By the end, I really loved this book, but on beginning it, I groaned.  The reason was that on picking it up, I thought it was going to be a fantasy novel or maybe an alternate history steampunk.  The back cover blurb (on my copy, anyway) is a bit cryptic, and you can see from the cover–

–that The Mark of the Dragonfly looks promising but doesn’t give too much away beyond a general cool element of, ‘Hey look!  There’s a mechanical dragonfly!’  On getting started, I thought it was dystopian and despite being intrigued just wasn’t sure I could stomach it.  I’m afraid I’m very over the dystopian fling, and have thoroughly broken up with the genre.  The introduction to our main character, Piper, is also a bit bumpy.  She’s interesting, but has an edgy feel to her that borders on unsympathetic and tries to push you away.  Very accurate for the character, but when combined with my dystopian fatigue, almost spelled the end for the book.

However, if you find yourself in the same position, rally your spirits, grab some fresh-baked cookies, and press on!  It’s not dystopian at all!  It’s…alternate universe fantasy, I guess.  With touches of steampunk, but not in the ways you’d expect.  Piper and her friends live on a world constantly battered by poisonous meteors which rain junk–sometimes valuable, precious junk–onto their world.  In addition, her own country and the neighboring one are at the brink of war and being very poorly managed by their heads of state.  Mix up with this a special girl with no memory who comes to Piper on the run and in desperate need, and Piper’s own emerging mechanica ability, then add a really cool steampunk train and a boy who can shift into a second shape, and you’ve got a book that’s nonstop go and way too good to pass up because of a faltering first impression!

At least, that was my take.  It’s difficult to say too much without giving away more than I’d like, so let’s see what Apricot-kitty has to say:

“Bit convenient, how it all worked out in the end, wasn’t it?  And how many of those kids’ big questions were really settled by the last page?  It rather put me to mind of a dragonfly–all whirring hum, with no resolution.”

Okay, I’ll grant you that the book really needs a sequel–I hear there’s a companion novel coming, at least!  But, the resolution of the immediate conflict is satisfactory, and I felt it was earned.  There were perhaps fewer twists to the plot–at least of the kind that impact the plot’s direction rather than just sending it into a temporary loop–than I prefer, and some bits at the end stretched believability.  However I suspect most of Apricot’s disapproval stems from her penchant for ‘playing’ with dragonflies, and my tendency to squirt her when she does.  If you like the works of Scott Westerfeld, or books with a quasi-modern not-really-urban fantasy bent, you should pick it up.  Most likely you should, anyway!

For more Marvelous Middle Grade Monday reviews, spotlights, interviews and giveaways, check out Shannon Messenger’s blog–and happy reading!

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