Icefire
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| Icefire | |
| Author | Chris d'Lacey |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Fire Within series |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Scholastic Press |
| Publication date | October 1, 2003 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback), (Hardback) |
| Pages | 421 |
| ISBN | ISBN 9-780-43967246-7 |
| Preceded by | The Fire Within |
| Followed by | Fire Star |
Icefire is a 2003 novel by an English author, Chris d'Lacey. It is the sequel to his 2001 novel The Fire Within, and is followed by Fire Star and The Fire Eternal, which came out in September 2007 (UK) and on the July 1, 2008 (US). The book was shortlisted for an Angus Book Award in 2006.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The sequel to Chris d'Lacey's bestselling novel, The Fire Within, Icefire continues the story of student, David Rain, and his life in the Pennykettle household.
Life isn't exactly normal lodging at the Pennykettles - not when you're surrounded by hundreds of clay pottery dragons. Fate seems to be dictating an unusual course for David when his university tutor sets him a writing project on the existence - or not - of dragons. The tantalizing prize - a fully-funded research trip to the Arctic - seems just within his grasp.
David starts to research the subject and soon discovers a connection between dragons and the Arctic just as it begins to snow. Is it only a coincidence? Or could deeper forces be at work? As David starts to uncover more about the dragons, he finds himself drawn down a path from which there is no going back to a time when dragons really did exist, and their secrets were guarded by the polar bears of the Arctic.
If David is going to have any chance of winning the research trip, he has to open his mind to the legend of dragons and the mysterious secret of Icefire...
He starts receiving messages from Lorel ( a polar bear with amazing knowledge, and also the teller of ways who seems to have a connection with the mysterious Dr.Bergstrom). While David is alone in his room, he gets a message from a girl named Zanna from his college. When she calls him 'handsome', he starts talking to her, and they eventually fall in love[his original girlfriend,Sophie, is gone on a job in an African game reserve]. She is invited over to Liz's house when Liz and Lucy are away at a fair selling dragons. David takes her to the dragons den without permission and she touches an egg, quickening(fertilizing) it. It becomes a real egg, with a real dragon (Grockle) in it.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Humans
- Elizabeth Pennykettle (Liz) - The landlady and the maker of the mysterious clay dragons.
- Lucy Pennykettle - Liz's daughter, an 11-year-old girl that strongly believes in dragons but can be very mischievous. She also loves squirrels and keeps trying to find them. Also can make dragons.
- David Rain - David is a tenant and a college student that has some thoughts of dragons and is somewhat emotional; he is one of the main characters. His dragons are Gadzooks and G'reth.
- Suzanna Martindale (Zanna) - Zanna is a goth girl college student that falls in love with David and knows a great deal about dragons. She is a descendant of Gwendolen, and a girl with the makings of a sibyl.
- Guinevere - Guinevere caught Gawain's fire tear and she is from ages long past. David learns about her when Liz tells him a story about her.
- Gwendolen (pronounced Gawendolen) - Guinevere's child, "fathered" by Gawain the dragon.
- Gwillana - A sibyl who helps Guinevere and conjures Gwendolen for her. Gwillana also bewitches Grockle to become a dragon. She is always trying to bring back the dragons in some devious way.She first appears using the alias 'Aunty Gwineth'
- Dr. Bergstrom - David's college professor. Has the ability to turn into a polar bear; also known as Thoran (in polar bear form).
- Sophie - David's girlfriend. Who helped Lucy in the last book, (The Fire Within) when they caught a couple of squirrels.
[edit] Dragons and Animals
- Gawain - The last real dragon of the world; he is supposedly "dead".
- Grockle - The "son" of Liz Pennykettle or Suzanna Martindale (yet to be decided in this book) and Gawain the dragon, originally intended to be a human boy; bewitched by Gwilanna to become a dragon.
- G'reth - The wishing dragon. Puts David's wish out to the universe.
- Gretel - The potions dragon and servant of Gwillana.
- Gadzooks - David's story writing dragon. They seem to share a powerful connection to the universe. Gadzooks was the first one to discover Lorel presence.
- Grace - Sophie's listening dragon. Who plays an important part in this book.
- Gruffen - A guard dragon of the Dragon's Den. David first saw him in a dream (The Fire Within)
- Gwillan - A snuffler dragon, he also enjoys cleaning, and watering plants for liz.
- Spikey - An albino hedgehog.
- Ragnar - one of the legendary polar bears who has fighting scars all over him. He is said to have roared so loud that a tooth came out of his mouth, and he pounded it into the ice and it formed the island called the Tooth of Ragnar.
- Lorel - The Teller of the Ways. Tries to make contact with David to give him information. He is a polar bear.
- Ingavar - great descendant of Ragnar who takes the tooth of Ragnar and fuses with it so he may become the ancestor before him. (In the next book)
- Bonnington - the Pennykettles' cat who inherits a few dragon skills after drinking some of the melted icefire.
