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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
An interesting and complex world, I liked the characters although some of it was a little predictable for me.
The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson is the tale of a young girl, Piper, who lives alone in a shanty town outside the Meteor Fields. She works as a scrapper, collecting the junk that comes crashing to the ground along with the poisonous dust each meteor storm brings. She is talented with machines and can repair any small device to sell at market. Her father left to go work in the dangerous factories in the Dragonfly Territories, but he was killed before he could return for her.
Piper is surprised one day when she finds another young girl, Anna, among the wreckage of a caravan caught in a storm. Anna is unconscious, but Piper brings her home to try to help her. When Anna wakes, she can't remember who she is, but the two girls discover a dragonfly tattoo on Anna's arm that indicates she is protected by the king of the Dragonfly Territories. Piper hopes that getting Anna home will result in a reward large enough for Piper to leave the Meteor Fields and become a proper machinist in a better place. As they make their way, they must contend with a persistent wolf, a group of slavers and a very suspicious train operator.
The journey Piper and Anna make is treacherous and filled with excitement, but one thing I love about the book is that it is never implied that they aren't equal to the task because of their gender. They also make and admit their mistakes along the way. I really enjoyed this book. I think it would be a wonderful introduction to fantasy lit for younger and middle grade readers. I hope you'll read it.
Check out more of my reviews at SmartGirlsRead!
www.smartgirlsread.blogspot.com
Piper is surprised one day when she finds another young girl, Anna, among the wreckage of a caravan caught in a storm. Anna is unconscious, but Piper brings her home to try to help her. When Anna wakes, she can't remember who she is, but the two girls discover a dragonfly tattoo on Anna's arm that indicates she is protected by the king of the Dragonfly Territories. Piper hopes that getting Anna home will result in a reward large enough for Piper to leave the Meteor Fields and become a proper machinist in a better place. As they make their way, they must contend with a persistent wolf, a group of slavers and a very suspicious train operator.
The journey Piper and Anna make is treacherous and filled with excitement, but one thing I love about the book is that it is never implied that they aren't equal to the task because of their gender. They also make and admit their mistakes along the way. I really enjoyed this book. I think it would be a wonderful introduction to fantasy lit for younger and middle grade readers. I hope you'll read it.
Check out more of my reviews at SmartGirlsRead!
www.smartgirlsread.blogspot.com
Just Ok for me. Really interesting ideas, but skimmed a lot and didn't' feel like I was missing much.
The characters were amazing, I loved them so much! The whole aspect of the book is captivating to, so intriguing.
I love Piper!! Oh my gosh she is the perfect mother figure and I love how Anna calls her a mother gawshawk. She fights for Anna even though she's not really sure what she's doing.
Gee. Okay, I love this character so much. Not only is he a wicked cool chamelin, and I love how he tries to hide the fact that he likes Piper but he kinda fails, because Piper tries to deny it but I think they should totally be together. Gee is such a protector and just a reassuring figure.
I cannot wait to read the next books. I love this book so much.
Also, it's finally just a little brain candy book, compared to the Stephen King books and the books such as Girl In Pieces and Turtles All the Way Down.
I love Piper!! Oh my gosh she is the perfect mother figure and I love how Anna calls her a mother gawshawk. She fights for Anna even though she's not really sure what she's doing.
Gee. Okay, I love this character so much. Not only is he a wicked cool chamelin, and I love how he tries to hide the fact that he likes Piper but he kinda fails, because Piper tries to deny it but I think they should totally be together. Gee is such a protector and just a reassuring figure.
I cannot wait to read the next books. I love this book so much.
Also, it's finally just a little brain candy book, compared to the Stephen King books and the books such as Girl In Pieces and Turtles All the Way Down.
The Mark of the Dragonfly
By Jaleigh Johnson
Completed 4-22-14
3.5 stars
First off, the cover. That gorgeous, gorgeous cover!! (trust me, it is way more gorgeous in real life) If it weren’t for the cover, I never would have picked this book up. It was a new book at the library, it has a gorgeous cover, and a summery on the book that was somewhat interesting. And that is why I read this book.three quarters of the reason is the cover
The story was not bad either. It was not great, but being I read a book based on the cover, it could have been a lot worse.
The story started off really interesting. And somewhat mysterious. It seemed very promising!
I loved Anna. She has to be my favorite character in the entire book! She can be annoying at times, she is naive, but just adorable! And so much like a little sister! (I have a little sister, so I should know) I am glad Piper grew to like her as well. Not just like her, but really look out for her and care about her!
Now for the part I did not care about so much. And maybe this is just because it was written for a younger audience, but I never felt like the characters were in any real danger. They would have these hurdles/fights/battles along the way, but they always made it back the train. Like, no matter what they faced, they would just over come it and, pardon the pun, get right back on track. I’m going to give an example of this, and it could be considered slightly spoiler-y. You have been warned! It almost took the danger away from the story. They could just get out of any situation they came across.
The book really dropped off during the last half. For all the world building and exciting set up, it could have been a more interesting story. I did enjoy it, but it was not as great as it could have been.
