Eon

"Eon," Allison Goodman, is a novel centered around a girl pretending to be a boy in a fictional setting that closely mimics old feudal China.
       Eon wants to become one with the Rat Dragon. Every twelve years, each dragon chooses a new apprentice to train, and during that year the apprentice from twelve years ago attains unthinkable power.  Beyond this, though, gaining the apprenticeship will mean salvation for her adopted family and the chance to make the world see that Eon is something more than a cripple.  But Eon has a secret--he is actually a girl named Eona. The position of Dragoneye, lord of the dragons, is for men only, and if Eon can pass the trials with his twisted leg he must hide his true nature, or else everyone he knows could be killed.  The fate of the Celestial Empire rests in the hands of a sixteen-year-old girl who can't even begin to know what she's doing, but will do anything she needs to to get the deed done.

It is a very dramatic book, with a pretty commonplace plot, if you think about the plot to the most simplistic extension.  Girl gets power = girl attempt to save world.  Yada de yada de blah.  This, though, is not your normal fantasy.  Most fantasies are based off of European culture.  Take Christopher Paolini's "Inheritance Cycle."  Those books had dragons that bound with humans too, but they're the type of dragons normally found in Europe.  And the bond is for life, etc., but we digress.
        In "Eon," there are 12 Chinese dragons, each one representing one of the symbols of the Chinese years (rat, hare, tiger).  It can get a bit confusing at times, but you are not required to remember all of the names of all 12 Dragoneyes to comprehend what's happening which is a relief. And, the books does a much better job of explaining it than I do.
        Combine this feature with the fact that you're in feudal China and the Emperor is basically a god, things can get very interesting.  I love books where the thought processes are as equally important as the fighting, and there is a lot of intricate politics that Eon has to dance around as he makes his way through court.  One mistake, and his neck could be severed.  It makes for quite an interesting read.
       Eon's character is very interesting in and of itself.  Eon is written as a boy who is aware that he's actually a girl.  So, Eon doesn't have the complete brashness of a male, but he doesn't act like a girl. His thoughts are also schooled in the way of a male's (that's why I'm calling him a 'he'--because he's so absorbed in his chosen gender he ignores his given one).  The only way you would picture him as a girl is if you knew he was a girl previously.  That too, adds another layer of intrigue to the whole thing.  First, because it effects the way things are played out, and second, because if anyone found out, Eon's dead.
       Happy book.
       Moving on to Kygo, the heir to the throne.  He also is a very complicated person.  Raised among the women of the court, he's considered a 'girl' so he does much to prove that he really is a man.  He seems to want to be seen as a benign ruler, but he isn't afraid to impose his power upon others to get what he wants.  Within the court, he has the potential to be one of Eon's greatest enemies, if he ever finds out Eon's secret.  He winds up being one of Eon's greatest allies.  You can almost tell that the violate temper inside of him will lead to something deadly--the only thing that you're unsure of is who he'll strike out at first.
       Lady Dela and Ryko are another strange pair.  Lady Dela is a man who is a woman--basically, the opposite of Eon, but she hasn't changed her gender because her life is in danger, like Eon had.  Ryko is her guard.  On the top, he seems to be a very uncomplicated person, but in reality, he's probably the most complicated person in this book.
      Lord Ido is the designated bad guy.  You picture him as a pudgy, balding, old man at first, which is really annoying because then you get a different picture of him elsewhere, and you have to change your entire mental image . . . He isn't a very good bad guy, though, in this book.  Much too stereotypical. 
       This crew of fantastic characters aids the plot in unthinkable ways.  It had the potential to be a horrendously boring book, but Allison Goodman pulled it off.  Kudos to her.  There is a sequel, "Eona," but both books are small libraries in themselves, so I decided to review them separately.  There are other reasons for this decisions, which I will soon reveal.
       Excuse my absolute chaotic layout of this review.  No matter how much of the above you were able to understand, I encourage you to read the books.  I saw these books sitting on the shelves for about three years before I decided that they were worth my time.  Don't make my mistakes, and don't wait an eon to read the fantastic combination of history and myth.  (And please, excuse my horrible pun, but I had no other way to end this).

She has a fantastic author's website, http://www.alisongoodman.com.au/  One of the best I've seen, in my opinion.  It tells quite a bit on her and her other books, which is always interesting.