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kaite's review
5.0
This can also be read at my blog: my way by Starlight
Okay team the problem with reading amazing ARCs? The fact that it means sequels are that much further away. Thanks to my friend Katie at Book Ink Reviews for the amazing recommendation!
Magpie's Song, oh my goodness, what can I say except for the fact that this book checked off all the things I want a book to be. Well developed characters with an interesting backstory and several layers? Check. World building enough to stand up to scrutiny and challenge the characters? Check. Both internal and external problems? Check. A varied cast of characters, including realistic supporting characters? Check. Potential romance that was a slow build and only added to the plot, wasn't the whole plot? Double check. And to top it all off we get a floating city, a clockwork dragon, and half-breed children immune to what is akin to the plague? Color me beyond interested.
I adored Magpie's Song. After all who doesn't love a main character who's a bit of a scoundrel? I love Raggy Maggy for that reason. At the moments when I often wanted her to snap back, she did. The sass runs deep in this one guys. And her interaction with other characters? Real, interesting, and complex.
Also all those cute little nursery rhymes at the beginning of the chapters? I almost want to go back end reread them. Somehow I think they'll be important. But truly, this steampunk-esqe novel is going places. We kept getting snippets of a prophecy, which doesn't even come into play at all yet. The main characters aren't paying it any heed which can only mean to me that we either get a lot of action in the next book to resolve the build up from this story, or The IronHeart Chronicles is going to be a multiple chapter wonder.
And world building, Pang has done a wonderful job with the Victorian city of BrightStone. They all dance so well together and yet there are so many layers. She shows in the gaps within classes too. Between the sparkling Meridions, who are literally a class above in their floating city, the BrightStone natives, and lastly but perhaps most interestingly their Moon Children half-breed offspring. The Moon Children to me are perhaps the most interesting, with their own divisions, struggles, motivations, and questionable origins.
All-in-all, I cannot recommend a book more highly. Please, just go read get it, i promise you won't regret it.
Thank you to NetGalley, and Allison Pang for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review!
Okay team the problem with reading amazing ARCs? The fact that it means sequels are that much further away. Thanks to my friend Katie at Book Ink Reviews for the amazing recommendation!
Magpie's Song, oh my goodness, what can I say except for the fact that this book checked off all the things I want a book to be. Well developed characters with an interesting backstory and several layers? Check. World building enough to stand up to scrutiny and challenge the characters? Check. Both internal and external problems? Check. A varied cast of characters, including realistic supporting characters? Check. Potential romance that was a slow build and only added to the plot, wasn't the whole plot? Double check. And to top it all off we get a floating city, a clockwork dragon, and half-breed children immune to what is akin to the plague? Color me beyond interested.
I adored Magpie's Song. After all who doesn't love a main character who's a bit of a scoundrel? I love Raggy Maggy for that reason. At the moments when I often wanted her to snap back, she did. The sass runs deep in this one guys. And her interaction with other characters? Real, interesting, and complex.
Also all those cute little nursery rhymes at the beginning of the chapters? I almost want to go back end reread them. Somehow I think they'll be important. But truly, this steampunk-esqe novel is going places. We kept getting snippets of a prophecy, which doesn't even come into play at all yet. The main characters aren't paying it any heed which can only mean to me that we either get a lot of action in the next book to resolve the build up from this story, or The IronHeart Chronicles is going to be a multiple chapter wonder.
And world building, Pang has done a wonderful job with the Victorian city of BrightStone. They all dance so well together and yet there are so many layers. She shows in the gaps within classes too. Between the sparkling Meridions, who are literally a class above in their floating city, the BrightStone natives, and lastly but perhaps most interestingly their Moon Children half-breed offspring. The Moon Children to me are perhaps the most interesting, with their own divisions, struggles, motivations, and questionable origins.
All-in-all, I cannot recommend a book more highly. Please, just go read get it, i promise you won't regret it.
Thank you to NetGalley, and Allison Pang for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review!
thebooksanctum's review
4.0
As a first try at a steampunk novel, I have to say I really enjoyed it. I've been a fan of the idea for a long time, so it didn't take long to adjust to it all. The world building was fantastic, if slightly confusing. There's a lot of terms in this novel that I think needed to be explained a bit more, or at least earlier on. Things like the Tithe, which is a huge part of this book, weren't explained for a quite a while, which left me very confused for a lot of it, though it cleared up nicely once it was explained.
Generally, I liked the plot too, as well as the characters, but again, I feel like there needed to be more explanation there at points. That could just be me though, and how I was reading it. I never really got the chance to sit down and read this book solidly, like I have others, it was more in dribs and drabs. I may have gotten it more if I'd been able to read it in larger chunks, who knows.
On the other whole though, it was a very enjoyable book. left on a bit of a cliffhanger, with a lot left to be explained. I'll be on the look out for the second one!
Generally, I liked the plot too, as well as the characters, but again, I feel like there needed to be more explanation there at points. That could just be me though, and how I was reading it. I never really got the chance to sit down and read this book solidly, like I have others, it was more in dribs and drabs. I may have gotten it more if I'd been able to read it in larger chunks, who knows.
