Unfortunately this book was archived before I was even able to download it. I'm looking forward to picking it up from the library, though. It sounds really interesting!

A review of this title is avaliable through Goodreads - and later through my blog. The Goodreads link is available below!

great ideas and throughout plot, but the characters all appear a little flat and the start of the book is not that fantastic, but once i started to get through that it started to get better until towards the end the book began to be actually good.

The start of this book was rough. I rolled my eyes quite a bit, but then I kept going. The world building is fantastic. and the main characters come to life. (The secondary characters still come off a little flat.) The steampunk elements are fantastic and lead a typic of magic that is perfect for the story.
While this book had its good and flat points, it was overall, engaging and worth reading. I have no doubt the next book will be even better.
3.5/5

I loved the world building, that is really well done and I loved the concept of this novel. I think the author could do really good with the next books.
And I am thinking about going on with this series, even if I am not a huge fan of this first book. The characters were not bad, and I think that they’re developed enough, even if in this one the secondary ones aren’t so intriguing.
Anyway, I had no problems empathizing with them and I found the story quite captivating. So… I am not in love with this book, and I don’t think that I would fall in love with the sequels, but I think they may surprise me, so it’s possible that I’ll try the second one.

Sadly, it could have been better, but it’s not the worst book ever. I’m not so happy about it, but I am curious to see what the author could do.

3.5 stars

I really enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to the sequel. The world is a clever merger or steampunk and distopian and Mags is a great female lead.

I really enjoyed this Magpie's Song. I've always been a fan of steampunk so this was a delightful read for me.
The world building in this one was especially good for me. As I said, I love steampunk, but so much of the genre tends to focus too much on the tech and too little on the story and characters for me. Magpie's Song didn't fall into that trap though. The world was vivid and easy to immerse myself in without being overbearing.

Raggy Maggy, aka Magpie, is a Moon-Child, a supposed unwanted child of a BrightStone woman and a Meridian male. She collects scrap in the desolate wastelands of the Warrens for her clan. Maggy stumbles upon a strange clock-work dragon and a dead Meridian male. The dragon’s presence heralds all kinds of changes for poor Mags. When her clan exiles her, she has no alternative but to agree to her saviors’ mad plans of sneaking down into the Pits, a dark place where the Rot-infected people are placed. Can Maggy find the truth behind the peculiar plague’s existence? Or will Maggy lose more people she cares about before the journey begins?
Maggy is quite the unorthodox, yet interesting, character. I love how she refuses to allow the pariah status associated with her kind to have any real power over her. Maggy proves continuously through the book she’s capable of think for herself. She tends to consider angles her companions would never consider. I love her wily cleverness. I enjoy Mag’s interaction with Ghost, who is a charismatic part of this story and I cannot wait to see the direction their relationship takes in future books. But what I admire the most about Maggy is her tenaciousness in both the things she puts her mind to and the people she cares about.
MAGPIE’S SONG is book one in Allison Pang’s brand new, self-published series, IRONHEART CHRONICLES. The story starts out rather slow, which necessary for the author to properly set up the world and the characters. I like how the story is written in Maggy’s point-of-view. It did take me some time to adjust to Maggy’s distinct narrative.
MAGPIE’S SONG is a dark dystopian story with a balanced mix-mash of steampunk and fantasy. I enjoyed the uniqueness of the author’s world, especially the details she intricately wove into the tale. I cannot wait to delve into more of Maggy’s adventures.

I was entirely thrilled to be approved for a copy of this book!
I had come across it on Goodreads and not only did the description catch my eye, but it had such an intriguing cover. Right off the bat, I could get a dystopian feel.
The world building was done exceptionally well - everything was so well described and it really felt as if you were standing in that world too.
There was not a lot of romance throughout (yay for not overly saturating a YA book with insta-love!) and I really love all of the characters. They were developed well, and you found yourself liking all of them, not picking and choosing. It's rare a cast is so well rounded. I also love Mags, mainly because she isn't a prissy snob. We need more ladies in books like her! It does take awhile to fully understand what is going on in it's entirety. You don't really get the full picture until the book nears its end.
I do hope to see more books in this series, I will definitely be buying a physical copy!

I just kinda stumbled onto this book on NetGalley and I really wanted to read this. I'm glad I got the chance. I'm not gonna say this is the best book in the world but it is a good read. It caught my attention enough to want to read the second in the series. I'm really not sure what this book would fall under but I liked the unique blending of genre's. It kinda reminds of Mistborn and a couple other books so if you like that book you might enjoy this.

