Eon: Rise of the Dragoneye (Dragoneye, #1)

by Alison Goodman

Twelve-year old Eon has been studying the ancient art of the Dragoneyes for two years. But he is playing a dangerous game: Eon is actually Eona, 16 years old and a girl. Her true identity must remain hidden at all costs: it is forbidden for women to practise the Art, and to be discovered would be punishable by death. Let down by her injured leg, it seems that Eon is destined to fail in her quest, until a spectacular twist in events catapults her into the opulent but treacherous world of the Imperial court. Without a master to guide her, Eon must learn to harness her unprecedented natural power, while protecting the secret that could cost her everything...Set against a rich backdrop of Ancient Chinese myths and traditions and fraught with tension, this is a classic page-turner.

• ISBN10: 0552560308
• ISBN13: 9780552560306
• Publish Date: 1 January 1999
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 2 September 2009
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Children's UK
• Imprint: Corgi Childrens
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 448
• Language: English

Reviews

[sa090]

Been on my TBR for a while and I honestly have no idea why I waited this long to read it, my god it was difficult to put it down! Although being a big book it was much easier to get through than I expected, my immense enjoyment played the biggest role in that. However, while I will be taking very positively about it, there is one thing that pissed me off a lot in this book and unfortunately it happened right in the last couple of chapters of it.

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As a personal preference I'm a big fan of anime so a book that handles a little bit of that far eastern culture is something I appreciate, it being Chinese was a bit different given the differing terminologies but overall it wasn't difficult to connect them in case I wanted to visualize what's happening in a bigger detail which Alison Goodman made pretty easy. This brings me to the very first huge plus of this book; world building. Because it's fantasy based with a whole new system of doing everything, I wholeheartedly appreciated the effort and time she took to describe everything in it. Everything from the way they're supposed to kowtow, how to deal with the royal family, proper conduct in some areas, how lords act with those beneath them... of course seeing it in a live action of sorts would've made it better but I really felt like I'm in a Chinese-ish setting and that made my immersion all the more fun.

Secondly her Dragoneye system, I thought I wouldn't be blown away after getting a chance to take a peak at Brandon Sanderson's Allomancy system but holy shit was I impressed, excited and insanely interested to learn more about this system. It's not as complex as Allomancy mind you but that doesn't mean it's any less unique. Having it be about my absolute favourite mythical creature makes it all better for me, I mean these dragons being based on the animals of the Chinese year and being keepers of different attributes or values while seeing how the selection happened was intense. I did want to see bigger focus on them since being keepers of different attributes most likely means that they have different abilities but even the lack of that didn't change much for me, there is a sequel so hopefully I'll see some of this there.

Next up is the identity issue, gender roles plays a huge part of this series and it's kind of grating to see the difference in treatments based on that, somewhat realistic but still meh. Of course this particular aspect leads our main character into a bit of an interesting psychological journey where she will meet others with a similar dilemma (I guess you can call it as such) and learn how to accept it or live with it. This actually brought me to my favourite quote in the book, probably ever, which should give an idea on how deeply integrated this subplot is in the story:

"I found power in accepting the truth of who I am. It may not be not be a truth others can accept, but I cannot live any other way."

Fights over the throne are always bloody and brutal which was also delivered by Alison Goodman, there is an instance where I was hoping she wouldn't actually go through with it but she did and it definitely added to the danger of the situation but didn't really make it any less heartbreaking. The high speed action that took over the last 4-6 chapters of the book was really awesome to read and I honestly couldn't put the book down until I completed it and overall it was worth it.

Now this brings me to what annoyed me in the book or more accurately pissed me off in it, the fate of a certain someone in the book. After all what happened, after everything that was done for it to end that way was a letdown, was naive and tbh felt insanely stupid of a decision. Hopefully this gets corrected in the second book because unless a miracle happens that changes what I think about that certain someone (highly unlikely) I would be one very very salty fan.

I definitely look forward to the sequel, I have a couple of more books I want to read first but it'll probably be the first sequel I read from the new series I started this year.

Final rating: 4.5/5

[KitsuneBae]

Awesome. I didn't mind the slow beginning because once you're through that, it's just WOW!

Review at Miss Book Reviews.

*3.5 stars*

Eon is a great fantasy read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I was taken along for the ride and drawn in to Eon’s world.

