Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I have a love-hate relationship with this book. In the end I’m glad(??) that i read it especially during Pride month!
Eon grew up his entire life having a single thought literally beaten into their head “everything feminine is bad” Emotions are feminine therefore Eon should not feel. And to avoid more abuse Eon lives almost religiously by that one thought, resulting in a sociopath feel to the POV but thats neither here or there….
My main issue with this book is this:If Eon had felt more of an inclination to male characterisics then this book wouldve been easier to read. But he didn’t. They felt forced to be more male. And it fucking hurt to read. Because they were constantly told and shown that being female was bad. So I understood the book was trying to first establish the background of society then break into the lesson of being female is not lesser. But I didn’t love how the author executed it with the MC’s emotional slow processing and internal negative thoughts.
Eon kept making mistakes just constantly trying to be more manly. It was literally trial and error for half the book.
This isn’t a cliche woman dressing up as male to manipulate a situation while secretly plotting shit. Eon literally CANT think about feminity even in the inner thoughts to the reader because it’s unacceptable to him. So the whole perspective is really hard to read when he forces himself into male. And that broke my heart. It wasn’t the journey of realizing they are trans*. It was a woman psychologically abused into a man.
And it also meant we, the audience, never saw that mental struggle or growth of character— Eon just took things as they were and didn’t fight back NOT even in their inner dialogue. The reader heard information, Eon had it go in one ear and that was it. Like not even a little rebellious “but I don’t wanna” moment for readers to relate to! It felt purposefully flat so then emotions are more important later. But I didn’t like reading it.
That being said, this book did a great job with some diverse characters.
I adored Lady Daya, biologically one gender but CHOSE to be female. She was so strong in her identity, I was in awe the whole time….honestly I wish we read about her instead of Eon but I’m hoping they finds the same acceptance&self-love
“I had no name, no true power. No hope.”
Another thing is that the author kept (almost painfully) forcing Eon to be an underdog. It was literarlly one thing after the other on how it would be impossible and so unrealistic for them to succeedbut somehow it will always worked out and isn’t that amazing? I just got tired of it.
“Alert your men,” Ryko said. He turned his head and I saw the rise of violence in his eyes. I wondered what he saw in mine. “Here we go.”
There were some great lines and general great writing in this book. Secondary characterwise Ryko defintely top and I really curious about what it meant to be a Shadowman* more details book 2 please?
And the book went on and Eon actually began to feel emotions!! It was mostly anger… but still spunk and some actual characteristics !!
“A eunuch and a Contraire. How the gods would laugh,” she said bitterly.“The gods are already laughing,” I said. “How else could the future of an empire rest on my shoulders?”
I guess I love this book for the world building and the end product. I loved how it all turned out in the end for MC. In the end, they are a much stronger person. They learn how to fight, begin to accept their chosen identity, and feel like they found a purpose when before Eon was simply following whatever people said.
Spoiler
“But I am not Lord Eon. Not anymore. I am Eona, the Mirror Dragoneye.” I looked up at the black smoke that hung over the palace and Dragon Halls, then turned my attention back to the startled man beside me. “And I want to join your resistance.”
Because of this last sentence I am really looking forward to book 2 while secretly encouraging y’all to skip the first one and just go the sequel.
Leave a Reply