Magpie’s Song is a fun, steampunk-esque novel about a girl with a clockwork heart who finds a dragon. In this novel, Allison Pang creates a world plagued by a mysterious rot to which only the even more mysterious moon children are immune. The girl with a clockwork heart is one such moon child. Raggy Maggy, orphaned and defined by her distinctive white hair, is a member of the Banshee clan, forced to scavenge for snacks in order to survive. The discovery of a metal dragon in the scrapheap, however, leads Maggy down a road of conspiracy, discovery and betrayal.

The novel itself is the first in a series and, as such, it involves a lot of world-building. We, as readers, are introduced to the social structure, the impenetrable meridian and those that live in its shadow. Unfortunately, this set up means that it does take a good two-thirds of the book before the main story kicks off. That being said, a lot does happen during those first parts, helping to set up the novel with action as well as description; as Maggy is forced from her normal, everyday life into playing a part for plan we’ve only seen the surface of.

Nothing feels completely safe and plenty of questions are asked, some of which are answered but some we will have to wait for the sequels. What is particularly interesting is the mystery which revolves around Raggy Maggy; the mystery of where she comes from and the reason for her clockwork heart.
Maggy, as our lead character, is reckless and also prone to mistakes, but she also has a heart. These traits make her an endearing lead. It is strongly implied, but never actually stated, that she is bi- or pan-sexual (and, indeed, there are a few diverse characters in this book). Those she teams up with are also quite distinct: Ghost, who lives up to his name; Lucian, the careful doctor with a hidden side and Molly, the harsh brothel-owner and scrap-dealer. Each contributes to the novel in their own way and each feels integral to the plot.

This novel does have a dark side, one with death, torture and hopelessness, but Pang handles it well, keeping the novel’s heart even when things take a turn for the worse. As such, it can be enjoyed by people of most ages (although it is more orientated towards teens); the writing is easy to understand and helps the story flow. If you enjoy steampunk novels with action, mystery and compelling characters, then you may enjoy this book too.

"Moon Children hiding in the shadows with hollow faces and hollow futures"

* * *
3 / 5


My first thought when reading Magpie’s Song was that it was an unnecessarily complicated book. I did get that impression from the synopsis, but thought it would become slightly clearer in the book; Magpie’s Song is a short book and could really have benefited from some more exposition. However, in all other respects, Pang’s writing is simply gorgeous. There’s this great sense of character in Maggy and a really cool dystopia and steampunk vibe.

"Trust is a bag of cats," I say slowly. "It's all tangled up in knots and I don't know how to untie it or if it will bit me if I do"

As far as I could gather, there is a city, BrightStone, inhabited by normal people. Floating above BrightStone is another city, Meridian, inhabited by another race (species?) called the Meridians; their skin glows, that’s all I really got about them. Moon Children are the result of a union between a Meridian and a human, recognisable by the way all their hair goes white when they reach puberty. Moon Children are exiled to live in one of three clans (more accurately, gangs) that scavenge the junkyards for scraps to survive.

On top of all this there is a disease in BrightStone, the Rot. Having finished the book, I’m still not quite sure what having the Rot actually does to you. At first I thought it made you into a zombie, but later evidence indicates that a person can survive for longer via blood transfusions, so I think it just sort of puts you in a deathly state. Either way, those that get the Rot are condemned to the Pits in the company of a Moon Child who is selected via a system of “Tithing”, enforced by Inquestors – a sort of Meridian law enforcement. Added to this complex background information, there’s a weaving web of lies, secrecy, and betrayal that I couldn’t quite follow.

"The bones of your arrogance will crush you," I cough. "And I'm going to dance them into dust"

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Our eyes to the world of BrightStone is nineteen year old Raggy Maggy, a Moon Child who belongs to one of the three clans. She and her younger friend Sparrow find a clockwork dragon whilst scavenging. Oh, and a corpse. You don’t get a great first impression of Maggy, because for some reason she dawdles around a dodgy crime scene in order to fleece a crime scene, as you, the reader, scream at her to run. She’s caught by the Inquestors and becomes the main suspect in the murder of the Meridian, a chain of events that leads her into a conspiracy, hiding, and the seeds of a revolution.

Beyond an irritating first meeting, Maggy is a solid character. She’s tenacious, authentic, and has a great accent. Pang’s done a fantastic job of crafting a character who feels like a person. There’s hints of Vin Venture in her, from Sanderson’s sprawling epic Mistborn series, another fantastic character; Maggy is really what drove my enjoyment of Magpie’s Song, alongside hints of a mythology surrounding IronHeart, a dragon, which I hope will feature more prominently in the subsequent books. The plot itself was not particularly engaging, it’s messy and complicated and meandering, but Pang does know how to write an impactful scene. At one point I felt a couple of tears in my eyes.

Magpie’s Song was all about the main character for me, and I revelled in feeling a similar vibe to Sanderson’s Mistborn books. Pang really works the dystopia/steampunk vibe, even if the plot is lacking.

