This book is like nothing I have ever read. The characters are unlike any characters I have ever encountered (and I've encountered quite a few), yet they also feel like people I know, people I can relate to, people I am invested in from page one, word one. Aza Ray Boyle (and later Aza Ray Quel) is a refreshingly unique heroine and Maria Dahvana Headley breathes so much life into her with vibrant descriptions and witty dialogue that at times she seems to fly off the page.
Without giving too much away, Magonia is the story of a girl who grows up on Earth, but was born in the sky. She spends most of her life feeling her difference (in part because being sky-born makes it incredibly difficult for her to breath on Earth) but not knowing just how different she actually is. Until, of course, she discovers Magonia -- the land in the sky.
This book was so original that it stretched the bounds of my imagination. I found myself reading and re-reading Headley's descriptions of this world in the sky because at first read I couldn't get a full grasp on the imagery because I I didn't really have anything to compare it to. But at the same time, everything was just so beautiful. So bright and lush and intricate. How amazing it would be to spend a day walking around in Maria Dahvana Headley's imagination.
This is a must read.