Eon

Eon  - Alison Goodman
I'll start with the good news...

This book is very well written. The landscapes are lush and exotic. The cities, streets, buildings and rooms are described in such easy, elegant detail that you just SEE them, without having to pause to build the images in your mind. 

The characters were equally well formed. Goodman didn't flood us with too many people and those she did introduce were memorable and well cast. No one was one dimensional, everyone had depth, everyone seemed to draw an emotion from me. 

And now the bad...

I almost had a frigging heart attack reading this book. And not in a good way. If there IS a good way to have a heart attack. Hmmm....let me rephrase. 

I almost had an apoplectic fit reading this book. I think I spent two thirds of it wanting to jump into the pages and shake Eon until she saw reason. Her internal monologue was infuriating. She was weak, easily deceived, gullible and spineless. Her master beat, maimed and mentally abused her and yet she hero-worshipped him. Her fear of being discovered completely ruled her life, to the detriment of herself and everyone around her. She lied to EVERYONE. All the time. Half the time those lies were about things that the other characters needed to know about so they could stop her from being so damn destructive with a well timed bitchslap. And the amount of time that took place within her INFURIATING (yes I said it again, this time with EMPHASIS) mind was about five hundred sentences too long. 

I nearly quit about two thirds of the way through because I actually began to root against her. No, I didn't want Lord's Ido and Sethon to win, I just kinda hoped that somehow some random, epic hero would show up and scissor kick them both to death and that would be the end of that and Eon could go on her whiny little way to learning how to not suck at life. 

And yes, I understand that the girl had been spoon fed fear for the past three years of her life by the abusive master I mentioned earlier. But that in no way excuses the lies she tells that don't center around hiding her identity. It doesn't excuse her complete lack of courage, or her complete lack of rational thought, or her....sorry, I could go on and on but I'm hoping you get the point by now. I'm just saying, people rise above their circumstances in the real and imaginary world all the time. I would have enjoyed this book so much more if the character had been able to find her voice...or her spine. 

Even the end was irritating. It makes me want to write a book in which the main character's superpower is literature hopping. She'd jump into the pages of other books with a shot gun and kill every villain that every weak willed character has ever erroneosly let live. 

Okay, I'm done ranting.