Eon is a story that is very deep, dark, complex with a hint of violence and tragedy merged in it. This style of writing isn't often found in young adult fiction. They are usually so much more light-hearted. But somehow, through her mastery skill, Alison Goodman bravely and successfully weaved an amazing tale of a sixteen years-old girl masqueraded as a twelve years-old boy to participate in the competition choosing an apprentice for a Dragoneye lord, which since the beginning of time had been forbidden to women.
My heart feels raw with sorrow and sympathy to the characters who lived in this book: Eon - Eona, Lord Brannon - her master, Chart - Rilla, Lady Dela - Ryko and many many others. They are so real that tears pricked at my eyes whenever any of them suffered either from physical or emotional harms.
I'm really glad that Eon and its sequence, Eona, are very thick books. That way I'll have a chance to linger in their world for a longer time. But the emotional overloads in it put such a strain on my heart. I think of Eon's world day and night, every minute of my walking awake, hence, very distracting. Still, I welcome it, for I will hold it more deeply in my memory.
Poor Brannon. A man in his early forties whose enerygy had been almost drained from practicing Dragoneye magic for twenty-four years. A man who couldn't even walk with the help of others was secretly in love with his apprentice, Eon (or Eona). But for ambition, he destroyed her body, turning her into a cripple so that others wouldn't dare look at the cripple for fear of ill fortune to find the shadow of a girl in the garpb of a boy. He loved her, yet couldn't do anything about it, even until the day he died from being poisoned. *sigh* Now I understand why there's a saying that in the moment of death, you don't regret of what you did, but of what you didn't do.
So much sorrow. My chest is constricting, tightening its hold on my bruised heart. For now, I grieve for Lord Brannon for unable to voice his love and act on it, in the end, bringing with him only a baggage of guilt and regret to his own grave.
People remarked on the slow pacing of the book due to the detailed world-building. I concede my agreement on this point. Nevertheless, her colorful drawing of the world, her insight and research on Chinese myths and customs were brilliant, enticing you until you have to use every effort in you to break your focus apart from it. Therefore, I don't accuse her of the slow-pacing, but instead, applauding her skillful use of words to paint such a beautiful tale.
Eon's action, although, most of the time is driven and governed by fear and distrust, yet is a very believable character. Not everyone is born with self-assurance and self-confidence or is privileged to a life of education, absolute obeisance and courtesy like Elisa in The Girl of Fire and Thorns. Elisa is better and a more likeable character, still I choose Eon over Elisa. Perhaps I feel closer to Eon than Elisa. Elisa is too perfect, too awesome, I think.
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