“Take it from one whose role has been, for years, The Girl I Knew Really Well Who Tragically Died One Day…”

Aza Ray is sick, so sick that they named her disease after her. The problem is that her body doesn’t breathe in air properly. Aza isn’t one of those saintly sick kids, though. She’s angry and snarky and I just love her. She spends all her time with her childhood BFF Jason, and they are adorable, from alligator suits to giant squid videos.

When Aza sees a ship in the sky, she thinks she is hallucinating. Jason researches and finds out about Magonia, a city in the clouds, and accounts of ships sailing through the sky and sailors who can’t breath on the land. (It’s cool because it’s an actual legend.) Things escalate with Aza; she starts to hear someone calling her name. Birds flock on her lawn, then one flies in her mouth. Finally, she dies…and wakes up somewhere else.

I really liked Magonia. It did a great job mixing the teen medical dramedy stuff with fantasy.

You can read my full review here.