Author
Biography
Alison
Goodman is an award-winning author of YA fiction, including Singing the Dogstar Blues, the Eon/Eona duology, and The Dark Days Club. She lives in
Melbourne, Australia.
Published
By: HarperCollins
Year:
2011
ISBN: 978-0-670-06311-6
Reading
Level: Grades 10 and up.
Reader’s
Annotation:
As the
only surviving Dragoneye allied with the exiled Pearl Emperor Kygo, Eona must strive
to save the Empire of the Celestial Dragons from a usurper’s deadly reign. But
can she succeed amid the many dangers, both external and from within herself?
Plot
Summary:
The wicked High Lord Sethon has seized the throne of
the Dragon Emperor in a bloody coup. To achieve this goal, he has murdered ten
of the twelve Dragoneyes, whose ties to the twelve celestial dragons let them
control the elements. Only two remain: the treacherous Rat Dragoneye, Lord Ido,
and the Mirror Dragoneye, Lord Eon… actually a girl named Eona. Having narrowly
escaped, Eona is now on the run with her friends Dela and Ryko. Soon they
reunite with fugitive Pearl Emperor Kygo, rightful heir to the throne, who aims
to claim it with the help of Eona’s ethereal power.
But
Eona’s power is corrupted. Whenever she calls on the Mirror Dragon, the other
dragons’ grief for their dead Dragoneyes turns her energy into a force of destruction.
There is only one possible solution: to find Lord Ido and have him train her to
master the dragons. But does Eona dare pin all her hopes on a deadly enemy? Can
she persuade him – or force him – to help her? Or will misplaced trust and
misuse of power lead the empire to its doom?
Critical
Evaluation:
This
sequel to the action-fantasy novel Eon
takes its heroes and especially its heroine into greater danger than ever. Now the
young Emperor Kygo’s most important ally, Eona must master her bond with the
celestial dragons to save the land from destruction. Meanwhile, she finds
herself falling in love with Kygo, but their new relationship is fraught with
trust issues and ethical clashes – and she also feels reluctantly drawn to the
ruthless yet charismatic Lord Ido, whom desperation has changed from her enemy
to her teacher. Meanwhile, she learns disturbing truths about her ancestress
Kinra, the last female Dragoneye. Beneath each plotline lies the theme of
power: its allure, its dangers, when to cling to it and when to sacrifice it
for a greater good.
Like Eon, this is no easy read. The tone is
dark and oppressive, the violence is graphic, and all the heroes enter morally
gray territory, Eona no exception. As she grapples with her power, she makes
many wrong and even horrific choices before finally finding the right path.
This might irritate readers who want a perfect feminist role model, but other
feminists will be grateful that she’s a flawed, struggling, growing human
being.
Likewise,
some readers will despise the love triangle: the storminess of Eona and Kygo’s
on-and-off/will-they-or-won’t-they romance, the fact that another man
complicates it further, and that this other man is Lord Ido, the villain who
tried to rape Eona in the first book. But while it sometimes borders on cheap melodrama, I personally
find it sensitively handled. Ido’s villainy isn’t erased, Eona knows that her
attraction to him is unhealthy, and no mistakes or atrocities are ever
justified or romanticized. Rest assured, Eon’s
progressiveness (it’s Asian-inspired setting, its feminism, and the excellent transgender
character of Dela, always treated as fully female) continues here. No outdated
romance tropes undermine its mythical yet distinctly modern themes.
Curriculum
Ties:
•Fantasy
worlds
•East Asian mythology
•Feminism
•Transgender studies
Challenge
Issues:
•Mild
profanity
•Violence
•Disturbing
imagery
•Sexual
and castration references
•Rape
references
•Menstruation
and bodily function references
•LGBT+ themes
Why
This Book?
As
with Eon, some readers will
undoubtedly find this book too dark, disturbing and melodramatic for their
tastes. But with its fascinating Asian-inspired fantasy world, it gripping
high-stakes action, its complex characters and relationships, and its array of
progressive themes, it shines nonetheless. This is a worthy sequel and worthy conclusion
to Eona’s journey.
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