What a great premise for a book! The elements are represented by dragons, and each dragon must become conscious and join with its human in order for the world to be in balance.

The first dragon, Earth, is found by a runaway daughter of a weak-minded Baron, in a cave. Young Erde, the 14-year-old protagonist, has fallen under the gaze of the insane Fra Guille who wishes to purge her of her gift through the use of fire. Several burnings of smart women take place in the countryside, and the typical girl finds herself and others" is well-written and the characters have their strong and their weak side. The she-goat is one especial favorite.

All the enjoyment of character, though, is lacking for this reader in the second volume, Water. N'Doch is a victim of a lack of water in a rain-starved Africa, set in the modern day (2013, to be exact) and the life of poverty that results when one person has the best and all others must struggle to eat and there is no hope of escape. So perhaps watching his character come to grips with who he is and who is dragon is is just more honest, and again, Kellogg does a good job showing the effects of poverty and climate change on the world of humans and others." ( )

http://yoyogodreviews.blogspot.com/2006/10/dragons-x4.html ( )