[Review] Eon & Eona by Alison Goodman *****

And we're back! Welcome back to LEIO and the reviews! I've been on a book binge as of late, and I'm definitely back logged on books to review and place up here. So in the spirit of giving you a bunch of reviews at once, I'm actually recommedning two books at once.  


The Story

Eon takes us to a world inspired by ancient China and magic, where a 16 year old girl disguises herself as Eon, a potential apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons, the protectors of her world. Crippled, and hiding her potentially fatal secret, Eona soon finds herself twisted into the politics and mystery of the lost Mirror Dragon and a country whose throne is under threat from within.

What's So Great About It?

I have always been a big fan of epic adventures and Eon caught my eye instantly because its a story of a girl who pretends to be a boy in order to follow her heart and passions. The books are rated for grade 8 and up, but there are a lot of life lessons and hard choices within the pages that even an adult could relate to. The maturity of the circumstances, and the very real mistakes that Eona makes and potentially makes, raise the stakes. The books create a world where small missteps can lead to much larger catastrophes, which Eona finds out through her journey to becoming an apprentice.

Like many of the books I review, it's the characters that truly make the book shine. Eona herself is determined and realistic, with a compassionate side that shows as a lion might show affection to her cubs; with a strong hand. She makes mistakes and lets her fears influence some of her decisions. She acts as many people do and learns from her mistakes. The supporting characters in these two books have just as much heart as their main protagonist, and the books cover topics such as gender identity, homosexuality, loyalty, and obsession in mature and insightful ways.

Why These Books??

I suggest Eon and Eona for the classroom because of the quality of story, maturity of the material, and the characters. These are books that any teacher, or professor even, could pull discussions and paper topics from for their students.

I give Eon and Eona by Alison Goodman  5 out of 5 stars for readability in the classroom. My only exception is that I believe these books would be great as supplemental material. For example, if you gave students a list of similar books to choose from, as apposed to forcing the whole class to read one book. The reason for this being that some students may not be as interested in the story as others. Just as some like certain flavors, these two definitely have a flavor.