Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Eon: Dragoneye Reborn

Let me start with the good. The world building is amazing. I feel like I am in another era while reading the book, and I can almost smell the grass, timber, and steamed buns in the story. Speaking of, Eon has a very exciting story. I constantly need to know what happens next. However, a lot of this is driven by me, the reader, having already figured everything out, desperately reading on so that Eona will get to figuring it out.

Something else that really strikes me is how obvious it is that the book is written by a tourist into Chinese and Japanese culture. There is a lot she gets right, but it is still described with an exoticism and an otherness that makes it obvious it's from someone with an outside eye.

The final disappointment is a spoiler,

when Eona finally joins with her dragon, she magically heals from her disability, and this is celebrated.

This convenient way of handling it is so disappointing, because that was never what was holding Eona back. It would have been much more powerful if her rise to power embraces all the physical things that are supposed to set her back.

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comopanini's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Oof. I have a lot of things I want to talk about. Let me chew it over for a while.

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deadandhallowed's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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obviousthings's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have complicated feelings about this book, especially about the trans representation. On the one hand, Lady Dela is an amazing character. On the other hand, the physical descriptions of her compare her to a man far too often. The book meant a lot to me as a young trans teen, though, and I have to commend it for having a relatively well-written trans woman (even as a side character) in a "girl pretends to be a boy for plot reasons" story - especially since it was written back in 2008. Overall, I'm glad I reread it, but I'm not sure if I would recommend it.

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