The Fire Within by Chris D'Lacey (2007-03-01)

This is a awesome book I would recommend this for all ages I love that they used when dragons in the book and the fact that in one part when Conker and sniger did the same thing that David was writing

I've always been a fan of fantasy novels (especially ones dealing with dragons), and I like the plot itself. It's nice and smooth with bits of humor and seriousness in between ranging from David's funny and cute story about Snigger and Conker to the baffling ways that his dragon manages to tie in both his thinking and writing to what's happening at that moment in real life. It's a nice story and one I could definitely read aloud to any kids I have in the future. I can't wait to continue reading the rest of the series.

So the main focus of this book includes squirrels and a bratty girl (who is a bad example to the children reading this). It is about saving a squirrel that dies anyway. And the dragons are just tiny clay statues that don't move or do anything dragon-like. This book was SO bad.

First in The Last Dragon Chronicles paranormal fantasy series for young young adult readers and revolving around clay dragons who aren’t quite so still.

NOTE: The Last Dragon Chronicles are a sequel series to The Dragons of Wayward Crescent. I haven’t read the prequel series, and I suspect doing so would make more sense of The Fire Within.

My Take
This is a weird blend of writing with a bent toward the mythic with d’Lacey’s references to the King Arthur tales. His primary protagonist appears to be David who is in college, i.e., he is of college age which normally indicates a New Adult target audience. However, it is possible that Lucy is meant to be the primary, even if the story is really more about David. Then again, the series is about dragons, so perhaps the humans are peripheral. I can only believe that d'Lacey intends this book for the middle-grade reader or a young young adult reader. Definite points off for the confusion.

D’Lacey does get points for originality. I love his premise about Elizabeth and the dragons. He teases us as we read, and never does conFIRM what we know. And it makes me want to read on to the next in the series, Icefire , but not as much as my wanting to go back and read that prequel series!

I love that humorous hook at the start with David replying to the ad Elizabeth placed. The whole idea of those clay dragons is lovely, and I want one. Lucy, however, is not so lovely. She’s such a demanding thing. Yes, I suspect she’ll grow up to be a fascinating adult, but right now she bugs me.

As for point-of-view, I think it’s a simple third-person subjective, as we only have access to David’s thoughts, including that epiphany he has towards the end. As for d’Lacey’s "sly" hints about the dragons, yep, flashing arrows, every one of ‘em.

It’s a tale of fantasy that sets David’s world on end while Gadzooks’ influence will change it.

The Story
When David moves in with Liz and Lucy, his notions about the world are tilted as he learns more and more about dragons. Especially about his very own story-writing dragon, Gadzooks.
Don't ever make your dragon cry, it can put out his fire. If it isn't quickly rekindled, he will die.
The Characters
Twenty-year-old David Rain, about to start a geography course at Scrubbley College, needs a place to stay. Winston is his teddy bear. Gadzooks is the dragon David receives. Snigger and the Nutbeast is the story David writes.

Elizabeth Pennykettle, a potter, lives with her about-to-be-eleven years old daughter, Lucy, on Wayward Crescent. Pennykettle Pots and Crafts is her business. The Dragons’ Den is the room forbidden to all. Bonnington is the cat. Lucy has two of her mom’s dragons: Gawain, the last real dragon in the world, and Gwendolen. Gruffen, a guard dragon, is always in the wrong place. Guinevere is Liz’s special queen dragon.

Conker is the one-eyed squirrel Lucy is worried about. The other squirrels who left when the tree came down include Ringtail, Cherrylea, Shooter, and the battling Birchwood. Gadzooks will name Snigger, the squirrel in David’s story.

The Wildlife Hospital is…
…on a farm (it includes a riding center and sells organic produce) outside of Scrubbley where Sophie Prentice is a wildlife volunteer. Her dragon will be Grace. Major is Sophie’s favorite horse. Mrs. Wenham runs the hospital. Mr. Deans is the vet.

The cranky, ill-tempered Henry Bacon is their neighbor and works at the Scrubbley Library. George "Greenfingers" Digwell is the cranky library gardener. Caractacus is the vicious crow.

Brian Donnelly of Donnelly’s Pest Control Services is the father of one of David’s friends. Friends at Lucy’s party include Christopher Jefferson, Beverly Sherbon, and Samantha Healy. Gwilanna is the old outcast crone.

The Cover and Title
The cover is a subdued yet bright green in that close close-up of Gadzooks’ sculpted features, specifically a CLOSE view of his upper lip, eye, and eyebrow ridge. The metallic gold touches in the crescent sliver in his soft yellow eye and the highlights on his brow and the scales beneath his eye add to the fantastical. The author’s name is way at the top in a shadowed gold while the title is less visible at the bottom in a ragged font gleaming in metallic gold.

