Login
The Two Pearls Of Wisdom isn't your a-typical fantasy. Having an Oriental element it has been compared to Lian Hearn's Otori Series but I think, for the most part, that's where the similarity ends.
Usually stories like this make my blood boil. Actually any story with even a hint of female oppression is enough to it raise my ire. This being no exception because the main character is female pretending to be male (if she is found out she'll be killed), the story is set in a time and place where women have no real meaning or power and Eon is being ruled over by the people around her.
So that in itself was enough to make this an 'angry' novel for me. It also didn't help that I found it very predictable, and yet given all it's predictability it was actually quite a compelling read. I found it very hard to put down, thanks to it's flowing style and assortment of characters, mainly Eon/Eona who, in all her oppression, ended up with some back bone.
It also made a difference, in my opinion, that the main character was not physically perfect and that there was a transgender as well. I don't come a long many fantasy novels (if any) that has transgender individuals so I thought that was interesting and refreshing rather then the writer sticking to typical characters.
Then there were the dragons. Being of an Oriental back drop so too were the dragons, which I found refreshing.
There was the use of Chakras and Chi, although that wasn't the names they were given but if you know anything about that you'll recognise it. All that added to it's Oriental flavour.
As for this being a young adult novel, well it could pass for either young adult or a light adult read. Definitely a novel adults could read as well without any real complaint.
