A vivid and descriptive novel in search of a feature-length, animated film, Fire and Fur might more properly be called "Smart Dragons, Dumb Choices." It is set in the pre-human Gobi desert and draws on Chinese mythology. Its major charac¬ters are dragons and cats. Of course, the cats do speak (often caustically) since a few dragons are interesting enough (cats can still speak but no one is interesting enough to talk to anymore). Fire and Fur's plot concerns the dragons' terraforming the Gobi from sea to land (historically accurate) in a desire for power and amid excessive pride. In doing so, they release an ancient enemy and their bane, the Azghun Demons, that had driven them into the sea in the first place. The problem is that the dragons have grown lazy and dumb, and while they once had a cadre of sorcerers to call upon, they now only have one. The last sorcerer dragon, Ao Rue, is something of a misfit, and his efforts for dragonkind are, perhaps, either very generous or very foolish. He is aided in a major way in both his own troubles and his challenges by the blunt and clear-headed Mei-chou; she is the cats' first-of-the-first and their shaman (it appears). Further, and also central to "Talon and Claw" is a star-crossed, poignant love story as Ao Rue seeks a fulfillment he cannot have with a vain and young female dragon, Nü-kua.