Icefire (d'Lacey novel)

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Icefire
Icefire cover.jpg
IceFire (book 2)
Author Chris d'Lacey
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Series The Last Dragon Chronicles
GenreFantasy novel
Publisher Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.
Publication date
1 October 2003
Media typePrint (Paperback), (Hardback)
Pages421
ISBN 978-0-439-67246-7
OCLC 56567094
LC Class PZ7.D6475 Ic 2005
Preceded by The Fire Within  
Followed by Fire Star  

Icefire is a 2003 children's fantasy novel by English author Chris d'Lacey. It is the sequel to his 2001 novel The Fire Within . It is followed by Fire Star , The Fire Eternal , Dark Fire , Fire World and The Fire Ascending .

Contents

Plot summary

David is frustrated that no one will publish his book. Lucy makes a wishing dragon, David's names it "G'reth" which Gadzooks his special dragon wrote down.

Liz offers to drive David to campus and David tells Liz that he thinks Sophie is going to allow him to move in with her. Dr. Bergstrom gives David an assignment on dragons and says the contest prize is a trip to the Arctic. Dr. Bergstrom gives him a talisman to hold and says it will show him his true path. David sees Gadzooks write the name "Lorel."

Later, Lucy, having wished for snow on G'reth, is making a snowman which looks somewhat like a bear. She comes in and looks in the freezer. Feeling curious, David finds Gruffen on a small container in the freezer and tries to pick him up, but Gruffen gets stuck on David's hands. Liz saves Gruffen from breaking just in time and shows David what is in the box—a snowball. It contains auma from Gawain's fire tear, which Liz uses to give life to her special dragons, but she simply tells David that she kept it as a memory like David's teddy bear.

David goes up to his room and falls asleep dreaming about the Arctic. When a polar bear walks up to him he hears "You have email!"—his computer alerts him about a message from Zanna, a goth girl in his class. She comes over later while Liz and Lucy are at the Craft Fair and they go up to the Dragons' Den. Zanna is mesmerized by a bronze clay egg. Her touch quickens the egg which makes the dragon inside it start growing. David then makes a wish to find Gawain's fire tear, which calls Gwilanna. Gretel, Gwilanna's dragon, puts David under a spell and goes with David to a publishing meeting which gets his Snigger book published. At home Gwillana says that Liz is having a baby that Zanna kindled; she says it's the first boy in 900 years. Lucy sees Dr. Bergstrom as Thoran, a polar bear. David tries to stand up to Gwilanna but she ends up trapping him under the floor boards until he breaks free using the Tooth of Ragnar—a tooth that came from one of the first polar bears.

Liz has the baby, but the baby is actually a dragon that Gwilanna enchants. When Zanna bursts in she is branded with a mark that is a blessing and a curse. David goes to the baby dragon and Zanna reveals that she is a sibyl and has the mark of Oomara. Gretel becomes her dragon. The baby flies to Bergstrom and the party of three follow not far behind. In Bergstrom's office, Zanna finds the baby and decides to name him Grockle, but he hardens back to stone after being born without fire. David talks to Bergstrom revealing the full story of Gawain, and Grockle turns to stone like Gawain.

After the clean up, David's first girlfriend Sophie moves to Africa and breaks up with David. He tries to find Zanna, thinking she is not going to the Arctic. He also begins writing a new book. When Bergstrom comes to pick him up for the Arctic trip, David sees an extra bag and reads the tag which says "Suzanna M." Zanna comes out of the car and she and David begin a relationship.

Characters

Humans/Hybrids

Dragons and creatures

Reception

Beth L. Meister, writing for School Library Journal , compared Icefire to early books in the series, noting that the novel "offers a darker and more mature story" than The Fire Within. Further, Meister found that "Liz's clay dragons develop a greater degree of realism within the story, and their background is further explored". [1]

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References

  1. Meister, Beth L. "Icefire". School Library Journal . Retrieved 24 February 2024 via Chicago Public Library.