Author: Alison Goodman
Release Date: April 19th, 2011
Publisher: Penguin Group
Pages: 637
Edition: Hardcover
Cover Judge: just...plain badass.
Quote Choice: True words and a testament to her good writing.Source: Bought
Goodreads: Link
Finally able to embrace her true identity, Eona has already won a massive personal victory. However, a major battle still rages for control of the empire. After slaughtering his own family, High Lord Sethon has seized the throne. Left unstopped, his relentless ambition would leave the whole country in ruins.
Although she is new to her powers, Eona is now the resistance's only hope. She must learn to harness the mysterious strength of her Mirror Dragon if Emperor Kygo is to claim back his kingdom. Yet knowledge comes at a price. Who can she trust, and how long can she resist the terrible truth of her ancestor's prophecy?
Eona isn't the kind of book you can just dive into a review for and so, a while after I finished it, I am finally writing it.
Eona as a person has really changed from book one to book two. Gone is a someone who feels small when it comes to making their own decisions. Instead we get powerful Eona, who gets caught in a web of lies that is incredibly big and strong. Not only does Eona have the weight of the world on her shoulders, she also has ten dragons trying to get into her and her mirror dragon is nowhere to be seen.
The plot mostly consists of running away from Sethon because he is evil and trying to take over everything. The plot also mostly revolves around the lies Eona tells because she thinks she was in the right which was both frustrating and intriguing to me at the same time. It didn't make her like Eona because she becomes somewhat cruel in the way she treats her friends because she always thinks she's in the right and she isn't someone I, personally, would want to be friends with. But sometimes reading isn't always about liking the characters you're reading about and hating Eona sometimes didn't make me want to stop reading the book.
And then we finally have some romance doing on in this sequel! Not enough that it completely detaches from the story but Goodman manages to attach it in such a natural way it seems like there was no other option than the way it was going. There are actually two options for Eona (yes, a love triangle) but it's not in the way you would think. Kygo, the crown prince of the nation that is now on the run from his uncle, is the person she loves. Their dynamic throughout the story was interesting and slightly heart-breaking but then you have Ido and how anyone could prefer him over Kygo is beyond me. With Ido and Eona, it's not love, it's power. It's Ido constantly enticing her with the idea that she could have the world in the palm of her hands, that she could tap into power so strong, but she can only do it with her help. It's the tug of having healed him (and her healing has some...connecting problems that come with it) and the fact that what they can create together is strong (and dangerous and deadly and destructive).
Finally, I have to praise Goodman's writing because it is fantastic. As always, the book is huge so naturally there are some slow parts but she writes some amazing high-fantasy.
Happy Reading!
