Early Review - Eona (Sequel to Eon) by Alison Goodman (5/5 stars)

Reading level: Young Adult

Genre: Historical Fantasy
Size:  656 pages
Publisher:  Viking Juvenile
Release Date: April 19, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-0670063116
Stand Alone or Series: Sequel to Eona
Source: ARC from Librarything's Early Reviewer Program
Rating: 5/5 stars

I got an ARC of this book through Librarything's Early Reviewers program.  I enjoyed Eon and was excited to read the conclusion to the story that started in that book.  I actually "read" Eon on audio book and wasn't all that impressed with the reader; so I was hoping I would enjoy reading Goodman's writing even more than the audio book.  Luckily I did; this book was absolutely excellent.  You definitely should read Eon before reading this book.

This books starts with Eona fleeing the capital and on her way to join the Resistance.  She is hoping to find the Emperor and help bring him back to power.  Of course Eona is having to deal with learning how to be a woman in this book (after spending so much time dressed as a boy in the last book).  She is also having trouble merging with her Mirror Dragon; every time she does she is attacked by the other dragons who have lost their Dragonseyes.  The only one who can train her in the use of her dragon is Ido, and he is being held captive by Lord Sethon back at the capital.  Eona may have to rescue Ido and combine forces with her enemy if she is ever going to help return the true Emperor to power.

This book was very well done.  Goodman has a way with description that really makes the world come alive. The characters she's created here have a lot of depth and are easy to engage with.  Eona struggles with a number of issues and goes through a lot of hardship; she also matures a lot in this book and that was wonderful to see.  The plot moves quickly and takes a lot of twists and turns, it really kept me on my toes and engaging.  It was a very hard book to put down.

Of course Eona and Kygo (the Emperor) end up having a bit of a thing for each other; you could predict this based on events that happened in Eon.  It was nice to have this thread of romance woven through all the politics and killing that go on in this book.  The only thing I wished throughout this book was that there was a little bit of humor woven in it.  All the characters take themselves deadly serious and they never really learn to laugh at their mistakes or have any fun at all.

The story ends up being somewhat epic in proportions.  There are battles both in the physical and spirit world; these battles never get too graphic.  In general this book is well-suited to the young adult or older age group. The wrap up is well done and I enjoyed it.  Although I would have enjoyed seeing what our characters did after the conclusion of the end battle; you don't really get to see that here.

Overall an excellent conclusion to this series.  Wonderful description, wonderful characters, and twisty turny plot that really keeps the reader engaged and makes the book hard to put down.  Definitely something you should read if you read and enjoyed Eon.  If you are a fan of historical fantasy, especially Japanese based historical fantasy I definitely recommend picking up both Eon, along with this book.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:

- 100+ Reading Challenge
- Fantasy Reading Challenge

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman (3/5 stars)

Right away I will say that I didn't realize this is the first book of two. So anyone who is thinking about reading this book should know that. This book does not resolve any part of the story and really leaves you hanging. It is an okay book overall; there are some things about it that are amazing and some things that are really annoying. I listened to it on audio book and the audio book quality was good; although sometimes the narrator got a bit shrill when reading parts where Eon goes into a panic.

Eona is a Dragoneye candidate. She is passing as Eon, a male candidate, because females are not allowed to be candidates. Eon is special because she can see all the dragons in the spirit world. Her Master is desperately hoping that Eon will get chosen to be the new Dragoneye Apprentice.

The story is a good one. There is a ton of attention to detail with regards to the Asian feudal society and the beliefs and rituals of that time. Eon is a good character that treads a tough path; in the beginning she seems weak but she ends up having a core of toughness that is admirable.

Unfortunately there was a lot more that bothered me about this book. The plot moves very, very slow for the first half of the book. Part of this is because of the great amount of detail the author puts in. Some of it is interesting but a lot of it is unnecessary. For example at one point Eon is going in to bathe; the author needs to describe how stressful it is for Eon, how the tiles look in the bathing room, the temperature of the water, etc. I actually fell asleep for 5 minutes in the car and when I woke up I asked my husband what was going on. He laughed and said that Eon still hadn't quite gotten into the bathtub. This is how this book went. It seemed like some action was imminent (like taking a bath) and it would take 15 minutes (for the audio book) to get through all the descriptions and Eon's panicking to finally get to that action; it made for horrible pacing. Both my husband and I found it wearying and boring to the point where we almost stopped listening a number of times.

The other large thing I didn't like about this book was Eon in general. Eon was susceptible to almost constant attacks of panic and self-doubt throughout the whole book. Even as she became more powerful she would still drop into lengthy digressions about how dangerous something was, how she might be caught, how she didn't know if she could do it, and what if she wasn't enough? This is understandable for a character to go through once in a while, but Eon did this very frequently and it didn't get better as the book went on. I understand that Eon lived in constant fear. As a reader we understand this, we don't need that character to go into lengthy panicky digressions every other page; it didn't add a lot to the story and took up a lot of page space.

My last complaint is that the book doesn't resolve anything. You are pretty much left in the middle of a battle. The next book isn't released until 2010 sometime. That is a long time to make your readers wait. If you are looking at reading this duology I would recommend waiting until the second book has been released.

Overall this book wasn't a favorite of mine. The pace was just too tedious, the detail painful, and Eon exceptionally whiny and panicky. I will read the next book though because nothing is resolved in this book.