This book... can be summed up with one word:
DISAPPOINTMENT.I am so
upset whenever I think of this book. I think about the amazing book that we just finished with
Eon and I start to get into
Eona, thinking that I'm going to be
blown. away. with this book, and instead... I feel like everything was for naught.
This book had so much
potential! And it all went to waste. Everything went to waste. So much that could have been incredibly amazing and monumental turned into shallow, superficial... bullshit.
Half of me is heartbroken over the possibility that was thrown to the curb with this book, and the second half of me... is engulfed with all-consuming
rage.
*****
Bear with me, this is where the spoilers for this book and the last begin. If you have not read this book and do not want to have the events spoiled, turn away now until you've read it. If you feel you need to know, then read on and know you were warned.
*****In the last book, we leave off with the escape of Eona, Ryko, and Dela from the siege on the capital city. We leave off with Ido having been healed by Eona, opening a brand new level of self-awareness and consciousness of his actions both in the past and those underway right there and then. We are left with the possibility that the man who has heralded the power hungry destruction of all the established rule and reign has been given the first chance to recognize the full extent of his actions and change. We are left off with a girl who has finally embraced herself for who she is and who has been rewarded with communion with her Dragon.
We have the makings of war and chances for glory and greatness. We have a kingdom overthrown, and a Prince who must be found and stood beside as he tries to take it back. We have allies from the first book at our side, devoted beyond compare and loyal to a fault to our lead character, Eona. We are on the brink of everything.
Instead of this magnificent book of deep, conflicting character development, of the growth of relationships and alliances, of standing for who you are through thick and thin no matter who is against you-- so that you can change the very face of the world--
Instead I get a piece of shit love triangle, in where Eona is the bitch that plays every. single. other. character. for a fool and doesn't give a rat's ass how they feel about it, because she's the Almighty Freaking Coascendant Dragoneye and "Kiss my foot or I'm going to use my brand new magical powers to literally possess your body and grind your face in the dirt, bend you to my will, and KILL YOU if you cross me and my life of Zero Accountability, no matter if you're friend, ally, OR the freaking Emperor!"

This is
not what I was expecting. -_____-
The rest of the book is us following the increasingly
unbearable Eona as she refuses to open up to a single person throughout the entire book. She lies to the people that have been with her from the beginning of the first book, she lies to her close friends and allies, she lies to the Prince who has now become the Emperor since the death of his father in the first book. She doesn't tell anyone the truth. She omits things no matter who she speaks to, even though she's surrounded by friends
constantly throughout this book. She outright uses her friends. She twists their words. She stabs them in the BACK by doing exactly what she said she wouldn't do. If I had a dollar for every time she lied to someone or stabbed them in the back after saying she'd neeeeeever take advantage of them again, or use her magical powers against them, or tell somebody something that she had no right to tell them or promised to keep secret. Or for every time she told someone she would be honest with them and lied right in their faces. --I'd be a flipping trillionaire. -_-
Good God in Heaven. There was one point where she became the Emperor's "Naiso", which is a position of even-footing with the Emperor--a truth-bringer and distinguisher to him in order to council him--and you can fill the ocean with the amount of times she LIED to the Emperor! To the EMPEROR!
What's even more frustrating is that she is held to absolutely NO accountability for her actions. She does whatever the hell she wants AND SHE GETS AWAY WITH IT. She is DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for the death of COUNTLESS INNOCENT PEOPLE
AND ONE OF THE MAIN SIDE CHARACTERS AND NO ONE GIVES A FLYING SHIT ABOUT THE FACT THAT SHE KILLED HIM!
And you know what, since I'm talking spoilers anyway, let's just shout out the names because everything's coming out now. Ryko dies. Eona, after the freaking MILLIONTH time she said that she would NEVER use her connection with him against him after she'd healed him, KILLS RYKO in the end! And you'll say, "Oh no. It was to defeat Sethon and blah blah blah."
BULLSHIT!By the time the story hit halfway point, it became a sloppy, slutty attempt at having Eona fuck around with two different guys--the poor Emperor who's being played for a fool by Eona the entire way, and the absolutely awesome but completely DESTROYED character of Ido in this book. It was her whining every damn other page about some romantic problem she was having with Kygo, wanting more power, making out with Ido, going and kissing Kygo on the very next page like it didn't matter in the LEAST that she'd just nearly had SEX with Ido a few hours hour.
AND I'M SUPPOSED TO BE ENJOYING THIS SHIT!?To make it worse, Eona is helped countless times by Ryko and Dela, by Emperor Kygo, by Ido, by every character under the sun, and she has so
many countless opportunities to make right and get back on track. To confess the things she's been keeping to herself, to face up to the lies she's been spouting and to come clean, to ask her friends for their forgiveness, because they obviously care about her and want her to be alright in the middle of all of this, even though she's taken advantage of each of them and doesn't trust them in the least!
So guess what happens?
Eona:
Me:
Excuse the fuck you?
These people have literally laid down their lives to help you--
COUNTLESS times--from the beginning of the first book! And you have the God-forsaken GALL to tell them to get the hell out of your life because they have no right to tell you how to live it? They have no input on how to help you out? WHO THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN COUNTING ON THIS ENTIRE TIME, LITTLE GIRL?
You think that suddenly because you can talk to your Dragon and she gives you power over the people you've healed that you run this show? You want to go out there and fight the war yourself, you little piece of shit?
BE MY GUEST, EONA. GO FACE THE ENTIRETY OF SETHON'S ARMY ALONE, YOU UNGRATEFUL TWAT!BUT NO!
Know what happens at the end of this book?!
EONA GETS EVERYTHING! Listen to me. Read that again: Eona. Gets.
Ev. Er. Y. Thing.Know what's even MORE infuriating? SHE DOESN'T EVEN TELL EVERYONE THE ENTIRE TRUTH BY THE END OF THE BOOK! She NEVER confesses everything to everyone! She doesn't even ask them to FORGIVE HER, and she NEVER APOLOGIZES for the fact that she treated every one of them LIKE CRAP.
Dela's one true love died at Eona's hands. What does Eona do? "Oh Dela looks fine. I'm sure it's not a problem that I killed Ryko right in front of her."

