Review: Eon Series by Alison Goodman

Drama, action, mythology, romance. Eon has it all

Title: Eon and Eona
Series: Eon
Author: Alison Goodman
Publisher: Penguin
My ratings: 4 out of 5 stars
Released: 2011
With glowing reviews by the most prudent of reviewers, I picked Eon series by Alison Goodman thinking if I was living under a rock as I had never come across this series before. I was confident that I would love it as it had a beautiful setting (Oriental, an all) deeply magical world and the premise promised action and lots of it.This review is covers both the books.

Its starts off with Eon who is actually a 16 year old girl, disguised as a boy, training to be chosen as a Dragon Eye. In Eona's world there are 12 Dragons who each year chose an apprentice who they bless with their power. So, even when it's not the year of the Mirror Dragon. Eona gets chosen and she has to navigate a world of politics where empires are at stakes, trying to harness her powers, save the King, solve the mystery of her dragon while hiding her real gender. Piece of cake!

This review is a joint review of both the books Eon and Eona as it was first publishes as one massive edition called The Pearls of Wisdom but was re-released was a two part series.

Eon first started off slowly for me. There was a lot of world building to get to while the setting was being made. Alison Goodman does not cut corners and the setting was achieved one painful brick at a time.

But once it did, the suspense and the mystery kept going. But it was slow at some points which had me rolling my eyes, urging Eona to get on with it but perhaps it was part of the enchantment. the first book set up the mystery and the plot line in the right direction and the second book, Eona, took off straight from there. There was no romance in the Eon, which was slightly disappointing but Eona made up for it.

While I was looking for rupture, I was unfortunately disappointed. I can see why it was rated so highly by critical reviews but somehow it did not play to my tastes as much as I had wanted it to. I suppose it was due to my high expectation.

This series deals with a lots of issues and Alison Goodman did a fantastic job culminating, develop and deal with them. Themes like what it was like to be a woman when your gender was so looked down upon. To embrace yourself and understand what is right and stand by it. It talks about power and how it changes people.

I did enjoy Eona's dilemma and enjoyed how a truly despised character was somewhat redeemed in Eona. I felt the attraction between him and Eona because he was the only one who truly understood what it was to be someone with such power. He kind of reminded me of the Darkling in the Grisha Series by Leigh Bardugo. While I absolutely love the Darkling mad Lord Ido is nowhere as darkling enticing as him, they are similar in the way in which they manage to say such horrible and wrong thing but at that moment in time, it feels right. Its only when you think about it later, can you truly comprehend what wrong things they were trying to suggest.

One thing that is still bothering me is that Eona was quite put off by the fact that Kyko would have to take a number of concubines and she found it hard to accept. But this problem was not resolves or touched upon later. Kyko declares her his queen and that's it. I'm saying this because I have read a lot of Asian/Chinese translated book, and it's a major issue that the Chinese authors have to address. If you marry a King how do you get over the concubines?

I'd recommend it to true fantasy fans, who like deep, series themes with extensive world building and the journey of a woman who learns to accept her gender and the reality of what it means to be a woman who is powerful than all the men around her.