Chris D'Lacey's Dragon Series

Chris D'Lacey's Dragon Series



One thing I love about having three siblings is that they often find books for me. Chris D’Lacey’s books, The Fire Within and Icefire, were suggested to me by my youngest brother. He received these books for Christmas a couple of years ago, read them, and then immediately handed them off to me. I, of course, took my time in getting around to reading them, but now I wish I had picked them up sooner. This is mostly because there are more than two books in this dragon series and my brother won’t be asking for the rest of the books any time soon. They are no longer recent reads for him, so if I want to finish the series, I’m going to have to buy the books myself.

The story starts with a young guy named David who goes to see a woman named Elizabeth and her daughter Lucy about a room to rent. He moves in and, to his amusement, keeps finding small clay dragons everywhere. Liz makes the little dragons in a room upstairs named The Dragon’s Den and sells them at craft shows.

Of course, there is more than meets the eye to these little clay figures. Liz and Lucy are descendants of a woman named Guinevere who caught the fire tear of the last dragon on earth. Each of the clay dragons is made with a piece of the spirit of the last dragon and they have lives of their own.

David, a rational young man, tries to deny that anything strange is happening, even though he is given a dragon of his own, which he names Gadzooks, and this little dragon is not one to keep quiet. In fact, he worms his way into David’s imagination and inspires him to write a book. Even then, David denies this until trouble forces him to address the odd things happening around him.

This series is great. It’s a brilliant mix of fantasy and reality with vibrant characters and clever dialog. The stories are complex without being convoluted. Actually, they were much more complex than many children’s books I’ve read. I really enjoyed reading them. So much so, in fact, that I read both of them in the same morning. I’m looking forward to, eventually, finding the other books in the series and reading more about the dragons in Wayward Crescent.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes dragons or who likes a mix of fantasy and reality. This is a great book to inspire kids to use their imaginations in a constructive way and this is a great book for adults to read in order to rediscover how magic and joy in simple things can be found in everyday lives.