On the other whole though, it was a very enjoyable book. left on a bit of a cliffhanger, with a lot left to be explained. I'll be on the look out for the second one!
camilleareads's review
5.0
“Magpie? What kind of name is that?”
“I like pretty things. Jingle. Jewels. And eyes.”
“Eyes?”
“Aye. Shiny. Fun to pluck out.”
This could be a fantasy book…
buuuuut it also be dystopian…
Oh! Look! A clockwork dragon!
While my attempt to categorize the genre of Magpie’s Song is clumsy, the story telling is anything but! I cannot tell you enough how well Allison Pang blends these elements together perfectly.
The world building of Brightstone is intricate and well detailed; we come to know about them through Raggy Maggy – the main character of the book. However, because we are limited to Magpie’s perspective, little is known about the upper caste: Meridions. All we know is that they are a race who live on a floating city that is linked to Brightstone where the middle and lower caste survive.
Brightstone is more of a slum than an actual city; I’m honestly curious if people can actually get out of Brightstone, say, if they become rich or enlist in certain services. Because the whole atmosphere of the place is filled with corruption and violence as we are introduced to gang-like clans, a plague called the Rot, conspiracies, and a death that remains unsolved til the end.
The concept of Moon Children highlights issues like prejudice through the “untouchability” of these Moon Children. No one knows exactly how they came to be though there are speculations, and for some reason, Moon Children are immune to the Rot. This should hold them as some special miracle, right?
Nope!
Instead Moon Children are fetishized in brothels, and are also considered “sin eaters” among the “religious”. And this is the world our protagonist Raggy Maggy comes from who I loved to bits, by the way!
She’s foul mouthed, brave, and harsh. She’s a child born for freedom. Brightstone is the only world Magpie has ever known, and Sparrow the only friend she had. Crisis upon crisis falls onto Magpie, and it’s interesting to read how she relies on her limited experiences and skills as thief and scavenger to make sense of things. While Maggy is no stranger to the injustice around her I get a feeling that it’s not peace she wants as I can sense a streak of bloodlust in her, especially after losing her friend and clan.
The secondary characters we are introduced to complicate Maggy’s life much more than she likes, and they’re all very, very grey. Each of them carry their own secrets that adds a complex layer to the story making it more of a character driven story line.
The physical copy of the book I received is so beautiful! The cover is gritty and dark; I especially love the rhymes that start each chapter, it’s a completely different and unique experience for me. They add to overall ominous feeling of the story.
Magpie’s Song is one of those books that I would recommend readers to go into without reading the blurb.
Follow me at Camillea Reads and on IG @biblio.khaleesi for more bookish adventures
“I like pretty things. Jingle. Jewels. And eyes.”
“Eyes?”
“Aye. Shiny. Fun to pluck out.”
This could be a fantasy book…
buuuuut it also be dystopian…
Oh! Look! A clockwork dragon!
While my attempt to categorize the genre of Magpie’s Song is clumsy, the story telling is anything but! I cannot tell you enough how well Allison Pang blends these elements together perfectly.
The world building of Brightstone is intricate and well detailed; we come to know about them through Raggy Maggy – the main character of the book. However, because we are limited to Magpie’s perspective, little is known about the upper caste: Meridions. All we know is that they are a race who live on a floating city that is linked to Brightstone where the middle and lower caste survive.
Brightstone is more of a slum than an actual city; I’m honestly curious if people can actually get out of Brightstone, say, if they become rich or enlist in certain services. Because the whole atmosphere of the place is filled with corruption and violence as we are introduced to gang-like clans, a plague called the Rot, conspiracies, and a death that remains unsolved til the end.
The concept of Moon Children highlights issues like prejudice through the “untouchability” of these Moon Children. No one knows exactly how they came to be though there are speculations, and for some reason, Moon Children are immune to the Rot. This should hold them as some special miracle, right?
Nope!
Instead Moon Children are fetishized in brothels, and are also considered “sin eaters” among the “religious”. And this is the world our protagonist Raggy Maggy comes from who I loved to bits, by the way!
She’s foul mouthed, brave, and harsh. She’s a child born for freedom. Brightstone is the only world Magpie has ever known, and Sparrow the only friend she had. Crisis upon crisis falls onto Magpie, and it’s interesting to read how she relies on her limited experiences and skills as thief and scavenger to make sense of things. While Maggy is no stranger to the injustice around her I get a feeling that it’s not peace she wants as I can sense a streak of bloodlust in her, especially after losing her friend and clan.
The secondary characters we are introduced to complicate Maggy’s life much more than she likes, and they’re all very, very grey. Each of them carry their own secrets that adds a complex layer to the story making it more of a character driven story line.
The physical copy of the book I received is so beautiful! The cover is gritty and dark; I especially love the rhymes that start each chapter, it’s a completely different and unique experience for me. They add to overall ominous feeling of the story.
Magpie’s Song is one of those books that I would recommend readers to go into without reading the blurb.
Follow me at Camillea Reads and on IG @biblio.khaleesi for more bookish adventures
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