I can see why Eon gets high praise from fantasy readers, but it isn’t so much my cup of tea. Well-drawn (but sometimes unlikeable) characters. THE BOTTOM LINE: Excellent worldbuilding. Instead, she gives him a chance to escape with her. After all his misdeeds and abhorrent treatment of Eon (assault, attempted rape, attempted murder), I would think she would want to dispatch him the first chance she got. Mild spoiler here–highlight to see… One particular “bad” character is given a reprieve that he absolutely did not deserve. There is one part at the end that I REALLY did not like. This self-aware individual says that “this is just who she is” and “she’s always been this way.” The gender identity stuff didn’t bother me so much, but it may raise some eyebrows in more conservative circles. Does she really expect to keep this charade going for the rest of her life? She’s done it this long, I suppose! Eona isn’t the only gender-bending character there is another very important character (who I LOVED!)–a man living life as a woman.

She’s tough, no doubt, but she seems way too eager to throw away her femininity in favor of being a boy. All very fascinating, and I’m ready for a Chinese New Year category on Jeopardy now!Ĭharacters are well-done, but I wasn’t sure how much I actually liked Eona. Possibly due to some boredom with the plot, I kept stopping to research things like the Chinese Zodiac and hua and eunuchs. With plenty of East Asian influences such as the Chinese Zodiac, dragons, and hua, Eon‘s worldbuilding is absolutely incredible. I’m also sad that there was no romance, but that really is probably better since most of the characters think Eona is a castrated 12-year old boy. Excellent world-building, but the action scenes are spaced between a mountain of info-dumping. It is definitely well-written, but must admit I skimmed some of the middle parts. REVIEW: Holy long book, Batman! I’ve had my eye on Eon for years in my library, and I finally sat down and read it. SUMMARY: With the help of a former Dragoneye, sixteen-year old orphan Eona disguises herself as a 12-year old boy in order to have a chance to become a Dragoneye.

Eon novel alison goodman