Zoё Sorensson is a daughter of the Pyr, the Wyvern, and the only female dragon shapeshifter in existence. It will fall upon her shoulders to be the guide and seer for the Pyr as they continue their duty to protect the earth and those who live upon her.

She is also a teenager, and has yet to come into any of the powers which she is told are her birthright. To complicate matters, she just may be losing her mind. Ever since a ritual she and her best friend (clueless about the dragon thing, by the way) did for the purpose of finally starting Zoё's period she has been seeing things. Well, just one thing in particular; a hot guy with an amazing six-pack that no one else seems to notice.

An angry confrontation at school triggers a partial change, enough to enable her to move to the next step. This year for the first time ever she gets to go to boot camp with the guys, where their dragon and human selves are challenged and taught, but what if this partial shift is all there is? What if she cannot be all that is expected of her? What if everyone is wrong and her only special talent is sketching dragons?

With this first in the Dragon Diaries series, Cooke has written a fantastic offshoot of her Pyr universe. She has hit exactly the right tone and cadence for a young-adult novel while still keeping all the fantasy and mystery of the ancient Pyr woven through the story line. The stakes are high, the dangers are immediate and Zoё's growth as a young woman is entwined with the fate of her race. The Dragon Diaries are written in such a way that they can easily be read as a stand-alone series yet add a new richness of viewpoint for those of us who eagerly devour the books of the Pyr. After turning the final page, I sat for a moment with a sense of excitement I haven't felt since I finished my first of Anne McCaffrey's Pern books. The second in the Dragon Diaries, Winging It is due out in December, 2011 and I can't wait.