Eon, a desperate young boy attempting to cover up a life threatening secret, has trained for months as a candidate to become the Rat Dragoneye. He is determined, strong-willed, and fierce, even through the harsh reality of a crippled hip; but is that enough when he is actually a she? 
 Females are forbidden to become Dragoneye. They are not strong enough in body or mind to achieve the glory and power that an ascendant dragon can offer. But Eon, after spending years of careful examination of the masculine way, has nearly transformed himself into the disguise he so desperately requires to save his Master from having to drop the staff and home that he has been just barely able to retain. 
 And when the day finally comes, and the Dragoneye candidates are lined up before the scrutinizing eyes of the emporer and ascendant Dragoneye, all of Eon's hopes and doubts are brought to their outcome. 
 And the result, unexpected to all who witness it, poses a horrible threat to Eon's, and all of those that are near to him's, lives. 
 Thrilling, suspenseful, and with an outcome impossible to expect, Eon impressed me both with it's writing, plot, and characters- all of it massed together into one, brilliant book.