book.

So, confusion, some boredom, a desire for more information. My dislikes are a bit vague, but they were enough to make me drop my rating of this book. I'm not really sure what I think of this book, but overall, I think I liked it.

Would I Recommend It:

Ehhh. If this one wasn't already on your radar, then don't go crazy and inflate your TBR list. This one was good, but not a must-read (in my opinion). I liked it, but I'm not sure I would go pushing it on other people. If you already have it, read it!

Rating:

3 stars. It was okay? I think it could have easily blown me away, with the lyrical, unique writing style and really interesting fantastical world-building, but my analytic, scientific brain wanted more information! But I most likely will be reading the sequel, so that's a good sign!

Author Website | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Was this review helpful? Please let me know in the comments section!

USA Residents: enter to win a copy!