"Dragon and Phoenix" is the second of the Dragonlord series by Joanne Bertin

Joanne Bertin

Joanne Bertin was born in 1953 in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, USA. She writes science fiction/fantasy novels in addition to being employed...

 and was published in 1999. It takes place in a world of truehumans, truedragons, and dragonlords - beings which have both human and dragon souls and can change from human to dragon and vice versa at will. It was preceded by The Last Dragonlord

The Last Dragonlord

The Last Dragonlord is the first in a series of books written by Joanne Bertin. It takes place in a world of truehumans, truedragons, and dragonlords - beings which have both human and dragon souls and can change from human to dragon and vice versa at will.The Last Dragonlord refers to a central...

, and is to be followed by the as-yet-unreleased Bard's Oath.

Plot introduction

The book covers the fall of an empire to the south of the Five Kingdoms, the land of the first novel. The empire of Jehanglan is sustained by the Phoenix dynasty, which draws its power from a phoenix trapped a thousand years ago. The phoenix is kept in place by the power of a truedragon, also trapped and exploited. On discovering that one of their cousins is trapped, Linden Rathan and his soultwin, Maurynna Kyrissaean, lead a party to rescue him. Unfortunately, they play into the hands of a Jehangli lord who seeks to trap the Dragonlords and use the additional power to take the throne for himself.