Sunday 18 May 2014

Book Review - Eona: Return of the Dragoneye

Title: Eona: Return of the Dragoneye
Author: Alison Goodman
Series: Eon (book 2)
Publisher: David Fickling Books
Release Date: 1st August 2011
ISBN-13: 978-1849920162

Synopsis
Eon has been revealed as Eona, the first female Dragoneye in hundreds of years. Along with fellow rebels Ryko and Lady Dela, she is on the run from High Lord Sethon's army. The renegades are on a quest for the black folio, stolen by the drug-riddled Dillon; they must also find Kygo, the young Pearl Emperor, who needs Eona's power and the black folio if he is to wrest back his throne from the selfstyled "Emperor" Sethon. Through it all, Eona must come to terms with her new Dragoneye identity and power - and learn to bear the anguish of the ten dragons whose Dragoneyes were murdered. As they focus their power through her, she becomes a dangerous conduit for their plans. . . .

My Review
I first took this book out of the library 2 years ago, I was really excited to read it as I remembered that I really enjoyed book 1, but I had a pile of books and reviews to do that I kept pushing this back. I didn't realise that quite so much time had passed and I feel bad for keeping a book for so long. By the time I decided to get round to it (about a month ago) I couldn't really remember book 1, so I picked that up to re-read instead. I didn't love book 1 but enjoyed it enough to want to read this one, but for some reason i still didn't pick this book up. One factor was that it was too big for my bag so i couldn't carry it around but there was something else stopping me too. I read 2 other shorted books in between and nearly started another. But this book is due back at the library tomorrow from it's last renewal and I just couldn't renew it again - so I gave myself an ultimatum, read it this weekend or return it unread. 
So I finally picked it up. 
Eona has been revealed as a girl, the first female dragoneye in over 500 years. After Ido killed the other 10 dragon lords a war is breaking out and the dragon spirits are in pain. Eona must find a way to appease the dragons, fight for the Emperor and keep everyone safe. But she is young and inexperienced, is it too much for someone of her position?
I have to admit I mostly skim read this in the end. It is 469 pages, big pages and fairly small font which means there is a lot of content, and if I am honest i don't think all of it was relevant. There is a lot of description and back story and thinking - bits that you could quite happily do without, or at least that is how i felt.
The actual storyline is interesting and compelling, I like Eona as a character and found myself hoping she would win, she isn't perfect by any means - in fact she is very flawed, she is moody and irrational, uncertain and at times a bit weak but that just makes her more realistic. I liked the cross between her, Ido and Kygo, that was very well done and created good tension throughout. 
When it actually got down to it, the plot was good and I did enjoy it, the ending was very exciting and it drew together fairly nicely, I have a few unanswered questions but overall I was happy. I just wish it hadn't taken so long to get there, I was losing the will to read at times.
High fantasy fans may enjoy this more, but I just struggled with the pacing.

My Rating
      

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