Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman

Book stats:

Reading level: Mature Young Adult
Hardcover: 531 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Release date: December 26, 2008

Series: Eon #1

Source: Library 

Reviewed by: Lili

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

Also Known As: Two Pearls of Wisdom, Eon: Rise of the Dragoneye, and Eon (All the same book just published with different publishers.)

Eon has been studying the ancient art of Dragon Magic for four years, hoping he'll be able to apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune. But he also has a dark secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been living a dangerous lie for the chance to become a Dragon-eye, the human link to an energy dragon's power. It is forbidden for females to practice the Dragon Magic and, if discovered, Eon faces a terrible death. After a dazzling sword ceremony, Eon's affinity with the twelve dragons catapults him into the treacherous world of the Imperial court, where he makes a powerful enemy, Lord Ido. As tension builds and Eon's desperate lie comes to light, readers won't be able to stop turning the pages...

EON is one of those books that makes you wonder why it took you so long to pick it up when you’re done reading. It’s full of action and is a must read for any fantasy lover. The world-building in it is something worth checking out and you’ll find that you’ll easily and quickly be able to immerse yourself into Goodman’s world.

Eon is a brave hero/heroine whose characterization was superb. It’s hard to hate her and her cause. Her entire existence hints at the controversial topic of a woman’s role in separate societies. Eon risked the death of all those around him by hiding his true self—Eona—from the world and training to become a Dragoneye. A female Dragoneye has not existed for over 500 years, so her gender is a huge focus point of the novel. EON is full of supporting characters that you will feel strong about, as well. Honestly, I can’t find any faults in any of the characters. You’ll find yourself oozing hatred towards some of them and nothing but respect towards others.

What truly made this book for me was the lore that focused on the Dragoneyes. I absolutely adore books with any type of mythology, cultural thoughts, or well-rounded lore that leaves no loose ends. EON is beyond satisfactory in all of the above categories. There was a lot of Asian culture pulled into the story and all of the thought that was put behind the existence of the Dragoneyes, their powers, their journey to become powerful and everything of the sort is awe-inspiring. The descriptiveness in the book was another strong point. There is never a dull moment and everything can easily be pictured in your own mind. However, at times, it seemed as if we were almost a little over-informed. A great majority of the book is full of page-turning action or plot twists (especially the end) but there were a few times that I found myself skimming passages of unnecessary description to get back to that amazing action or to see where Eon and his crew will end up next.

However, this novel does not read as if it is over 500 pages. I finished it in less than 6 hours in a single night. Once started, I had trouble putting it down and seriously debated on skipping dinner to continue the story.

While I highly recommend this book to any reader, I just want to throw out the fact that I would gear it more towards a mature young adult or adult audience. EON takes place in a time of violence because so many people are fighting for the crown with a sick King. Because of this, you can imagine there is some violence in this. While it’s not gory or horribly descriptive, it is descriptive enough.

With all of that being said, I seriously encourage any fantasy lover to read this book. This is one of those books that can pass as an adult novel despite being marketed as a young adult novel. Goodman pulls you into the world of the Dragoneye almost immediately and you’ll find that it’ll hold you captive until the very last page. Then it’ll leave you begging for more.

 Read an Excerpt

Posted by Lili at 06:30

 Alison Goodman, Dragon, Review, vikings, young adult  8 People left their mark

I'm a 18 year old from a small town in New Jersey that's a newcomer to the book blogging world. Because I am an incoming senior in high school the closest thing that I have to a job is being a volunteer at the town library, so I spend most of my time reading and persuading my parents to let me buy more books!

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