A.K.A ‘The
Two Pearls of Wisdom’
Eleven Dragoneyes use their
connection with the energy dragons to prevent, obstruct and redirect natural
disasters. Each animal in the Chinese Zodiac is represented by a dragon,
although the Dragon Dragon, the so called ‘Mirror Dragon’, has been missing for
generations. After twelve years of being Dragoneye, the human stands down,
their apprentice becomes Ascendant Dragoneye and then their energy dragon
chooses a new apprentice from twelve candidates aged twelve.
*****SPOILERS*****
Eona, a candidate for Rat
apprentice, is a sixteen years-old girl with a limp. Yet there’s a problem:
only boys can be Dragoneyes.
But then the
Mirror Dragon chooses Eona, making her Co-Ascendant Dragoneye with the Rat
Dragoneye Lord Ido. This displeases Ido because he loses the perks of being
Ascendant: he now shares both the extra energy power of ascendancy and the
leadership of the Dragoneye Council.
If her
deception is discovered, Eona and her ex-owner Heuris Brannon will be executed.
The disguise is composed of several layers: she wears a breast band; her given
name is the male form ‘Eon’; she takes a potion to stop her moonblood (period);
and she is labelled as moonshadow, this world’s equivalent of a eunuch. Not
only does Eona hide feminine aspects but any that remain can be explained away
as the consequences of being cut.
Errors jumped up at me whilst
reading this novel.
One
line reads ‘Someone was coming. A lot of someones.’ This incorrect use of the
plural of ‘someone’ for humour was cleverly done. Another line not so clever
was 'What if there's more dragon power.' What if a question mark was used for a
question?
The
styles used for the imperial family were all over the place. The Emperor was
referred to as ‘Gracious Highness’. The problem here is that ‘Highness’ is a
term for princes and princesses, not monarchs (whether royal or imperial). Then
Prince Kygo was referred to as ‘His Majesty’ which is problematic because ‘Majesty’
is a term used for the sovereign ruler of a country; indeed, this story usually
refers to the Emperor as ‘His Imperial Majesty’ (‘imperial’ is merely to
distinguish his from a royal sovereign, i.e. a king). These words were spoken
by long-time officials of the court so they wouldn’t have made this mistake: it
was a writing error. There seems to be neither rhyme nor reason to make these
acceptable.
In
Goodman’s work, she refers to ‘Imperial guard’ and ‘Imperial herald’. Imperial
isn’t required to have a majuscule, so when it does it forms part of a proper
noun. All words in proper nouns require a majuscule so the ‘guard’ and the ‘herald’
should be ‘Guard’ and ‘Herald’ respectively.
The
next grammatical quirk arises from the fact the ‘the Imperial [H]erald’ refers
to eight men. My first reaction was to label this incorrect because the plural
is ‘heralds’. My second reaction was that these eight were of the same height,
voice and clothing, so the singular could perhaps be used to signify and
reaffirm this solidarity. My concluding reaction was that of uncertainty: for
the use of the singular for eight individuals to be valid, the narrative should
have done more to state that they were one.
Finally,
‘all right’. No, there’s a word for that and it’s ‘alright’. There is a strict
precedent for a common phrase beginning with ‘all’ to be made one word whilst
dropping an ‘l’, as demonstrated with the words ‘already’, ‘altogether’ and ‘also’.
One doesn’t see ‘all ready’, ‘all together’ or ‘all so’ in print so this
obsession with not abbreviating ‘all right’ into ‘alright’ is illogical and
absurd. When ‘also’ and ‘all right’ appear in the same text, there is a lack of
internal consistency which cannot be ignored.
The set-up is fantastic. It’s rich
in detail and the concepts of qi/chi (Chinese universal energy, the breath of
life etc. etc.) and chakras (an Indian concept adopted in China via Buddhism)
are immensely important for the story. Eona is immediately ensnared in the
intrigue, deception and secrecy of the imperial court. Eona often notes the
difference between the expectations of male behaviour and that of females,
counting herself lucky to be free of the restriction society places on women.
It’s
refreshing to have a disabled protagonist. Eona has to deal with
discrimination, abuse and isolation because of her damaged, painful hip.
Passers-by often make the evil eye in her direction, a sign intended to protect
its user from bad luck and evil. Having a disability is exactly the same in
real life.
At
one point, Eona threatens to bite Ido and he tells her to do it. If this had
been a sexy scene, I would have giggled. However, [content warning for the remainder of this sentence] this scene was
of a far more sinister nature (and thankfully unsuccessful) which turned the
reaction onto its head.
The
plot is coherent and constructed well, and being fully enjoyable for this. Eona
is drawn in the camp of the Emperor and Prince Kygo; the opposite camp is of Lord
Ido and High Lord Sethon, the Emperor’s brother. The opposite camp assassinates
Heuris Brannon and Eona subsequently reveals that she’s a girl to a few
individuals. High Lord Sethon, war hero and general, wants the throne and Ido
is willing to break the Covenant by using dragon energy for warfare to get
there. This is what Eona, Kygo and the rest fight against.
Refreshingly
for a novel, they fail.
Reviews: The
Dragoneyes (Alison Goodman)
Eona: The
Last Dragoneye (Alison Goodman)
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