Review: Magpie's Song by Allison Pang

So, this was a later request of mine from Netgalley, but as it was soon to be published (August 8th) I thought I'd read and review it before my other Netgalley acceptances!

So, as I said, this book is due to be published on August 8th, and before I even review it I'll tell you it is definitely one to read! I was drawn to the cover on Netgalley, and the description had me intrigued, so I decided to be hopeful and request it. And, voila! It got accepted, and I was so happy, as it was my third acceptance from Netgalley!

Here it is:

In the slums of BrightStone, Moon Children are worth less than the scrap they must collect to survive. It doesn’t matter that these abandoned half-breeds are part-Meridian with their ancestors hailing from the technologically advanced city that floats above the once-thriving, now plague-ridden BrightStone. Instead they are rejected by both their ancestral societies and forced to live on the outskirts of civilization, joining clans simply to survive. Not to mention their role as Tithe, leading the city’s infected citizens deep into the Pits where their disease can be controlled. 

Nineteen-year-old Raggy Maggy is no different, despite the mysterious heart-shaped panel that covers her chest. Or at least she wasn’t… Not until her chance discovery of a Meridian-built clockwork dragon—and its murdered owner. When the Inquestors policing the city find Maggy at the scene of the crime, she quickly turns into their prime suspect. Now she’s all anyone can talk about. Even her clan leader turns his back on her, leading her to rely on an exiled doctor and a clanless Moon Child named Ghost to keep her hidden. In return, all she has to do is help them find a cure for the plague they believe was not exactly accidental. Yet doing so might mean risking more than just her life. It also might be the only key to uncovering the truth about the parents—and the past—she knows nothing about.

Isn't the cover just beautiful? I had an e-book version of this book, but for the cover alone I am very tempted to buy the paperback version when it is out. In the kindle version, the breaks in the book are separated by the pretty feathers illustration like the ones on the cover, and it makes the book all the more spectacular (I hope it's like this in the paperback too).

I liked this book because it had so much going on in it, it was never slow, it was fast-paced and busy and I love books like that. For me, books that are fast paced and never-stopping are much quicker to get through and this book especially made me feel like I was trying to keep pace with Maggy, whether she was running over rooftops, shimmying up drain-pipes or just trying to find a place to hide. It was just such an action packed book. There is even a little bit of a romance for those of you who like that in your books (a bit of a slow-burn though).

The main character Maggy is my favourite, though I do love some of the other characters too. Come on though, she has an iron heart, a mysterious one at that, one which no-one knows where it actually came from, other than that it is technology from the flying city of Meridion (which no-one has gone to since the mysterious plague broke out in Brightstone). It is the one mysterious thing in this series that I am itching to find out about: why Maggy, an orphan, was given this iron heart in the first place.

I'll warn you now, the end of the book will leave you wanting more as it stops just as you expected more action (I even tweeted the author Allison Pang and told her how much I wanted to read the next book in the series even before the first one had come out).

One thing I actually thought was great about the book was that at the beginning of each chapter was a little rhyme. Granted, they are similar to our rhymes, but with a much darker twist to them, but they were interesting little starts to the chapters and kept me amused through out waiting for the next one on the next chapters.

The next book in the series will be called Magpie's Fall (publication in December) and I know I will definitely be trying to get a copy of it! 

I definitely would recommend this book to Fantasy and SciFi lovers out there, and it can be bought from August 8th!