Aerie (Magonia #2) by Maria Dahvana Headley
Publisher: HarperCollins
Goodreads Summary: The stunning sequel to Maria Dahvana Headley’s critically acclaimed Magonia tells the story of one girl who must make an impossible choice between two families, two homes—and two versions of herself.

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.

Told in Maria Headley’s trademark John Green–meets–Neil Gaiman voice, Aerie is sure to satisfy the many readers who can’t wait to return to the spellbinding world of Magonia.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Review: Aza Ray is back on Earth in another human body. But part of her still longs for Magonia and the sky, her chance to truly sing agian. When her boyfriend Jason takes drastic measures to protect her, they backfire and send Aza spiralling right back up to Magonia and danger.

Zal has returned, evil coating her plans once more. She is ever he villain and so is Dai, (or is he?) I suppose you'll have to decide for yourself on how evil they both are. Once again told from the alternating perspectives of Jason and Aza, more about Magonia and its history is revealed, including some of Zal's past.

Aerie shows a different view from Magonia. While Magonia details quite a bit about Magonians and their country, Aerie shows us the human side; not all are oblivious to the fact that Magonia exists. I think it's important to have both these perspectives as they complement each other with their information, showing insight into why each species acts a certain way.

So maybe I like to go with the flow a bit while reading, but while I swayed toward liking him at the start of this novel I don't really like Jason at all. He's okay I suppose, but I've never truly liked him anywhere near as much as I like Dai. Jason just isn't the type of guy I'd fancy, his actions only confuse me about who he is loyal to.

Aerie is the brilliant sequel to Magonia. There are moments for you to laugh, scream and cry perfectly placed and balanced throughout the book. Magonia readers, you are sure to enjoy part two of Aza's tale on Earth and in Magonia.
Purchase Location: Borrowed From Library
Edition: Paperback
Buy the book: Book Depository
Recommended for: Fans of epic love tales, adventure and evil mothers.

Magonia (Magonia #1) by Maria Dahvana Headley
Publisher: Harper Collins
Goodreads Summary: 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?
Rating: 5 Stars
Review: I was entranced from the first chapter in Aza's POV. So sarcastic, witty, and insanely relatable. Magonia had as much action as possible, all squeezed into the 309 pages.

Before reading Magonia, I'd read Queen of Kings, but nothing else by Maria Dahvana Headley. Queen of Kings made me decide to read Magonia, and it was definitely worth it, a very strong YA debut.

Magonia was very original and strayed from standard YA; written in first person, present tense, I've never read anything like it, from the flying ships to the powerful singers.

Aza is an amazing main character. Very cynical, she loves to pretend she knows everything by researching crucial points and references on Wikia. Jason is also very interesting, he will do anything for Aza, and has a calculated and intelligent mind.

The plot of Magonia took many turns and kept me guessing throughout. Dai and Zal were my other two favourite characters, not as major but like all the characters, a crucial part of the story.
Purchase Location: Borrowed From Library
Edition: Paperback
Buy the book: Book Depository
Recommended for: Fans of Original YA and hidden worlds.

Queen of Kings by Maria Dahvana Headley
Publisher: Bantam Press
Goodreads Summary: There’s more than one path to immortality…

Once there was a queen of Egypt…a queen who became through magic something else…

The year is 30 BC. Octavian Caesar and his massed legions are poised to enter Alexandria. A messenger informs Egypt’s queen, Cleopatra, that her beloved Mark Antony has died by his own hand. Desperate to save her kingdom, resurrect her husband and protect all she holds dear, Cleopatra turns to the gods for help. Ignoring the warnings of those around her, she summons Sekhmet, goddess of death and destruction, and strikes a mortal bargain. And not even the wisest of Egypt’s scholar could have predicted what would follow…

For, in return for Antony’s soul, Sekhmet demands something in return: Cleopatra herself. And so Egypt’s queen is possessed. She becomes an immortal, shape-shifting, not-quite-human manifestation of a deity who seeks to destroy the world. Fighting to preserve something of her humanity, Cleopatra pursues Octavian back to Rome: she desires revenge, she yearns for her children…and she craves human blood.

It is a journey that will take her from the tombs of the Pharaohs to the great amphitheatres of imperial Rome and on, to Hell itself where, it seems, the fate of the world will finally be decided.

Blending authentic historical fiction and the darkest of fantasy, Queen of Kings is a spectacular and spellbinding feat of the imagination that fans of Neil Gaiman, Diana Gabaldon, George R.R. Martin, Patricia Briggs, Philippa Gregory, and Ridley Scott's Gladiator won’t want to miss.
Rating: 5+ Stars
Review: I haven't read Historical Fiction since 2013, and it used to be my favourite genre.

I saw Queen of Kings sitting there for $8, and I just HAD to buy it after reading the synopsis. There was this nagging thought at the back of my head that I'd heard of Maria Dahvana Headley, and I later realised it was because I'd seen copies of Magonia everywhere.

That day, I read the prologue. The next day, I continued and read chapter 1, 2, 3 and ta-da, I was hooked. I had to read it in parts, but it was a brilliant read that I really enjoyed.

I've also read My Story: Cleopatra, which was Cleopatra's fictional diary, and I thought Queen of Kings would be similar. But guess what? I. THOUGHT. WRONG.

The My Story books were my all time favourite in 2013, but I gave them up in 2014 and moved on to YA. In 2014 and 2015 I never, ever thought I'd pick up a historical fiction again. But, I did.

Queen of Kings was so much better than the My Story's! It wasn't boring at all, and I found that it was more like a novel as well as a history lesson in one, while with the My Story's it felt like I was reading a droning fictional history diary because I needed a history lesson.

I really recommend Queen of Kings to anyone who's read YA or enjoys Historical Fiction. I hadn't read Historical Fiction in so long, and Queen of Kings really brought me back into the genre. I can't wait to read Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley as well!
Purchase Location: Bought from The Warehouse Queenstown
Edition: Paperback
Buy the book: Amazon|Barnes & Noble
Recommended for: Fans of historical fiction.