My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of this book

This was a solid, fun read, with a brilliant premise and world building I enjoyed a lot. While there were some flaws, I am still intrigued enough to want to read the next book in the series, whenever that will be published. As I am chronically bad at reading second books in series, this says something about how much I adored parts of this.

Set in an unspecified world, that is kind of steam punky, kind of dystopian, there is a (tropey) society with the rich (maybe alien?) upper class living on a floating city, while the middle class scramble to make a living on the ground and the lowest class is just trying to survive. The world is never really explained, as the main character - Mags - doesn't really know much about the city's history or political order. Mags is a Moon Child: some children turn into those when they are around 12, pale, with white hair, and mysteriously immune against rampant plague. She finds a clockwork dragon and sets into motion a frantic sequence of events where she is never quite sure what is going on or how she will survive the next day.

The story itself is in points predictable but always fun; it's frantic pace was enough to keep me reading during a week where I was pre-occupied with other things. Mags is a fun character and many of the others of the fairly large cast of characters are brilliant.

My main problem was the fact that I thought that the first-person-narration didn't really work here. Some of the metaphors used do not sound like things somebody like Mags, with very limited education (formal or informal), would ever use. I often thought that there was no way a young girl who grew up on the streets would know those things (would she really know what a waltz is and then use this term to explain how her climbing on rooftops feels like?). It took me out of the story and made it difficult to really connect to her.

But, overall, a really fun first installment of a series with plenty of loose ends that I cannot wait to be picked up again.

Also, where can I find myself a clockwork dragon, please?

From the very first pages I fell in love with this story. So much so, that it inspired me to write a hardcore fantasy for my next project. The world-building in this novel is incredible! It is so rich and detailed and made unique by Pang's wonderful way of writing. Not only does Pang paint this vivid world, but she also shows how awful it can be. Mags life is not rainbows and butterflies, and it's refreshing how real the writing is in showing how living in the Warrens is shit, right down to the sights, sounds, and smells. The plot itself is intriguing. There's enough mystery and a slow reveal to keep me riveted to it. I would definitely buy this as a paper copy, and look greatly forward to the sequel.

I generously received this book in exchange for an honest review.

Going into this book, I didn't know a lot about it which is a good thing because then I didn't have a mind set as to how I thought the story would be and I was able to enjoy it a lot more without expectations.

Magpie is a nineteen year old Moon Child which is a person who has light blonde hair, very fair skin and judged harshly as apparently much of society sees these people as the oddballs living in the Warrens. Her kind is harshly judged because they are immune to a disease known as The Rot that is essentially the Wasting Disease. It's a very poor, run down area. Meridions are considered High Society and live in a huge city that floats above the town that Magpie lives in and then there's also Brightstone which is a cross between middle and lower class. She hasn't had an easy life but she doesn't complain about it and instead has found a way to survive in such a harsh world where food is often scarce, being able to escape out of tricky situations is essential and having street smarts is required if you plan to reach adulthood.

She comes across a mechanical mini Dragon while salvaging to make money with her best friend Sparrow at her side which is apparently from Meridion and eventually leads to a whole heap of trouble. What trouble you say? You'll have to read to find out!

I seriously adore Magpie and Ghost who have had their own share of hardships but work so well together. I can't tell yet if there will be a romance there but it certainly has potential!

This book was a fascinating mix of Steampunk, adventure, friendship, unexpected allies, a dash of heartbreak and lots of surprises.

It was such a pleasure to read this book and I look forward to reading more in this series!

Link will be added when review posts..

"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."


That blurb. That blurb and that cover. I was kind of entranced the first time I saw this available for review. Lately I’ve been reading quite a bit more fantasy and science fiction and I could not resist the temptation of the first book in a new Allison Pang series. REQUEST.

Magpie’s Song is a mix of Dystopian, Fantasy and Steampunk. Which I loved, but honestly, I’m not sure how to review this book because so much of it was set up. The world building is amazing, but it wasn’t until toward the end that it all began to take shape in my mind. I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on until about the 80% mark.

This world is divided into several classes of citizens. The slums are populated by the poor and cast off Moon Children who have gathered into clans, there are the middle working class, and the rich high-class citizens, who are protected by a sort of military force called Inquestors. And then there are the Meridians, who are quite literally floating in a city above BrightStone and who come across as other worldly and untouchable. There is a plague called the Rot that has affected the inhabitants of BrightStone for years and no one seems to really know what causes it or why it strikes who it does. The poor are oppressed by the higher-ups in society and forced to offer up tithes, always a Moon Child who are naturally resistant to the plague,  to lead the plague ridden into the Pits, a cave system deep into the ground, so they are segregated from the rest of society.

