Rating: 
Summary: Cultural shift problems?
Review: As I read this book, knowing I will turn it over to my very multicultural students as part of a class library, I am wondering what the students who are from China, culturally and/or geographically, will make of it. Will they be insulted or think it is okay? I realize there are many books in this genre that similarly treat say Welsh or Anglo-Saxon culture, abut I will be very interested to see what they say.I picked this up because I had read the preceding book and enjoyed it. This one, however, seems to change scenes and characters even more rapidly. I feel like I'm caught in a TV show with a hand held camera that shifts the view constantly until the viewer grows dizzy. The tale is intriguing, but I am led to wonder if it couldn't just work in larger segments before changing the country, culture, and characters.
Rating: 
Summary: Dumb
Review: I'm sorry. It was dumb. It was better than the Last Dragonlord, which read like a young adult romance novel with juvenile characterizations and dialog, but not enough for me to move it up to the next star. I agree with the reviewer who said that it's easy to stick a dragon, a unicorn or a wizard in a book and get a whole bunch of people who love those things to praise it. I happen to like all three of those things, but I like them done <well>. I didn't get the impression Joanne Bertin understands the mysteries of a dragon's soul at all. I suggest The Encyclopedia of Things that Never Were, for a look into the intricacies of mythological things. Smaug in the Hobbit is a great one as well, scary and avaricious. Also Elizabeth Hayden writes the best dragons and half-dragons I've seen in modern fantasy, with a multiplicity of personalities all of which are draconic, not a convenient secret identity that flies and does cool things. It's impossible for me to imagine that a human who truly shares a soul with a dragon could just kind of go "hey! I'm a dragon, by gum!" one day. This book is dumb. This series is dumb. Harmless, but dumb.
Rating:
Summary: Alas, sequels are rarely as good as the original
Review: As I really enjoyed the author's debut novel, "The Last Dragonlord", I eagerly looked forward to this next in what is sure to be a series of books. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. This sequel was strictly average. It has some interesting bits, and some exciting bits, but it never quite comes together. There is a lot of material that never really goes anywhere, and yet I still never got a good feel for the picture the author was painting. I think the worst part is that I really get the feeling that, somewhere inside "Dragon and Phoenix", there is a smaller, much better story struggling to get out. I would give it 2.5 stars, but Amazon's system won't let you do that, and the series does show promise. So: Three stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good. Satisfying for a Dragon-Lover like me!
Review: I read this book and was amazed. It was the first real fantasy/sci fi book i had ever read and I found it amazing. I like nature so a Dragon-oriented book was very appealing to me. My fav character is Shima. I must have read the last 6-8 chapters 10 times! i found them very good. I love it when...well, I shouldn't spoil it for you tho. I wonder who the next Dragonlord will be. Maybe Shei-Luin??? I heard that there was a third book in this series. I sure hope so because I will be eagerly awaiting it. If you like fantasy, dragons, long books, or if you just like reading in general, I hope you take a look at this one!
Rating:
Summary: A GREAT SECOND BOOK FOR A SERIES
Review: This was an exellent book. The language although simple, tells the story more than adequately. The book's plot has several twists and one major surprise. The plain language makes the plot easy to follow. The names maybe confusing at first, but are actually understandable if pronounced out loud.
Rating: 
Summary: Haven't read the first yet, but...
Review: It seems that most people either love it or hate it. I think that's what makes a great book sometimes though. I really loved it. The one thing that got me was that at times I would rush while reading it then have to go back.
Overall it was great, I think. I loved how she pulled together so many characters' POVs. You actually see both sides of the matter which is not always put into other books. The ending makes you anxious for the next book. This book is great, I think.
Rating:
Summary: An absolute stunner
Review: There are no comparisons. This is the greatest book I've ever read. The only thing I can compare it to is Joanne Bertin's first novel, The Last Dragonlord. I found that the most enthralling aspect of the book is the superbly realistic and detailed characters. Bertin has made Linden Rathan and Mauryanna Kyrissaen seem like real people, real friends that you know as well as you know yourself. The character of Shima Ilyathan is an endearing one as well - I'll be very interested to see what happens to him in the next installment in the series, Bard's Oath, apparently to be released in March 2002. In response to the person who commented that the names are difficult to pronounce: Which names? I, myself, have had no trouble with them. The same applies for the names 'all sounding similar.' This novel is superb. I recommend it to anyone who knows how do string two words together. I am eagerly awaiting the release of Bard's Oath.
Rating:
Summary: Could have been so much better...
Review: It's the sequel to "The Last Dragonlord", and it's okay... - the first book was so much better than this one. The writing could have been much better in both books, but the story is at least captivating in The Last Dragonlord. I read it in one day. Which really isn't saying much since that's something I regularly do - read a novel in one day. What says a lot is that reading the sequel, Dragon and Phoenix, had been very slow and almost absolutely daunting in the beginning; but I wanted to see exactly how the tale ended, so I plodded on and it did start picking up about halfway through... Another reviewer mentioned something to the effect of avoid the sequel to hold onto the better memory of the first novel. I have to concur. However, if you go into Dragon and Phoenix knowing that it drastically pales in comparison to The Last Dragonlord and is also written in a different fashion (jumping between many different characters' perspectives), perhaps it won't be as painful. The world of the Dragonlords is enthralling, but the tales could have been told so much better. -- I'd also like to note, for it seems everyone believes so: Joanne Bertin, while inventing an enthralling world of weredragons, did not invent weredragons... I keep seeing a lot of people praising this 'new take' on dragons as if it's never been done before, and it kinda' bugs me. -- Anyway, there's a lot of potential, and I hope the third book meets it better than this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Dragons can be a crutch if you don't really understand them
Review: First off, someone should explain to Joanne Bertin that she should say her characters names and the places in her book out loud and see if she can pronounce them, or if they all sound so much alike as to be confusing.
Second, I think the easiest way in the world to write a fantasy novel must be to do one about a dragon or a wizard. Either of these things apparently sell. They negate the need for good characterization, good dialog, and even a good story.
There were a few good moments in this book, and for that I gave it an extra star. But it is grossly overpraised.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for anyone who loves fantasy.
Review: This book is the second book about the immortal were-dragons, the dragonlords. These dragons are born into a human body with both a human and dragon soul. In this particular story, Linden and Maurynna travel across their world to help free a dragon, whom they believe is a dragonlord gone insane. However, freeing the dragon means the freedom of the phoenix and the fate of an entire race of people. This book was one of the most enjoyable I have ever read. There are very few books that I get so engrossed in that I can't put down at night. Joanne Bertin's writing style brings the reader into the story. I felt like I was riding alongside Linden and Maurynna as they went on their adventure. I have read many different dragon books, but I have never found one that I love so much that I could read over and over again. I can't wait for her to write her next book!
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