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A review by aggressive_nostalgia
Eona: The Last Dragoneye by Alison Goodman
4.0
What a pleasant surprise. I had moderately positive things to say about the first book, but it’s telling that it took me almost a year and a half to get around to reading the second. Yet most of the things I found disappointing or difficult in Eon were remedied in Eona. Though the stylistic aspects of Goodman’s writing aren’t my favorite, the pacing is much better, and the political intrigue is able to unfold without competing with the worldbuilding for precious page time. Eona’s emotions expand into an adult world, and Goodman deftly uses them to pack the novel full of tension and suspense.
The character development is much more fleshed-out, as well. Kygo is a substantially more interesting character and the push-and-pull of his relationship with Eona is tense and interesting while still managing to put a bit of a twist on the stock love-and-hate romance of so many YA novels. Dela continues to be a lovely complex role in the cast, one of my favorite characters, and I enjoyed Ryko’s increased role as well. Ido is no longer merely the stock power-hungry schemer of the first book (that role is taken up by Sethon, who is creepy as hell and plays it well). Even the ever-wacky love triangle is convincing, and relies on something deeper than conflicting emotions and misunderstandings to support its place in the plot.
Also impressive is the unexpectedly mature turn of the narrative – Eona is not merely on a quest to save the Empire, but must navigate the moral quandary of her own power and the multiple roles she’s found herself slotted into – and the ones she might take for herself. It’s a messy, complex web full of brutal questions about loyalty, honor, trust, the morality of violence, and – most strikingly – the use and abuse of power, of all kinds. The ambiguity and consequences of the protagonist’s choices feel real, and that is how you write a compelling plot.
I don’t know that I’ll revisit these books anytime soon – I’m not really interested in retreading Eon to enjoy Eona – but I think I could be convinced to pick up another of Goodman’s books without too much coercion!
The character development is much more fleshed-out, as well. Kygo is a substantially more interesting character and the push-and-pull of his relationship with Eona is tense and interesting while still managing to put a bit of a twist on the stock love-and-hate romance of so many YA novels. Dela continues to be a lovely complex role in the cast, one of my favorite characters, and I enjoyed Ryko’s increased role as well. Ido is no longer merely the stock power-hungry schemer of the first book (that role is taken up by Sethon, who is creepy as hell and plays it well). Even the ever-wacky love triangle is convincing, and relies on something deeper than conflicting emotions and misunderstandings to support its place in the plot.
Also impressive is the unexpectedly mature turn of the narrative – Eona is not merely on a quest to save the Empire, but must navigate the moral quandary of her own power and the multiple roles she’s found herself slotted into – and the ones she might take for herself. It’s a messy, complex web full of brutal questions about loyalty, honor, trust, the morality of violence, and – most strikingly – the use and abuse of power, of all kinds. The ambiguity and consequences of the protagonist’s choices feel real, and that is how you write a compelling plot.
I don’t know that I’ll revisit these books anytime soon – I’m not really interested in retreading Eon to enjoy Eona – but I think I could be convinced to pick up another of Goodman’s books without too much coercion!