Pang introduces readers to Raggy Maggy, a Moon Child who while out digging for scrap to bring back to her clan leader discovers a clockwork dragon. This discovery leads her into trouble as almost immediately she also comes across the murdered body of what must have been the owner of the mysterious dragon. Turned out by her clan and on the run from the Inquestors, she finds herself taking refuge in a brothel with an odd group of allies; A doctor, the brothel owner and Ghost, another Moon Child with no clan affiliation who has always lived off the grid. She is tasked in helping them figure out the origins of the Rot and helping by finding a way into the Pits.

See? A lot of world building and character development to get through.  While I truly enjoyed getting to know Raggy Maggy and Ghost, I feel like most of the secondary characters are still mysteries and I’m not sure what their motivations are. Actually, I have the feeling that almost everything that has to do with this world and these characters will remain a mystery right up till the last book in the series. Still, despite muddling my way through and trying to piece together what was truly happening, I read this book straight through from beginning to end. I was simply entranced by Ms. Pang’s writing. By the time I got to the cliffhanger ending I was ready for another 240 pages. I didn’t want my time in BrightStone to end.

All in all, I enjoyed the first book in the IronHeart Chronicles series and will 100%, absolutely be reading the next book in this series.

Magpie's Song is a gritty, young adult novel similar to Bardugo's Six of Crows, and pulls elements from Mistborn and Red Rising. Set in the mythical town of BrightStone (or at least I think it's mythical...there no mention if this is earth, NY, Old London, etc.) the citizens are divided into Moon Children, the upper class and the working class. The inhabitants are literally overshadowed by the supreme denizens of a floating island called the Meridian.

This town is governed by the villainous Inquisitors and the infamous, rich Lord Balthazar. The focus of the plot and setting is on a disease not dissimilar to the bubonic plague, called The Rot. Rotters, generally the working class, are cast into the Pit like lepers ever month and are accompanied by a Moon Child - half-breed children of the Meridian and the BrightStone who are immune to the disease. Moon Children are recruited into steampunk gangs once they turn during adolescence. Our MC, Magpie or Mags is a Moon Child, she is thrust into a plot when she nabs a Meridian dragon-automaton from a garbage heap. Her discovery nearly gets her killed and her adventures following unravel pieces of her history as well as reveal the source of the rot.

Mags is a sarcastic, kick-ass heroine that tends to act before thinking. She has no recollection of her past (up until the age of 12) but like most heroes has strong feelings towards the injustices taking place around her. I love that Pang did not turn her into a Mary Sue (yet). Her character growth is based purely on experience and skills. The supporting cast including Sparrow, Ghost, Molly and Lucian are well developed and Mag's interactions with them help to add depth to her character and the plot.

Overall 4 stars for Magpie's Song. This book is filled with action, mystery, and a dash of romance. The writing was simple and engaging and the pacing kept me entertained on an entire flight to Tokyo. I did not give the story a full 5 stars because I am apprehensive on how the sequel will turn out after reading a tiny snippet - so my rating may still change!

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review. Thank you!

This is an engaging entry into Maggy's world. I can't wait for the next instalment!

Magpie's Song is book 1 in The IronHeart Chronicles. It's been a long while since I've read an Allison Pang book and I got really excited when I saw she had a new one coming out. This is a bit different from her other series, it's a Dystopian Fantasy with a Steampunk twist. The world building and characters were weaved expertly, and I found this book hard to put down.

We start off meeting Raggy Maggy, a 19 year old Moonchild that has a clockwork heart. Her and a friend are in the junkyard trying to meet their daily quota on scrap when they run into trouble with the Inquestors (think police). This eventually leads to Maggy in the care of a woman that deals in the black market as well as a doctor. They aren't taking care of poor injured Maggy from the kindess of their hearts though. Their plan is to figure out what is really causing the deadly illness aka "rot" that runs rampant throughout Brightstone and send Maggy into the Pits to gather information. The only issue is no one has been able to escape once they're sent there so it's going to be a challenge for sure.

Magpie's Song is an enthralling read. I thought the different tiers of class in the world were well done. You have the top people being the Meridians that live on a floating city. Then you have the people that live below in BrightStone, which are the normal humans and also Moonchildren. There were lots of little steampunk bits thrown in and the story kept my interested and flowed well. If you're a fan of Dystopian reads or Steampunk you'll love this new series!

The cover of this book was what drew me in, it was beautiful. I stayed because the book was fast-paced and filled with adventure which really kept me on my toes when reading. When it came to the end it had me wanting to read the second book in the series, even though the first hadn't even came out yet. I also loved the little rhymes at the beginning of the chapters, they kept me interested throughout.