The Dragon’s and Dragoneyes were so fascinating, I found this entire world interesting. The way the world was written kept making me forget that this didn’t actually happen in ancient Japan, that this wasn’t real. This is a Japanese fantasy done right, the culture didn’t feel forced, Japanese words weren’t thrown in haphazardly and it made sense and clicked. Everything felt natural.

I had a lot of fun reading this book, watching Eon learn to be a lord, watching her grow and come to terms with the fact that she is Eona. The only thing is I really wanted to enjoy this more, but I just didn’t. I felt like I could have really, really loved this story but there was something missing from making me feel that.

Regardless I am very excited to read the sequel, I am dying to see what happens next to Eon and to the world.

Eon is a fun, entertaining fantasy that has you turning the pages and wanting to know more.

Miss J
xx

[ladygrey]

ugh.

I mean, I liked the story. a lot. It's a really different world and it's interesting with the dragons and the characters are all really well developed.

But I can't get over how infuriating this book is. Eon spends 200 pages being so ridiculously stupid it drove me crazy. Because the answer was so obvious. And it wasn't like Twilight where she just didn't see the obvious answer, she kept making choices that were more and more stupid and my knowing how bad those choices were just made it terrible. And, yes, years of conditioning and cultural rules, I know. It doesn't matter when I wanted to stop reading and I wanted to punch her in the face but she's fictional so that wouldn't work very well. Eventually it turned around like I knew it would and the story actually became more interesting again after that. But that second act was really long.

Also, there's way too much description for my tastes. Some people like a very vividly evoked setting. I like people and emotions and relationships. So the fact that every single room they walk into is described, what every single person who walks into the story is wearing, just broke into the story.

Those are my two major criticisms. It was a hard book for me to read. But the story was enough to overcome that. Because the first act (before she starts ignoring the obvious and reacting without thinking!) was good. I really liked the bit about how Eona became Eon.

But most of all I learned how not to be watched. ... that look of temporary possession that some men gave... And even at twelve years old, the knowledge of it was already in the way I moved my head, my hands, my shoulders. ... I had to stop being alert to the turn of a man's head toward me. Stop glancing up to meet his gaze in fleeting connection. Stop falsely veiling my eyes from his momentary interest.
Every woman knows that and I loved the way she expresses it and weaves it into Eon's character.

And the third act was interesting as well, full of action and horrors and (of course) too much description but also revelation and the unexpected. I liked who she was in the end quite a bit which makes it easier to look forward to the sequel.

Alright, let me just go ahead and get this out of the way:

If you don't like political intrigue, don't read this.

Oh, so you read the synopsis and thought this would be an action book? Yeah, me too. LIES AND SLANDER! Ok, well maybe not slander, but definitely lies. I actually liked the book because I love myself some political intrigue, but even for me it dragged in some places so if that's not your thing, I'm not sure you'd enjoy it.

Now don't get me wrong, there is action. Just not till the last 100 pages. But when that action comes, it comes. It's like "BAM!", it's action time! And so it's pretty awesome. However, this book is looooong. And normally I'm all for long books, but this one dragged a bit.

However, the creativity and just pure awesomeness of the plot made it so worth it. No lie. This world is just amazing! It's so intricate and mind-blowingly well-done! This girl thought of everything. Even down to all the rituals. Now that is where it dragged a bit, but she definitely gets brownie points for thoroughly thinking through the world.

And A+ for girl power. Personally, I didn't really care for Eon(a) for some of the book. And, to be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about her at the end (grant it, I am writing this thing about 2 1/2 months after reading it :P) But her growth? Amazing. She learns that she can be a woman and still kick butt. She learns to love herself for who she is, female and awesome dragoneye.

Overall:

The synopsis promised action, but didn't live up to it. Yeah, action finally comes at the end and its really awesome and all, but unless you can get through 400+ pages of political intrigue and whining, you won't like it. However, the creativity of the world makes it all worthwhile! Honestly mind-blowing in its intricacy. I had a love/hate relationship with Eon(a) but her growth is amazing. And this book definitely brings up some interesting topics on sexism, feminism, ect. so it's a very thought-provoking book. If you're into that kind of thing, jump right in!


All the best ♥
Mackenzie

Originally posted on Oh, For the Love of Books!

[elvinagb]

I just finished this and want to go get the sequel "Eona" right now! This book has it all, hidden identity, magical study, sword play, politics, intrigue, struggles for power and Dragon magic.