Rezension zu Magonia von M. D. Headley
SHIPS IN THE SKY, BIRDS IN MY LUNG AND AN URGE TO SING
von Janinasmind
Kurzmeinung: very unique in an crazy-what-the-hell-kind-of-cool-but-also-super-weird-way.
Rezension
Janinasmindvor 7 Jahren
"It's a dream of floating, and the ocean is not water but wind."
Until the 30% mark I 100% LOVED IT. Then, the weirdness kind of got to me. I love magical realism so I was intrigued to begin with and super duper excited! I really enjoyed the witty and sarcastic banter between Aza and Jason and that Aza was kind of unlikeable at first. She seemed stand-off-ish and brash and all-around-sassy. WHICH I LIKED. It was written in a way that made it easy for me to just read on and on and on and on. Then, the bird thing started. And THE SHIPS IN THE SKY (so cool) and as a reader you just knew that shit was about to go down.
"In case you missed it," I say, playing the illegal card, "my only friend died."
"She wasn't your only friend," Eve says, impervious to my attempt.
"Name another," I say.
She can't."
Aza died/came back and suddenly SHE IS IN MAGONIA (That's the name of the land/country in the sky) and she has A BIRD IN HER RIBCAGE/LUNG and they can make stuff happen BY SINGING and it's weird but still cool but still weird.
It was something I never read before. So there is that. I suppose that's good but that doesn't mean it was good in the literal sense. It was interesting, I can give you that. It was fascinating (at times) and the concept and the descriptions were really unique. I think the story lost me at the middle because it didn't develop the way I wanted it to. For such an extraordinary plot the story progressed in a really ordinary way and that disappointed me greatly. Suddenly it was all special-snowflake-has-to-stop-the-end-of-the-world and JUST NO.
There were moments WHERE I LOVED THE SCENES SO MUCH (The call between Aza and her mother) (Aza and Caru) (Jason and fake!Aza) (Aza and fake!Aza) and THINGS I HATED (Dai and Aza) (the big 'fight') and THINGS I FOUND POSITIVELY CREEPY (the Skin!!!!) and THINGS THAT WERE SO COOL AS A CONCEPT (stormsharks, sky-pirates, the Breath).
"I feel like I'm in a book written by George Orwell."
But in the end all the cool concepts fall away because I just didn't enjoy it anymore after some time. I kept waiting for someting A-MAZING and OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD and NEW and FRESH and ORIGINAL and I just didn't get that. I do think that Headley is a good writer, though. I think she can be really great and I hope she writes more novels.
Until the 30% mark I 100% LOVED IT. Then, the weirdness kind of got to me. I love magical realism so I was intrigued to begin with and super duper excited! I really enjoyed the witty and sarcastic banter between Aza and Jason and that Aza was kind of unlikeable at first. She seemed stand-off-ish and brash and all-around-sassy. WHICH I LIKED. It was written in a way that made it easy for me to just read on and on and on and on. Then, the bird thing started. And THE SHIPS IN THE SKY (so cool) and as a reader you just knew that shit was about to go down.
"In case you missed it," I say, playing the illegal card, "my only friend died."
"She wasn't your only friend," Eve says, impervious to my attempt.
"Name another," I say.
She can't."
Aza died/came back and suddenly SHE IS IN MAGONIA (That's the name of the land/country in the sky) and she has A BIRD IN HER RIBCAGE/LUNG and they can make stuff happen BY SINGING and it's weird but still cool but still weird.
It was something I never read before. So there is that. I suppose that's good but that doesn't mean it was good in the literal sense. It was interesting, I can give you that. It was fascinating (at times) and the concept and the descriptions were really unique. I think the story lost me at the middle because it didn't develop the way I wanted it to. For such an extraordinary plot the story progressed in a really ordinary way and that disappointed me greatly. Suddenly it was all special-snowflake-has-to-stop-the-end-of-the-world and JUST NO.
There were moments WHERE I LOVED THE SCENES SO MUCH (The call between Aza and her mother) (Aza and Caru) (Jason and fake!Aza) (Aza and fake!Aza) and THINGS I HATED (Dai and Aza) (the big 'fight') and THINGS I FOUND POSITIVELY CREEPY (the Skin!!!!) and THINGS THAT WERE SO COOL AS A CONCEPT (stormsharks, sky-pirates, the Breath).
"I feel like I'm in a book written by George Orwell."
But in the end all the cool concepts fall away because I just didn't enjoy it anymore after some time. I kept waiting for someting A-MAZING and OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD and NEW and FRESH and ORIGINAL and I just didn't get that. I do think that Headley is a good writer, though. I think she can be really great and I hope she writes more novels.