Eon: Dragoneye Reborn

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn (Eon #1)

by Alison Goodman

2.5 stars

531 pages

Published Dec. 26, 2008 by Viking Juvenile (first published Jan. 1, 2008)  

 

I have a number of adjectives describing this Eastern-culture inspired novel:

slow
boring
repetitive
whiny
confusing
verbose
way too long
predictable

So why did I finish it? I'm not sure. Maybe there was something compelling about the theme - not the characters, though, they were one-dimensional and weak; or the plot - which was over-simple and over-written.

The theme - accepting strength in womanhood - is contrived, yes. And the book does it no justice with the weak characterization of Eon/Eona. But the universal truth of the theme made me interested to see how Eon/a came to realize it. Unfortunately, by the time Eon/a got her head on straight, the book was pretty much over, so I stuck it out til the end.

This book actually drained me so much that instead of reading the next book on my To Read list, I watched TV! Ach! The tragedy!

The bright spot was that there was no swearing and no sex. But there are some transvestite and eunuch characters, if that bugs you. Actually the best character in the book was the transvestite. S/he was pretty awesome.
 
I will not be reading the sequel.

Inheritance

Inheritance (The Inheritance Cycle #4)

by Christopher Paolini

2 stars

860 pages

Published Nov. 8, 2011 by Alfred A. Knop

 

What a boring book. Which makes me sad and a bit mad that I spent how many hours reading and reading, just to get to an "eh" ending. But do you know what really irks me?? All the freakin' loose ends!!! Who was Angela, really? Who was the woman with the sword-fighting teen-age girl? What happens to Elva when she grows up? What about the dragons? Do Eragon and Arya ever get together? Did Jeod ever get to ride Saphira? And what happens to King Orrin? Oh, sooo many loose ends ...
This book would greatly be improved with a lengthy epilogue. An EPILOGUE, I say!!!

Brisingr

Brisingr (The Inheritance Cycle #3)

by Christopher Paolini

3 stars

763 pages

Published Sept. 20, 2008 by Alfred A. Knopf

 

I re-read this book, and I have to agree with my first review of this book. SOOOOO slow!! And nothing of true substance happens. Honestly, this book could use some major condensing.

This was the slowest paced book of the three I've read. Lots of character development, but not much actually happening. I counted two battle scenes, which was far too little to keep me happy! I hope the last book will be a bit more of a page-turner.

Eldest

Eldest (The Inheritance Cycle #2)

by Christopher Paolini

4 stars

668 pages 

Published Aug. 23, 2005 by Alfred A. Knopf

 

A super-quick review. I re-read this book in my quest to finally finish the series. And it takes a lot for me to re-read something.
I again enjoyed it quite a bit.

But I'm hoping that all these loose ends get tied up neatly at the end.

The Accidental Sorcerer

The Accidental Sorcerer (Rogue Agent #1)

by K.E. Mills

1.5 stars

535 pages

Published Jan. 1, 2009 by Orbit (first published 2008)

 

 

I wanted to like this book. I really did. I was excited when it started out so great: humble magician gets a Bruce Banner-type zap and taps into huge reservoir of magic to become a super-sorcerer. Cool.
But then I started getting into the meat of the story - and it was flimsy. I wanted steak ...nah, a hamburger would have done, but all I got was tofu. Plain.

Blech.

My biggest complaint was the writing. Everything was italicized. It got annoying. The characters would talk to each other so intensely, but NOTHING was really said. (Note to authors ... overuse of italics is ANNOYING!!) And if you're British, the swearing was off the charts. And unnecessary. It did nothing to further the story.

And the characters ... ugh! The only one I even slightly liked was Monk. He was smart and funny - and mostly absent from the story, so he didn't have time to bug me! I despised Reg (the bird) intensely. She had nothing positive to say, ever. And Princess Melissande - the poster child for denial. Unlikeable characters, all. Even the minor characters were hateful.

I will not be reading anymore in this series.

Firelight

Firelight (Firelight #1)

by Sophie Jordan

4 stars

323 pages

Published Sept. 7, 2010 by HarperTeen

I wasn't so sure about this book - I mean, a girl who is really a dragon? Weird. But what's more weird is how it actually worked for me. I liked the struggle between mom and daughter. And the fight to find her place in the world. It's a bit of a coming of age story mixed with a healthy dose of the paranormal (or is it fantasy? Which are dragons?)
But be warned, there is a love triangle. Of course there is. It wouldn't be a YA with a love triangle, would it?
But I'll be reading the second book in the series. Gotta know what happens!

Eragon

Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle #1)

by Christopher Paolini

4 stars 

503 pages

Published Apr. 2005, by Knopf Books for Young Readers (first published Feb. 1, 2002)  

 

I reread this book over the course of a week, and enjoyed it again. Though, now that I'm older and know the storyline, I could focus on the writing and technical aspects of the book. And although I still can't believe it was written by a teenager (what teen has the patience to write a 500 page book?), I can see a bit of immaturity in the writing style. Not that that's a wholly bad thing. It just is.
I may wait a little bit to reread the 2nd book. There's only so much fantasy I can take.