Eon/Eona by Alison Goodman
A rant about the first book I picked up for my own enjoyment after getting into fanfiction.
--
I recommend this book, especially to those who liked my Special Kingdom and One Breath series.
Goodman wrote in a/n:
"The Empire of the Celestial Dragons is not a real country or culture. It is a fantasy world that was at first inspired by the history and cultures of China and Japan..."
I noticed. I'm a fan of the fantasy genre, but have only picked up novels with western ideas (i.e. the appearance of a dragon differs). Eon, the first of the two books I read more than a year ago, astounded me. This book also brings in the zodiac in an interesting way.
It's been a long time since I opened Eragon and I never finished Inheritance, but I can almost say that these two books tell a similar story very differently.
However, I am very angry with Eona for its ending. SPOILERS HERE:
I do not know what went on behind the making and writing of this book, but in my opinion, Eona is an example of the editor telling the writer to "wrap it up; we don't want this series to drag into a few more books."
We have the Emperor/Prince Kygo preparing the Resistance to go against his uncle who has usurped the throne. I had readied myself to read about the greatest, coolest battle between Lord Sethon's (usurper) large army and Prince Kygo's small army backed by two dragoneyes. And then in the blink of an eye, the battle wraps up in less than two chapters with a twist that left me shocked and feeling bereft. I would understand if Goodman wanted something very different for the ending of her book, except that the way she wrote it did not work for me.
Could it have been the pacing? It could have been. This was not the first in Eona.
Prince Kygo's appearance in the beginning was abrupt too, accounting the fact that Eona and her troupe had such a hard time locating him. And then in less than one night, he magically appears (with some reason, of course).
Concluding this ending, although there were supposed to be a climax before the resolution, I felt none. No heart-pounding exhilaration. No thrill. No excitement and impatience to drink in every single word. I was even bereft of a proper resolution! After the supposed climax, it ends in a few pages!
Another matter that I am angry about is the characters.
More specifically, Eona, Kygo, and Ido.
Eona, our heroine, is a hypocrite for spouting about trust to Kygo when she herself held back secrets. Whenever she felt entitled and grew angry at the prince, I grew frustrated at her instead. All the ranting about trust made sense in that it was an important theme, but overall Eona had no backing. And more importantly, I did not understand her character at the end. It was as if the Eona we read and came to know had become a different person. She was no longer the courageous person in the beginning. When she would choose Kygo (love) over the nation even after the fact that Dela had just lost Ryko moments ago, I hissed. Of course, she did not go through with it, but it was not that she only considered it; Eona would've gone through with destroying the nation except that Kinra stopped her. Eona has NO WILL of her own. She has become a weak and faithless heroine. I could not even understand why she wanted to "make it right." The flashbacks and Kinra's persuasion was not enough for me as a reader to be persuaded, let alone for power-hungry Eona to be.
I will skip over Kygo who exasperates me less and explain my frustration with Ido's character.
Goodman destroyed her best character (and my favorite) by making him 2 dimensional at the end. It was as if she wanted to be done with it and so all the character growth that Ido had gone through was scrapped. She slapped the label "2D, no heart" on him again just so she could get rid of him quickly and not have to deal with his character. He also disappeared in the blink of an eye, which at that point was surprising and yet not, considering the fact that she had done the same to minor characters that had become useless. But even if Ido was still power-hungry in the end, Goodman could have made it more convincing.
Lastly, Dela, who I did not mention that bothered me. She and Ryko had the purest love, but she was also a courageous woman. I would understand her getting back to her feet after his death moments ago, except that I will NOT accept this concluding line about her: "She had lost so much, yet she still had the strength to smile." I would like this to be expanded, tqvm Goodman.
Really concluding everything, Eon/Eona is a very good book until its ending. It missed its chance to stay on my favorites list, but I highly recommend the two books (with a fat warning).
--
I recommend this book, especially to those who liked my Special Kingdom and One Breath series.
Goodman wrote in a/n:
"The Empire of the Celestial Dragons is not a real country or culture. It is a fantasy world that was at first inspired by the history and cultures of China and Japan..."
I noticed. I'm a fan of the fantasy genre, but have only picked up novels with western ideas (i.e. the appearance of a dragon differs). Eon, the first of the two books I read more than a year ago, astounded me. This book also brings in the zodiac in an interesting way.
It's been a long time since I opened Eragon and I never finished Inheritance, but I can almost say that these two books tell a similar story very differently.
However, I am very angry with Eona for its ending. SPOILERS HERE:
I do not know what went on behind the making and writing of this book, but in my opinion, Eona is an example of the editor telling the writer to "wrap it up; we don't want this series to drag into a few more books."
We have the Emperor/Prince Kygo preparing the Resistance to go against his uncle who has usurped the throne. I had readied myself to read about the greatest, coolest battle between Lord Sethon's (usurper) large army and Prince Kygo's small army backed by two dragoneyes. And then in the blink of an eye, the battle wraps up in less than two chapters with a twist that left me shocked and feeling bereft. I would understand if Goodman wanted something very different for the ending of her book, except that the way she wrote it did not work for me.
Could it have been the pacing? It could have been. This was not the first in Eona.
Prince Kygo's appearance in the beginning was abrupt too, accounting the fact that Eona and her troupe had such a hard time locating him. And then in less than one night, he magically appears (with some reason, of course).
Concluding this ending, although there were supposed to be a climax before the resolution, I felt none. No heart-pounding exhilaration. No thrill. No excitement and impatience to drink in every single word. I was even bereft of a proper resolution! After the supposed climax, it ends in a few pages!
Another matter that I am angry about is the characters.
More specifically, Eona, Kygo, and Ido.
Eona, our heroine, is a hypocrite for spouting about trust to Kygo when she herself held back secrets. Whenever she felt entitled and grew angry at the prince, I grew frustrated at her instead. All the ranting about trust made sense in that it was an important theme, but overall Eona had no backing. And more importantly, I did not understand her character at the end. It was as if the Eona we read and came to know had become a different person. She was no longer the courageous person in the beginning. When she would choose Kygo (love) over the nation even after the fact that Dela had just lost Ryko moments ago, I hissed. Of course, she did not go through with it, but it was not that she only considered it; Eona would've gone through with destroying the nation except that Kinra stopped her. Eona has NO WILL of her own. She has become a weak and faithless heroine. I could not even understand why she wanted to "make it right." The flashbacks and Kinra's persuasion was not enough for me as a reader to be persuaded, let alone for power-hungry Eona to be.
I will skip over Kygo who exasperates me less and explain my frustration with Ido's character.
Goodman destroyed her best character (and my favorite) by making him 2 dimensional at the end. It was as if she wanted to be done with it and so all the character growth that Ido had gone through was scrapped. She slapped the label "2D, no heart" on him again just so she could get rid of him quickly and not have to deal with his character. He also disappeared in the blink of an eye, which at that point was surprising and yet not, considering the fact that she had done the same to minor characters that had become useless. But even if Ido was still power-hungry in the end, Goodman could have made it more convincing.
Lastly, Dela, who I did not mention that bothered me. She and Ryko had the purest love, but she was also a courageous woman. I would understand her getting back to her feet after his death moments ago, except that I will NOT accept this concluding line about her: "She had lost so much, yet she still had the strength to smile." I would like this to be expanded, tqvm Goodman.
Really concluding everything, Eon/Eona is a very good book until its ending. It missed its chance to stay on my favorites list, but I highly recommend the two books (with a fat warning).