The title is what gives the dragons life, The Fire Within.

The first book in this series was very enjoyable, but I feel like the quality declined as you continue to read the series. I painfully finished the 4th book and decided not to continue the series. Again, read the first book. There are parts of IceFire that were okay, but as the story evolves it takes you off into a brand new direction. New characters are introduced, the pace of the book goes up and down and some of the ideas seem to come out of nowhere in left field.
This first book in the series is cute and fun. Read it and enjoy. As for the rest of the series, proceed with caution.

The Fire Within

A smiling squirrel? Clay dragons that come to life? Enter the world of David Rain, a collage renter that comes to live with the pennykettle family. As we move forward in time, discover heart stopping secrets and sybls in the fire within!
Before you read, do you want to learn a little more about the book? Ok, here goes... the title of my book is the fire within. It is fiction, and 300 something pages. Don't be overwhelmed by the page number, its easy reading. The authors name is Chris D'Lacey. Are you ready to read?
Personally, I always have a favorite part. My favorite part of this book was at the end, when David has to save gadzooks from his own fire tear. To understand what any of this means, you might want to read this book.
The beginning of a new generation. The world in your hands. Being so powerful and having no idea. That would be a way to describe David rain, a collage renter that comes to live with the pennykettle family.Gaiwain, gwenivere, Elisabeth, and Lucy comes next in the line of the fire tear. When David comes to live with the penny kettles, he thought they would be just your average family...but later on, after a few obvious hints, he figures out that Liz makes clay dragons that come to life. Normal, yeah right. He gets his own dragon, gadzooks, who specializes in writing. He leads him to an amazing discovery... find out what it was when you read the fire within! If you read this book and love it, there's more coming! There are 3 sequels , icefire, firestar, and the fire eternal. But since the books are a bit harsh, I recommend them to ages 10 and up. Just to be sure. My recommendation-so many stars they won't fit!!! So go to a bookstore or library, pick up the fire within, and read read read !!!

After reading a whole slew of contemporary mystery/thriller novels, I was really in the mood for a good fantasy. I had picked up Chris D'Lacey's THE FIRE WITHIN some time back and decided to give it a try -- thinking it would be a great book with dragons and just the kind of fantasy adventure I was looking for. What I found made me scratch my head more than anything else and wonder what Scholastic was thinking when they published this book.

David is a twenty-year old tenant who moves in with the Pennykettles. His new landlords are something strange all right -- they always talk about their clay dragons. Lucy, the eleven-year old daughter of Mrs. Pennykettle has a strange fascination with squirrels as well. And when their cranky neighbor Mr. Bacon threatens to kill the squirrels, David must take it upon himself to stop Mr. Bacon and find a way to free them all. But he's going to have to tap the inner strength of his clay dragon in order to save them.

First off, THE FIRE WITHIN isn't absolutely terrible. It actually was strangely compelling. I knew I had to get to the end -- maybe I was holding out for something to change in the storyline, or maybe I was just drawn in for some weird reason. But I knew I had to finish. And I did. But the book jacket definitely made this book out to be something it is not. The back of the book describes a fun adventure about the power of dragons. Instead, it's really about a strange twenty-year old who takes it upon himself to save a squirrel named Conker, who's hurt his eye and can't run up trees anymore. As the squirrel plotline unfolded, I kept throwing my hands up in the air and thinking, "Where are the dragons?"

There's never any real danger to speak of -- aside from an "evil" crow who attacks the squirrels at one part. Even Mr. Bacon isn't that terrible. The characters don't always act their ages -- for instance, Lucy often pouts and asks questions more like a six-year old. I wondered if D'Lacey has spent a lot of time around eleven-year olds. Same with college students. Because they're nothing like what he's depicted here.

The most promising part of the book comes near the very end, when there's a slight explanation of the clay dragons. But still, the ending fizzles out somewhat, and makes me really unsure whether I want to even venture in the second book or not.

All said, if you're looking for a fun story about squirrels, then this one might not be too bad. But if you were looking for dragons, better go elsewhere. Maybe Bryan Davis' STARLIGHTER or RAISING DRAGONS or even Donita K. Paul's dragon books. Because THE FIRE WITHIN... is not about dragons. It's about squirrels.

I really loved reading The Fire Within. The author did an excellent job of developing the characters of the different dragons,and the story of David,the twenty-year old college student-tenant who moves in with Elizabeth Pennykettle and her 10 year old daughter Lucy,draws you in immediately. He finds his new landlords really weird as they always talk about their clay dragons that they make to sell like they are real and alive. Lucy, the ten-year old daughter of Mrs. Pennykettle is also strangely obsessed with squirrels.

