Eon: Dragoneye Reborn, by Alison Goodman
Author: Alison Goodman
Publisher: Viking
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pages: 531
Eon is a crippled servant in a world where cripples are untouchable, considered to bring bad luck with them wherever they go. They are not even allowed in the imperial presence. However, Eon's ambitious master has plans for him still and has spent years training Eon to become a Dragoneye. The Dragoneyes are special men, each chosen by one of the eleven celestial dragons, able to commune with their dragon and use its power on behalf of the emperor. The Rat Dragon is now the ascendent, and Eon is one of several candidates to become the apprentice Rat Dragoneye. He and his master have staked everything on Eon being chosen; if he is not, his master will lose what little political power and wealth he has left. Eon has a special gift -- he is able to see all of the dragons in the spirital realm at once, a power unheard of in any other -- and this is the reason he, a cripple, is allowed to compete. However, Eon has a terrifying secret that only he and his master know -- he is really Eona, a girl. Women are forbidden to be Dragoneyes -- they are forbidden from most aspects of power -- and discovery of this fact will mean instant death for Eon and his master. They have both ruthlessly eradicated all traces of the female in Eon, but it is still a dangerous plan, and one that both does not go as expected and yet exceeds all expectations. Eon is not chosen by the Rat Dragon, but by the Mirror Dragon, the twelfth dragon that has not been seen for hundreds of years. This marvel instantly catapults Eon to Lord status and co-ascendent Dragoneye with the cruel and power-mad Lord Ido, the Rat Dragoneye, who does not like sharing the spotlight. Now it is even more important for Eon to hide his sex, as he is quickly immeshed in a political power struggle between the current emperor, whose health is failing, and Lord Ido and his brother, High Lord Sethon, who intend to take over the throne. This becomes even more dangerous when Eon realizes he has miffed a key aspect of the union with his dragon, and now has trouble calling upon the Mirror Dragon's power.
I picked this book up because it was a fantasy in an Asian-inspired world and because it has a phenomenal cover closely tied to the subject of the book. (Not that I knew that at the time.) The deep reds signify the colors of the Imperial family as well as the Mirror Dragon, and the shining golden compass held in the dragon's claw is a key item for communicating with the dragons. Plus, it just looks badass. Am I right? I'm always curious to see how different authors reimagine and reinterpret Asian cultures to create an entirely new world, one not based on the standard European fantasy model that permeates the genre, and Alison Goodman really knocks it out of the park for me. Her world is very imaginative and unique (it doesn't seem like a thinly veiled copy of China, for example) and yet has a lot of research behind it (here she mentions some of her research). Every detail was crystal clear: court protocol; dragon mythology; decorative embellishments on buildings, items, hairpieces; gardens built to harness certain kinds of energy; Story robes that told tales in the weaving; the emphasis on poetry as communication as well as art. Simply amazing.
But what I really love about this book -- and Goodman's writing -- is how skillfully she weaves in themes of sex and gender and its importance (both the seeming and the being) in this society. While men are supreme, there's Eon, a girl pretending to be a boy; Lady Dela, a Contraire, a man who lives publicly as a woman; and Ryko, a Shadow Man, or eunuch; and they all have different views on the power each gains, or loses, from their roles. The interplay between Eon and Lady Dela is especially interesting, as their roles are swapped: Eon gains status by denying her femininity and adopting a masculine identity, while Lady Dela lives as a woman because she never felt at home in her male body. However, Eon is living a lie, while Lady Dela is not, and Eon is the one who has given up the most. Of course, it turns out that Eon's power does come from her femininity -- her Moon energy, rather then the male Sun energy -- and the hardest journey she undertakes in the book is the one to reclaim her true self.
So, that's the cool, somewhat intellectual part of the book, though there are plenty of strong, emotional moments centered around Eon's internal male/female conflict. All of the characters are fascinating, and even Lord Ido ends up having more to him then the standard mustache-twirling villain, despite how he appears at the beginning. Eon is a wonderful character, humble, conflicted, brave, proud, desperate, but not perfect at all -- she makes plenty of mistakes and has plenty of moments where she has less-then noble ideals. But she comes through at the end. The book also has suspenseful, high stakes political intrigue mixed with heart-pounding action, and sometimes the conflcits grew so intense that I found myself racing through paragraphs, almost afraid to know what happened next but needing to know right away. Thisis how I felt about the ending -- I know Goodman is writing the sequel, and I only wish I had it right now.
The pacing in the middle lags. I'm not sure why. I think it is because the reader has already figured out why Eon is having such trouble calling the Mirror Dragon, why the dragon continually eludes her, leaving her powerless just when she needs power the most. The Mirror Dragon is female, the Queen of the dragons, and Eon pushes the dragon away every time she does something to reinforce her male identity. It takes Eon far, far too long to figure this out, and she actually doesn't do it on her own, though she should have. I got increasingly frustrated with her, especially when she starts ingesting the Sun drug in large doses (steroids, basically) and can't figure out why that has seemed to make the dragon less accesible, not more. "Put it together already!", I wanted to yell. I might have actually done this at least once.
Also, and this is the one that really bothers me -- I think Goodman did an excellent, unique thing when she made Eon crippled, something heroes often are not, especially not to the extent that Eon is. It's an important facet of her character, dealing with her painful lameness; it affects every single part of her life and accounts for a lot of her strength of character later on. But when she finally figures out how to call the Mirror Dragon (at the end, natch), the first thing that happens is that her leg is magically healed and she is "whole". While I understand Goodman's desire to emphasis Eon's new power with a mirroring in her physical body, it seemed like a cop-out. I wanted to see her go all the way despite being untouchable to some, despite being physically hampered. How much more interesting it would have been.
Still, this was an excellent book, a must-read, especially for people who love fantasies, love incredible female protagonists, and who are looking for really detailed worlds that don't rehash the Euro-centric medieval standard. It's smart, it's emotional, it's (mostly) fast-paced, and it has a killer ending. And dragons -- celestial dragons. Let's not forget them. It's nice to see dragons done in a new way. The sequel can't come out fast enough.