Eona/Alison Goodman

Eona, by Alison Goodman; young adult, fantasy; 656 pages

Patrick is my new best friend, for bringing an advance copy of this back from ALA. The first book left us with something of a cliffhanger, so I was pleased not to have to wait for the conclusion.

Following the coup in the first book, Eona and her allies retreat into the wilderness to regroup with the displaced emperor, and find a way to overthrow the new government. Eona's secret is out now, and she has to deal with the effects of her secret-keeping on her relationships. More importantly, she still doesn't know how to control her dragon, forcing her to turn to Lord Ido, the only other remaining Dragoneye, for training--if they can rescue him from the imperial dungeons.

I enjoyed this book, but I had a lot less patience with Eona here than in the previous volume. When she was masquerading as a 12-year-old boy, I was willing to allow a little more naivete, but as a 16-year-old girl trained as a warrior, I expected her to catch on to things a little faster. Also, much of the story revolved around trust: Eona has to rebuild other characters' trust in her, while being torn between who to trust in the political games that are playing out. Of course, to the reader, who to trust is really obvious, so that sort of added to my frustration. Then again, I may have just been in a cranky mood when I read this. I did love the romance that takes a larger role in this book, and with the constant twists and action scenes, it's a fast read, despite it's length.

This is a great book for fans of writers like Tamora Pierce, Robin McKinley, and Sherwood Smith.