By Jaleigh Johnson
Completed 4-22-14
3.5 stars
First off, the cover. That gorgeous, gorgeous cover!! (trust me, it is way more gorgeous in real life) If it weren’t for the cover, I never would have picked this book up. It was a new book at the library, it has a gorgeous cover, and a summery on the book that was somewhat interesting. And that is why I read this book.
The story was not bad either. It was not great, but being I read a book based on the cover, it could have been a lot worse.
The story started off really interesting. And somewhat mysterious. It seemed very promising!
I loved Anna. She has to be my favorite character in the entire book! She can be annoying at times, she is naive, but just adorable! And so much like a little sister! (I have a little sister, so I should know) I am glad Piper grew to like her as well. Not just like her, but really look out for her and care about her!
Now for the part I did not care about so much. And maybe this is just because it was written for a younger audience, but I never felt like the characters were in any real danger. They would have these hurdles/fights/battles along the way, but they always made it back the train. Like, no matter what they faced, they would just over come it and, pardon the pun, get right back on track. I’m going to give an example of this, and it could be considered slightly spoiler-y. You have been warned!
Spoiler
Like the time when they ran into the slave catchers. They were actually caught by them, and at first I was thinking, “oh no! how will this work out!” I was thinking they might be sold into slavery and Gee would have to find a way to rescue them. Or something like that. But, instead, they got out of it too fast. In a way, Gee did rescue them, but it all happened within a chapter.The book really dropped off during the last half. For all the world building and exciting set up, it could have been a more interesting story. I did enjoy it, but it was not as great as it could have been.
I am rarely surprised when I read fantasy/sci-fi, but I did not see the twist in this book coming! Well-written and original.
This book had an amazing setup, introducing a corner of the world where the boundary between realities is weak, and lost objects from other worlds rain from the sky. The promise of a quasi-steampunk fantasy had me hooked. And the story did deliver a twist ending I hadn't seen coming. But the middle of the book dragged, as the story stumbled through several cliches:
- A forced, rapid romance between main characters.
- A prophecy.
- A girl previously billed as independent getting captured and/or attacked multiple times, and being literally carried to safety by a guy every time.
- One character becoming a plot-convenience dump of skills which they heretofore haven't shown the audience.
- One character nobly, but recklessly, going off on their own to spare their friends further pain, and inadvertently causing a lot more pain for everyone which was completely avoidable if the team had stuck together.
- A character who is billed as having superhuman strength is consistently the first to go down in a fight.
There was on additional pacing problem I experienced: The book opens with a map of the continent, and the quest revolves around getting Piper and Anna across the continent to the capital city of the Southernmost kingdom... But instead, the majority of the book takes places on a train. The details of the plot, and the natural purpose of a train, led me to /feel/ like the characters were meant to ride the train /to/ a destination. But the train is the destination, the characters never really leave the train. And that gut sensation of never reaching an end point, never finishing the quest... made me anxious. That same feeling as waiting for a delayed flight. I found myself rushing through the book just to see if the characters would ever get off the train, and take that sense of travel anxiety away. Knowing what I do now, that the book was meant to be more of a train heist story... Maybe with different expectations I could have enjoyed the book more. But I feel like the book did a disservice to itself focusing on the train for so long, instead of the meteor shower of misplaced objects mystery. The most intriguing part of the story was the part it left behind after the first few chapters.
It's a good, adventurous, surprising, creative book for its demographic. But I was left wanting more.
- A forced, rapid romance between main characters.
- A prophecy.
- A girl previously billed as independent getting captured and/or attacked multiple times, and being literally carried to safety by a guy every time.
- One character becoming a plot-convenience dump of skills which they heretofore haven't shown the audience.
- One character nobly, but recklessly, going off on their own to spare their friends further pain, and inadvertently causing a lot more pain for everyone which was completely avoidable if the team had stuck together.
- A character who is billed as having superhuman strength is consistently the first to go down in a fight.
There was on additional pacing problem I experienced: The book opens with a map of the continent, and the quest revolves around getting Piper and Anna across the continent to the capital city of the Southernmost kingdom... But instead, the majority of the book takes places on a train. The details of the plot, and the natural purpose of a train, led me to /feel/ like the characters were meant to ride the train /to/ a destination. But the train is the destination, the characters never really leave the train. And that gut sensation of never reaching an end point, never finishing the quest... made me anxious. That same feeling as waiting for a delayed flight. I found myself rushing through the book just to see if the characters would ever get off the train, and take that sense of travel anxiety away. Knowing what I do now, that the book was meant to be more of a train heist story... Maybe with different expectations I could have enjoyed the book more. But I feel like the book did a disservice to itself focusing on the train for so long, instead of the meteor shower of misplaced objects mystery. The most intriguing part of the story was the part it left behind after the first few chapters.
It's a good, adventurous, surprising, creative book for its demographic. But I was left wanting more.
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Wonderful, lovely fantasy for kids! Piper is a machinist, collecting debris from the meteors in a scrap town and repairing them. When her friend goes out in a storm and she goes out to rescue him, she finds more than she bargained for - a girl named Anna. A man who Anna fears is chasing her so Piper helps her to escape and together they have quite an adventure! I received this book free to review from Netgalley and I highly recommend it.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes