3.5 stars, rounded up because it does deserve better than 3. I did enjoy reading Eon. The world lore drew me in more than I thought it would. The dragons and their pearls were just plain awesome.My biggest complaint with this book is that it was just so friggin long. The story was dragged on by very large action sequences that were not too interesting and became confusing when Hua was involved.I also could not relate to the main character even a tiny bit. I felt I was forced to like her just because she was the protagonist. I got annoyed with Lord Eon too many times to count, because of his/her stupidity. I don't know if Eona will be any better persoanlity wise, but I do plan on reading the sequel to find out. I enjoyed this quite a bit, especially the second half of the book, which I found to be much stronger than the beginning. The first half meanders, focusing too much on court life and not enough on action. This was probably why, especially for the first hundred pages or so, it felt like it took way too long for things to happen. The author also had a serious problem with spending far too much time describing things, and eventually I reached a point where I was skimming past all the purple prose. When a reader can skip five pages of text and not miss out on anything, then that text should've been edited out or at least cut in half. So for a while I was rather bored with the book. That is, until about the midway point. Then the action exploded, and I found myself unable to put the book down. I had fully intended throughout the book to give it three stars, but the last bit was so exciting that I bumped up the rating. In terms of character, I wish that Eon had a stronger, more distinctive voice. When she became Eona at the end, we got a glimpse of the character she had the potential to be, and it made me wish Eon had become Eona a lot sooner. Which brings me to my next complaint: it took Eon FAR too long to figure out the secret of the mirror dragon. I had it figured out easily a hundred pages before Eon, and that made the reading very frustrating. I liked the magic/dragon system that the author created; it was different from anything else I've read in quite a while. I also liked the diverse cast of characters, especially Ryko and Dela. For a while I thought that Eon might be genderfluid or trans, but by the end of the book, that didn't seem to be the case (I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed by this). Side note: I think that Kygo might not turn out to be such a good guy, so I'm very interested to read the sequel and find out what direction he takes. Pros:- Interesting magic/dragon system- Diverse cast- Some examination of gender expression and identity- Great action, especially at the endCons:- Takes too long for anything to happen- Too much focus on court life- Boring villain - Of course her disability is magically fixed and forgotten- Why does there ALWAYS have to be rapey scenes in fantasy?
Do You like book Eon: Dragoneye Reborn (2008)?
Interesting but hard to stay in tuned to. Probably won't be starting the sequel anytime soon.
—staciepaulsen25
Took a little getting used to, but this turned out to be a really good read.
—ziyanz
