Book #82

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn
by Allison Goodman

There were two times, while I was reading Allison Goodman's new novel, when I didn't like the book. In the very beginning, while the author was trying to introduce the invented world of her dragoncentric fantasy -- based largely on feudal Japan and Mandarin China, but changed into something of the author's own creation -- I got lost; too much information was put forward too quickly, with details that could have been given over a broader span of the narrative. It made me feel a bit annoyed with the whole endeavor. On the other hand, the main character, the girl Eona who masquerades as the boy Eon, was interesting enough and sympathetic enough to keep me reading. From the first scene, Eon is faced with almost insurmountable odds: not only is she female -- a secret that must be kept at all costs, as girls are not allowed to do what Eon is trying to do: become the new Dragoneye apprentice, the one who will learn to link with one of the twelve spirit Dragons whose power protects the kingdom from earthquakes and monsoons -- but she is also a peasant and an indentured servant, bought from a slow death at a salt mine because she is her master's last chance at winning glory as the teacher of a new Dragoneye. And, of course, she is crippled: she has a badly-healed hip injury that gives her a limp and makes her untouchable and unworthy in the eyes of the arrogant nobility of her land. But despite all of these disadvantages, any one of which would have a modern youth (including myself, twenty years ago) throwing up our hands in defeat and returning to the couch for potato chips and another round of Halo, Eon perseveres, and wins. She becomes one of the chosen few, destined to become one of the wealthiest, most revered and most influential people in the kingdom, holding a position second only to the Emperor himself.

Except for one thing: one of her fellow Dragoneyes, Lord Ido, is conspiring with the Emperor's brother to overthrow the lord of the kingdom and usurp his power. Eon finds herself in the middle of the power struggle from her very first day. But luckily, she is not without allies, and the author has built an excellent cast of characters into this story: Ryko, the eunuch guard and secret revolutionary; Lady Dela, the noble woman assigned to teach Lord Eon court etiquette, who has a secret of her own; Rilla and Chart, two other servants of Eon's master who have been her allies during her training and remain so after her ascension; and several others of varying importance. All of them are nicely realized, interesting in their own right, and all help bring the story to vibrant life, without ever taking the focus from where it belongs, on this strong female (though that is, of course, one of the key issues of the book) main character, something that is too rare in fantasy, and a real strength of this book. Eon was what kept me reading, and what made me enjoy it.

Until the second moment when I got irritated in reading the book. In all stories, and most especially in epics such as this, the hero must reach a low point, just before the climax of the action and the long struggle upward to victory. I expected no less from this book. Unfortunately, the descent of Eon reaches depths I haven't seen since I read Kafka: Eon doesn't just hit bottom, she starts digging. She loses so much, so quickly, that I went past sympathetic into angry; it seemed like the author was just being cruel for cruelty's sake. It went too far, and it made it hard to enjoy the book because the reason for Eon's downfall was, well, silly; I knew what the basic problem was from the first major plot point, when Eon became a Lord, and the idea that not only couldn't Eon figure it out, but that something so simple could cause this much suffering, was hard to swallow.

Fortunately, after some few minutes when I was cursing under my breath and gesticulating violently as I read, the problems work out and Eon eventually saves the day. I was very gratified to see, though, that her success does not come easy, nor cheap, and also that the villain is not cast simply into the fires of Hell from whence he came, but is treated as a more genuine and fully-fleshed character, as he deserved.

Perhaps those two moments of ire helped to increase the savor of the pleasant moments, offering a contrast and a balance to the enjoyment, but even if they were simply detractions from the overall experience, the good parts more than made up for it. This was an excellent book, and I will look forward to the sequel and the conclusion of Eon's tale.