Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman; young adult, fantasy; 531 pages
I've been meaning to read this for a long while, but I was waiting for the second half of the story to come out so I could read it all at once. Fortunately, Patrick brought an arc of the sequel back from ALA Midwinter, so I finally dove in (the sequel will official be out in April, so if you've been holding off like I was, rest assured your wait is almost over).
In the strict Empire of the Twelve Celestial Dragons, Dragoneyes (skilled men who can communicate with and control the spiritual dragons) are second only to the emperor himself. Eon has been training most of his life to be a Dragoneye, and his chance is swiftly approaching as the book opens. There's only one problem: "Eon" is actually "Eona," a sixteen-year-old girl who hopes to bring her family honor through the power of a dragon. And she does bond with a dragon--the Mirror Dragon, thought to be lost for over 500 years. But with no one to train her and her secret to keep, she struggles to find her place among the Dragoneyes, and learn to manipulate her own dragon's power for the good of the empire.
I tore through this book in a matter of days. While I had a few moments when I thought Eon was being particularly dim, for the most part I felt like she was doing the best she could in an increasingly dangerous situation. There's lots of action, and even the beginning sparks of a romance (though with all the swashbuckling and political maneuvering in this volume, it's no wonder that part got shuffled to the back of the story). The setting is loosely based on ancient China, which was a refreshing change from the more Euro-centric fantasy I've been reading lately. I can't wait to start the sequel!
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