Chris d’Lacey Books In Order

Publication Order of The Last Dragon Chronicles Books

Publication Order of Last Dragon Chronicles Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of The Dragons of Wayward Crescent Books

Publication Order of Unicorne Files Books

Publication Order of Erth Dragons Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Chris d’Lacey was born in December 1954 in Malta; an English author renowned for his work with children’s fiction, Chris has attracted fame for series such as ‘The Last Dragon Chronicles’ and A Dark Inheritance.

Biography

Born in Valletta in Europe, Chris d’Lacey first moved to Leicester as a child, before finally finding a home in Bolton. Eventually attaining a degree in biology from the University of York, Chris landed a job at the University of Leicester, working in the Pre-Clinical Sciences department.

Chris d’Lacey pursued writing for a few good years before finally attaining fame as a Children’s author; initially writing songs, Chris didn’t engage with fiction until the age of 32. The author has, on more than one occasion, admitted that writing fiction wasn’t his first choice of career, his dream to become a famous songwriter overwhelming any ambitions to write fiction.

In fact, his first fictional work was a 250,000-word story Chris wrote to accompany a stuffed toy he had purchased for his wife as a Christmas present. It would be another seven years before he attempted to repeat this feat. Upon learning of a competition to write a young children’s story that would net the winner a decent sum, Chris d’Lacey penned ‘A Hole at the Pole’, a story about polar bears.

He didn’t win; none the less, he chose to submit the story to a publisher, who accepted it. The first of Chris’ published works, ‘Fly, Cherokee, Fly’, hit the shelves in 1998, quickly becoming shortlisted for a Carnegie Medal. Chris has spoken of being inspired by an encounter with an injured pigeon in Victoria Park that he brought home and nursed back to health.

Following its recovery, the pigeon spent another fourteen years coming and going freely from a nest box Chris had attached to the back of the house, the writer eventually assigning all its offspring the names of different American tribes, this then inspiring the title of the book.

Chris has more than a dozen books to his name, many of them manifesting environmental themes and, more often than not, based upon events that actually happened to him.

Chris has been honored with an honorary doctorate from the University of Leicester for his numerous contributions to Children’s Literature. Chris d’Lacey has continued to work at the university as the confocal microscope operator, this despite looking to his writing career as his main source of income.

Some of Chris d’Lacey’s favorite children’s works include Paddington Bear and the Hobbit, Chris also expressing an admiration for writers like Roald Dahl and Allan Ahlberg.

The Fire Within

David’s decision to move in with Elizabeth Pennykettle and Lucy, her eleven-year-old daughter, leads him to discover a collection of clay dragons with the power to come to life.

Inspired by his own special dragon to write a story, David begins to discover the secrets of an unexpected mystery, one that he can only solve, and hopefully save his dragon, by mastering the magic of the fire within.

There are varied opinions regarding the quality of ‘The Fire Within’, the first novel of The Last Dragon Chronicles. Following the story of David, the primary protagonist, and the adventures he encounters when he moves into a home occupied by s mother and daughter, expecting nothing more than food and lodging, the novel fuses elements of fantasy and nature.

Some readers have praised the delightful relationships that liter the novel, the childlike innocence of Chris d’Lacey’s plot oozing from every page, and intimate concerns about the environment interacting almost perfectly with elements of magic.

For fans of Chris d’Lacey, The Fire Within is bound to touch some hearts, especially those younger readers for whom the book was written. The author brings to life themes that anyone could find intriguing.

The prevalent message of the novel is fairly straightforward: there is a fire within the hearts of every person on earth, a fire called creativity. And David, hero of the story, can only find this fire with the assistance of his special dragon, Gadzooks often writing ideas down on the notepad he was kilned with.

Clearly a thought-provoking read for fans of the novel, The Fire Within isn’t without its detractors; in fact, a considerable portion of the readers thought the novel was a little trivial, if not downright ridiculous.

Whereas there is a consensus on the impressive nature of the fantastical elements, many a reader has been known to attack Chris for the realistic and factual parts of the story, many of them simply too silly to believe, this especially true for David and the strange mannerisms he manifests, a lot of them unbelievable for a character of his age.

IceFire

David is determined to uncover the truth behind the mysterious clay dragons. He embarks on a quest to discover the secrets behind the icy regions of the Arctic and their connection to the fire of the last dragon on earth.

This is one journey that will transform David’s life as he has known it, bringing him into the heart of dragon legends and ancient mysteries about the secret of the icefire.

While Chris d’Lacey is clearly writing for children, his books have a way of engaging adult readers, and this is especially true for IceFire, the second novel in the ‘Last Dragon Chronicles’.

The characters (even Aunt Gwyneth) are all surprising interesting, though they lose out to the considerably more lovable clay dragons. With IceFire, there is a noticeable jump in the maturity of the story, this despite maintaining the childlike innocence of its predecessor (a feat few authors can hope to achieve).

Anyone that enjoyed The Fire Within will find its sequel more than a satisfactory read, with novel striving to engage readers with the idea of cosmic plots and entities. Admittedly, not all readers were impressed by the relatively uneventful nature of the novel’s many sections.

With the novel clearly lacking in action or suspense despite its fantastical elements, one can understand how it might fail to appeal to some readers; and the fact that the cosmic elements become so convoluted and complex might put some people off.

But, overall, Chris d’Lacey makes a valid effort to unveil an engaging and intriguing yet innocent tale.