Dragon and Pheonix by Joanne Bertin
Created in the choatic magic wars of an eon ago, Dragonlords are a mixture of human and dragon. Two beings in a single body, each with its own personality. Born as regular humans, when they come of age, they undergo the change. This is when their dragon half fully awakens. They have the ability to shift between dragon or human form at will, are imune to fire and able to use various magics abilities, including the ability to mindspeak. Gifted with long life, they are the arbitrators and watchdogs of the civilized lands of the northern continent. The story centres around two Dragonlords, Linden Rathan and his newly found soultwin Maurynna Erdon.
In the far off land of Jehanglan, a dragon has been captured and put to despicable use - its magic drained from it continuously to hold a pheonix in stasis. But the pheonix needs to burn, and the dragons cries reach the ears of Linden and Maurynna. They must travel deep into Jehanlan to free the dragon and pheonix, putting to end a crime that has spanned a millenium.
I really enjoyed this book, the characters are well realised and likeable. The world is well detailed and has a real sense of history. This is actually the second book in the series, and I really wish I could track down the first one, just to fill in the gaps. It was probably due to this that I found the book a little hard to get to grips with at first, but once you get used to how magic and everything works, its very hard to put down. The climax especially is very gripping, you can imagine how angry a dragon imprisoned for 1000 years is going to be <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />. The villians too are very well realised, with many facets to the personality making them behavewith believable motivation (You understand why they are doing what they do, even while hating them <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />). There are lot of plot twists and a lot of intrigue to keep you interested. I give it 8 out of 10. She is working on a third in the series called "Bards Oath" and im going to buy it as soon as its released. I reccomend Dragon and Pheonix to all fantasy fans.
