Showing posts with label Alison Goodman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alison Goodman. Show all posts

Tuesday, 1 October 2013

Eona by Alison Goodman

Title: Eona
Author: Alison Goodman
Series: Eon #2
Publisher: Viking
Release Date: April 19th, 2011
Buy: Amazon
Goodreads Summary

Eon has been revealed as Eona, the first female Dragoneye in hundreds of years. Along with fellow rebels Ryko and Lady Dela, she is on the run from High Lord Sethon's army. The renegades are on a quest for the black folio, stolen by the drug-riddled Dillon; they must also find Kygo, the young Pearl Emperor, who needs Eona's power and the black folio if he is to wrest back his throne from the selfstyled "Emperor" Sethon. Through it all, Eona must come to terms with her new Dragoneye identity and power - and learn to bear the anguish of the ten dragons whose Dragoneyes were murdered. As they focus their power through her, she becomes a dangerous conduit for their plans. . . .

Eona, with its pulse-pounding drama and romance, its unforgettable fight scenes, and its surprises, is the conclusion to an epic story only Alison Goodman can create..

 I started off by giving this book a three because I didn't think it was so bad that it deserved a two but then I realised a three meant that I actually liked the book and I didn't. This book was a big fat disappointment (no literally, it was 638 pages long).


It wasn't until page 84 (yes I remember somehow) that things started going downhill for me. For the first 84 pages, I was ready to be blown away by the awesomeness of this book but that didn't happen. Instead I read the second most disappointing sequel of the year (the first being Timekeeper). I thought that this book would help continue the streak of good books, but the streak finished before it even started. 



The only reason why I am not giving this book a 1 is because the concept was still interesting (which is the only positive thing I am going to mention).



I had three main problems with the book
1. Eona
2. Kygo
3. and their relationship



I really really really did not like Eona in this book. While she bothered me some in the first book it wasn't nearly as bad as it was this time around. She became a whiny and rather self centred girl in this one. I don't think she realised half the time that the world did not revolve around her own damn problems. Sometimes it seemed as though she was more bothered by the fact that Kygo and her couldn't have a real relationship than the imminent war.



Kygo wasn't any better either. He acted less like an emperor and more like a spoil brat. Every time something when wrong he would throw a tantrum. Right now I am very glad that I am not under his rule because with a emperor like him, I might as well just forget about myself because my life must revolve around his wishes. The only thing that makes him better than Eona was that he wasn't nearly as love sick as her.



Eona and Kygo together?? Huh? They acted like a bunch of horny teenagers. 'Heat' flared between them when they weren't even in close contact. Oh COMMON! Have I not read enough crappy romances, that one of the ones that I was actually looking forward to went down the drain? In the first book they were mostly acquaintances but somehow they went from acquaintances to umm being in love? Before I even get to that let me mention, there is a love triangle of sorts going on here. One relationship is based on love and the other on lust. And no, this one was not the lust one, this was the LOVE one. I am not even sure where the love come from. Thin air perhaps? It happens often enough these days in YA so why the hell not? They also have huge trust issues which definitely do not help in making their relationship better. If they really loved one another, they would goddamn trust each other. I believe that trust is very essential to a relationship and without it a relationship just won't survive. 



I preferred Lord Ido to these two and that's saying something because I despised him in the previous book. 
At least he is true to his purpose. He knows what he damn wants and he will get it no matter the cost. He is not exactly redeemed in this book but I will say, he does seem to get better.



Aside from that, this book really did bother the feminist in me. I know, I know, its a part of the world building but I cannot seem to shake off the unease that comes from reading how low a position women hold in this society. Eona seems to be the strongest woman in the book but she is too busy worrying about her relationship with Kygo so that doesn't really help matters.



I realise I haven't mentioned anything aside from characters and relationships and thats mostly because the faults in those two things alone just overshadowed the book for me, I could not enjoy the excitement or anything else that was going on and it wasn't until the last couple of pages where I started enjoying the book. Sadly that wasn't nearly enough to redeem it for me. 



Hopefully people will have better luck than I did with this book.




Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman


Title: Eon: Dragoneye Reborn
Author: Alison Goodman
Series: Eon #1
Publisher: Viking
Release Date: December 26, 2008
Buy: Amazon
Goodreads Summary
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.



This book was a bundle of awesome. I am so glad I read it; although I am sure my librarian is happier I finally returned it.
It took me a long time to get around to this and even when I did I stopped reading when I found it there might be a love triangle in the sequel. Lucky for me there are nice people in the world and they cleared that up for me and so I continued reading.
I don’t pick up fantasy often mostly because it is a special genre; I don’t want to read anything in this genre that I am not sure won’t blow my mind.
From the plot, to the characters to the world building, everything was done very well in this book, so it’s safe to say my mind was blown.
It took me a while to write this review because my brain was too scattered to actually come up with anything that would justify this book.
There were times I wanted to smack Eon in the face because she didn’t realize the truth of what she was and didn’t want to embrace it but I understood it. I couldn’t call her stupid because if people knew she would be screwed (even though at one point I did exactly that).
The characters in this book are somewhat complicated, not all of them are likeable but that doesn’t mean you hate them. You never understand what their motives are because that’s what life at court is like; there are tons of politics, sides and my favorite, secrets. The secondary characters are well developed and also happen to be my favorites (Lady Dela, Ryko, Rilla and Chart).
The world building is done beautifully. It’s amazing how much of the culture Goodman incorporated into this book.
The plot was rather interesting, we know who the bad guy is but I think this first book was meant as an introduction into this world and the sequel is where we’ll learn more about the dragons and have tons of fighting scenes. Beside that what made the plot really interesting was what was going on in the court. It’s a very interesting place, plus.. the prince.
I believe book does the fantasy genre justice; it has action, a strong female lead, a good plot, great world building and my personal favorite, DRAGONS! So I recommend it to everyone who loves the genre as well.
I look forward to reading the sequel and seeing how the romance works out.


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