Blog Tour Review ~ The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson

The Mark of a Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson

The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson

Publication Date: March 25th 2014
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
400 pages

Piper has never seen the Mark of the Dragonfly until she finds the girl amid the wreckage of a caravan in the Meteor Fields.
The girl doesn't remember a thing about her life, but the intricate tattoo on her arm is proof that she's from the Dragonfly Territories and that she's protected by the king. Which means a reward for Piper if she can get the girl home.
The one sure way to the Territories is the 401, a great old beauty of a train. But a ticket costs more coin than Piper could make in a year. And stowing away is a difficult prospect--everyone knows that getting past the peculiar green-eyed boy who stands guard is nearly impossible.
Life for Piper just turned dangerous. A little bit magical. And very exciting, if she can manage to survive the journey.

I don't usually read Middle Grade books, in fact I have only read a few of them, but The Mark of the Dragonfly sounded really interesting, so I decided to read it, or more so, read something that I don't normally read. Now, I'm glad I did, because this book is quite good, and I was surprised to see that MG is not that bad, even though there is no romance in it. Maybe it was even refreshing not having romance as a focus, and let alone worrying if there is going to be an insta-romance or not. The Mark of the Dragonfly is a book full of adventure, with a dash of steampunk! It even sounds great, right?

Piper is an orphan. To survive she scrappers the fields after meteor showers and fixes machines. In one meteor shower her friend goes out before he is allowed to, and Piper goes out to find him. Since the shower didn't stop yet, Micah gets hit in the head and Piper is determined to help him, but she also notices a little girl Anna and she helps her too. After she makes sure Anna is fine, she notices a tattoo of a dragonfly, which means that Anna is from Dragonfly Territories and that she's under King's protection. If she brings her safely back to the King, Piper could be awarded with a big prize, but the journey there is dangerous, and the safest way is with a train 401.

Right from the start you get the feel of the world Johnson created. The world is set up nicely, and I really enjoyed the steampunk aspect of the book. For a 400 pages book, The Mark of the Dragonfly surprisingly kept its fast pace until the end. Jaleigh Johnson surely does know how to keep the reader interested.Also the characters became very dear to me. I loved how courageous Piper was, Anna was really hilarious at times and Gee is just the cutest boy ever!

I would definitely recommend it to middle graders, even to some older audience, since I like The Mark of the Dragonfly so much!

JALEIGH JOHNSON is a lifelong reader, gamer, and moviegoer. She loves nothing better than to escape into fictional worlds and take part in fantastic adventures. She lives and writes in the wilds of the Midwest

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