The story was very well written and clean and fun to read. I did not expect it to be quite as interesting as it turned out to be. I hated to put the book down at all.

I am looking forward to reading the other books in this series. I highly recommend this book and believe it would be a great choice for reluctant readers.

I really liked the story line, it was well thought out and kept you wanting to know what was going to happen. Dragons is why I picked up this book and couldn't put it down. The only thing I didn't like was that the writer kept referring to David as the tenant. Other then that great story!!!

Did you ever make something out of clay before? Was it clay from the earth or man made clay? Liz lives with her daughter Lucy and they are both potters. They make clay dragons and sell them in the Scrubbly market. Liz and Lucy make their dragons in the Dragon's Den. It is a room that is on the second floor of the house. David is the new tenant. He lives in a room on the first floor of the house. He goes to Scrubbly Collage and catches the bus or Liz will bring him sometimes. Now he gets his own room and has a computer. Now Liz's daughter Lucy isn't what you would expect she is demanding and bossy but David finds room in his heart for Lucy. David is now part of the family. Liz made David a dragon. David named him Gadzooks. The dragon David named Gadzooks is a writing dragon. David gets dragged into finding a one eyed squirrel named Conker and snigger (who is part of Conker's family) .Watch as David finds out what a strange hrrrr sound is and how Gadzooks is so special. Will David even find out what the hrrring noise is or not and is Liz hiding something? To find out what happens to these marvelous characters read The Fire Within and don't get it confused with the squeal called Ice Fire by Chris D'Lacey.

This book is an absolute favroite time-waster of mine, right next to mega bloks dragons. Be patient during the boring parts,and it will soon be a fun book on your shelf. The boring lingers, but soon it slides. Higly recomendded for the people who wait.

David, a 20 year old, moves in with a secretive mom named Liz and a squirrel obsessed kid named Lucy. He soon discovers clay dragons made by Liz all over the house. Soon liz hands David a dragon chewing a pencil while holding a pad. The dragon named Gadzooks frequently poppes in his head writing ideas for David's book.

Meanwhile, Lucy is crazy trying to save Conker, a squirrel with one eye, from Mr.Bacon. With all the help the family does, conker still ****** **** from ****** *******. But there's another problem.....

David finds the dragons are real. He learns of a spark inside the dragon. Love and care keeps it lit. Otherwise, the dragon could die. David had gotten in a fight with Gadzooks, and the spark is fading. Will David be able to save him?

The Fire Within stays with the sqirrels for over half the book, so the dragons dont come in much. Still, I couldn't help making 3 clay dragons myself. Ethster, Katrene, and Darbus. The magic a book can do! All in a- hang on, Ethster has a message:

DARBUS SAYS HRRR

Ha,ha. The hrrrring sound dragons make mean hi, yes, or always. Anyway, all in all,this is a great book. Thumbs way up. Of course, don't expect all of it to be gripping.

Hope you love it,

Dragonmstr

First book: mostly about squirrels not much about dragons; for little kids like for bedtime stories
Second book: much more about dragons and other fantasy stuff; for bigger kids; new characters; more adventure
Third book: good book; more about Artic and the animals
Fourth book: harder to understand; different level of fantasy; exciting though; surprising; more "evil"
Fifth book: pretty good; my favorite one in series; talks about the mother of dragons; some minor violence (not bloody)
Sixth book: about different world; nothing to do with David Rain, Zanna, Lucy, the dragons etc.; completely different characters; adventurous; confusing at first
Seventh book: more war (all I can say)

I'm truly sorry to be negative toward someone else's time and work, but I would not recommend this book to a child older than maybe 8. I am a 5th grade teacher and constantly on the look-out for new series for my students. I started reading this series thinking that surely because it had 7 books that it would be a worth-while series. Unfortunately, the other negative reviews are correct. The first story had almost nothing to do with dragons. The 20-year-old character David, is not realistic. He spends all his extra time dealing with the squirrels in his backyard, even making a story about them for the little girl he lives with. Most of the chapters seem superfluous to the storyline the author was trying to create. I got about 3/4 of the way through, and just could not force myself to finish it.

This book is truly astounding and captivating. The idea of squirrels and dragons together and everything is very unique (can you think of other books when squirrels, special humans and dragons are best friends?), and the character Lucy is like the perfect example of an "everyday" ten (or twelve, I forgot) year old. And the way she tries to speak casually about the dragons to David Rain, who is absolutely clueless and plays along, and Liz tries to shut her up every time. This book is great for all ages, and there's no swearing or inappropriate behavior. If you or your child like fantasy, dragons and squirrels named Conker, you'll come to love this book and this series!