Highfire

Highfire takes a high fantasy-style ancient dragon, drops him in the Louisiana Bayou, and mixes him up in a crime thriller, involving a corrupt officer of the law and a highly resourceful teenager.

Unexpected friendships, humor, and personality-filled characters make this book a joy. There is a lot of adventure; I find myself actually caring about the action because all the players involved are so layered and colorful. Even the villain has depth, sure it's all evil depth, but it's there. There's a little bit of a message about species extinction and learning not to judge an individual by previous experiences with the rest of their kind. It's well done, and handled via the character arcs, not heavy-handed.

It's a bit like a Christopher Moore book, combining modern fantasy with pop culture references and quick-witted dialogue. A Moore fan might like this and vice-versa.