Dragon and Phoenix Book

Following her enjoyable debut fantasy The Last Dragonlord, Joanne Bertin takes the Dragonlords (human/dragon shapeshifters) and their friends on a fresh adventure. Far south lies the very "oriental" land Jehanglan, whose Imperial Court is a hotbed of subtlety, hidden passages, eunuchs, origami, poison and the death of a thousand cuts. The secret of this ancient empire's longevity lies in frightful magical defences, tapping the volcanic fire of an imprisoned Phoenix. But the binding spells also mean endless torment for a chained dragon. To rescue this cousin, the Dragonlords plan a quixotic expedition into Jehanglan's unknown dangers.What the reader knows and they don't is that they are walking into a trap laid by the Empire's devious Lord Jhanun, who covets the Phoenix Throne and plans the enslavement of four Dragonlords to fulfil a prophecy: One alone--the Hidden One--means the end of the Phoenix. But four will give you the throne--.There's no straightforward clash of Good vs Evil here, but a much-recomplicated struggle of many factions: the Dragonlord party with its own internal quarrels and a betrayer leading them by the nose; Jhanun's multiple plots; the Emperor and his tough-minded concubine who is determined to be Empress; rivalries among the mage-priests who control the Phoenix; rebellious horse-clans on the Empire's margins; and a special, local breed of dragon, long thought extinct. Great tension develops as everyone's plans, and eventually the prophecy, work out not quite as expected. A fat, well-crafted and wholly satisfying fantasy. --David LangfordRead More