Eon

Eon

By Alison Goodman

 

 

The (a) story follows Eon, a young student of magical arts and swordsmanship living in the ancient, mystical Empire of the Celestial Dragons. For the last several years of his life, Eon’s extensive training has driven him toward one ultimate goal: to be chosen as a Dragoneye—an apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons that protect the empire from harm.

The only thing is, “Eon” is really Eona, a sixteen year old girl masquerading as a twelve year old boy. And, big shocker, women are forbidden to become Dragoneyes. Or use magic. Or do anything, really.

But when a miraculous turn of events leads to Eona’s selection as a Dragoneye, keeping her secret becomes even more imperative—and even more difficult. Especially as, behind the scenes, evil plots are brewing, and villains are crawling slowly out of hiding. Now, not only her identity, but also the Imperial Throne itself is in jeopardy, and it will take all of Eona’s strength—emotional and mental, as well as physical—to discover the true extent of her power, and save the empire from those that would tear it apart.

 

The (A) story is very much about feminine power. Not just the mystical powers of Eona’s dragon, but the more earthly strength of women everywhere—even those whose power has been stifled by living in a patriarchal society. In the world of Eon, this can be demonstrated by the existence of “Woman Script,” which is used by the women of the imperial harem. Passed from mother to daughter for generations, Woman Script allows them—being otherwise uneducated by the society they live in—not only to communicate, but to write poetry; to create. Instead of allowing themselves to be kept in the dark by the men in power, these women invented their own system for sharing their thoughts and ideas—and, as a result, found the perfect way to protect certain secrets of the dragons from those who would otherwise abuse their power.

But the story of Eon also has a great deal to say about the power that comes from being true to oneself. This is most obviously seen through Eona’s struggles as she attempts to uphold her male façade, contrasted with the connection she finds with her dragon once she finally accepts her femininity. However, another prime example of this self-acceptance is through Lady Dela, a transgender woman of the court who takes Eona under her wing. Though in some ways she is masculine, in both mind and heart she is a woman, and explains to Eona that though she may be a pariah in some social circles, she “cannot live any other way.”

 

While I like the overall concept of this story, I found it a bit hard to get through on several levels. First and foremost, it’s quite obvious from the end of chapter five what Eona is supposed to do in order to connect with her dragon…and she spends the entire book knowingly doing the opposite. On one hand I understand that Eona fears for her life, but on the other hand when the solution to the problem is so blatantly obvious from the beginning of the story, it is complete agony (as an omnipotent reader) having to bear the main character’s ignorance for the rest of it. And especially when the ignored answer is for a female character to embrace her femininity, it makes the realism of the sexist attitudes around her even harder to bear.

Which is another thing that bugs me. I get that this takes place during a less progressive part of (granted, a fantasy) history. But even after everything she has been through and done, once Eona is revealed as a woman, nearly all her newfound friends hate her guts. She does nothing differently from how she acted back when she was “Lord Eon,” and yet now she is a burden; nothing she does is right; she has “a woman’s sense of honor” just because she deigned to protect herself during a fight; and she has to risk her life and put herself through discomfort just to earn back a fraction of the respect she was freely given when everyone thought she had a stupid Y chromosome.

I can’t help but be reminded of Disney’s Mulan, when the titular character is met with a similar disdain by her former brothers-in-arms. But while Mulan stands up for herself, hitting Shang with that classic line: “You said you trust ‘Ping.’ Why is ‘Mulan’ any different?” Eona…kind of tries to stand up for herself, and then sort of whimpers back into submission—telling herself that she needs to prove she is “still Lord Eon.” Which, again, as we’ve previously established, sends her in the complete opposite direction of where we as an audience know she needs to go.

Also, the conflict between Eona and the main antagonist gets…really rape-y. Which is never pleasant to experience within a story no matter how vague the details might be.

As always, if you’re curious enough, I will not fault you for checking the book out for yourself before you come to your own conclusions. But this is yet another series I do not feel inclined to finish reading, and another book I would not run out and recommend to a fellow reader.