Tolog Review: Magonia

Magonia
by Maria Dahvana Headley
reviewed by Sophia Cotman

Maria Dahvana Headley’s fantasy novel, Magonia, follows the story of Aza Ray Boyle, a young girl who appears to be drowning in thin air, and Jason Kerwin, her best friend. When Aza was born, her lungs would not function properly and she began to suffer from a mysterious lung disease. Throughout Aza’s life, Jason, along with her family, watched her suffer from the unknown. In the hospital, she claimed she saw ships in the sky, which made her family and the doctors think she was hallucinating. However, her family, Jason, and the doctors constantly tried to find cures and treatments for her disease, until one day, she passed away. When Aza died, everyone mourned her death. However, little did her family and Jason know that Aza had not died, but had been taken to Magonia, a sea in the sky. Magonia was the place she hallucinated, the place that everyone had called non-existent. There, Aza realizes she was not sick, she just could not breath because land was not her home, Magonia was. Throughout the novel, Aza realizes her true self and learns what she was born to do, sing with the birds in the clouds. 

To keep the novel fresh and exciting, Headley alternates between the perspective of Aza Ray Boyle and Jason Kerwin to keep the readers entertained with multiple opinions rather than one single-minded narrator. Additionally, Headley’s use of different perspectives helps link the two worlds, Magonia and Earth, which helps the readers remember Aza and Jason’s relationship. Even though Jason and Aza share everything with each other, the two different narrations help the readers separate their thoughts and opinions on one another. Headley also uses many different types of figurative language to further strengthen her writing and the novel’s story. For example, when Aza compares her disease to the Bermuda Triangle, she helps the readers understand the mystery of her disease. The readers begin to empathize with her and her fate and realize Aza’s disease is a mystery that has not been solved, and most likely never will be. 

Throughout the novel, I found myself pondering what it would be like to realize your life was a lie and the one thing that made you special was actually because you did not belong where you thought you did. Maria Dahvana Headley does a remarkable job at making the readers reflect on the major themes of the novel and how they relate to each other. Furthermore, I would recommend this novel to anyone who is looking for a novel about adventure and fantasy that has a strong theme. Headley uses narrations and figurative language to further illustrate the themes of her novel, which helps the readers become aware of their surroundings. Even though Headley’s novel is slightly repetitive and confusing at times, towards the end it has a clear and meaningful message that is bound to make any reader think about what is important to them. Overall, Maria Dahvana Headley’s novel, Magonia, should be read by anyone looking for an awe-inspiring, fantasy adventure novel.