We don't even get to hear about the other characters that were super important to Eona in the first book and that made such a big appearance in the second one. What about Chart? What about Rilla? What you healed Chart and then we just never hear about what happens again? You make a comment about the fact that you're not sure if the others even survived the battle, but we get no confirmation if they're alive or dead?
And Sethon?

Who the heck cared about Sethon. Sethon was a
joke for a bad guy. Eona was worse than Sethon with all the two-faced, backstabbing, and power-hungry actions she had fleshing out her character.
And Dillon! What about Dillon?! The poor boy was TWELVE. YEARS. OLD. He was just a BABY. And did you SEE how he died? He didn't just die from a sword wound or something simple, quick and painless. Oh no. That poor miserable little kid was TORTURED for MONTHS until he was destroyed so completely that he wasn't even HUMAN anymore. And you! You stupid MORON, Eona! You had the chance in the first book to take the Black Folio away from him. You had the choice to tell people to shoot when you saw him again in this book! YOU COULD HAVE SPARED HIM THE PAIN AND SUFFERING.

Alison Goodman, I don't know what happened to you, but this is NOT how you write a book. What you did to Dillon. What you did to Eona. And the cheap cop-out of an ending you gave us with Lord Ido almost angers me most of all. We leave off on the first book knowing that Ido is going to be a prominent and AMAZING role in
Eona, where he might be more than a bad guy or a good guy, and out of all the characters, he might have the most amazing development and transformation into a fantastic person. A character that was able to live on both sides of the line of cruelty and compassion, and therefore become a HUGE part in this second story, even if he never chose a side to be on over another. He could have been an AMAZING character!!!


There was so much
potential in this book.
Boundless amounts of potential in this book! Why did it turn out this way? Why did it become a shallow, superficial, slut's excuse for a read? A book with no standards and characters without a backbone, ruled by this monstrous main character that became Empress at the end of the book because Ido burned at the stake because oh no-- HE was the power hungry one. Sure. He wasn't the one trying to get in bed with the Emperor and the Ascendent Dragoneye at the same time, Eona-- or, excuse me, Whore.
What a waste. What an absolute piece of crap for a sequel. How could so much good turn to this?
I'm done. And sadly, I will never revisit this duology. It was a complete let down and outrage.
Don't read this book. Just, spare yourself the injustice. It's not worth it.