Last Dragon Chronicles Books In Order

Publication Order of The Last Dragon Chronicles Books

Publication Order of Last Dragon Chronicles Non-Fiction Books

The Last Dragon Chronicles is a series of Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels written by Chris d’Lacey. The books follow the exploits of a college student who develops a fascination with dragons.

+The Story

The Last Dragon Chronicles series is very divisive. This is especially true for ‘The Fire Within’. The first book in the series, ‘The Fire Within’ tends to either convert readers into followers of Chris d’Lacey or it creates in them a complete disinterest for the author’s work.

Fans of ‘The Fire Within’ do not merely enjoy the novel. They will tell you that they absolutely love it. They think the story is sweet, encouraging and life-affirming.

Critics of the novel, on the other hand, absolutely hate ‘The Fire Within’. And that trend does not change as the series progresses because the author basically takes the best elements of the first book and doubles down on them in the sequels.

As such, people who hated the first book tend to hate the sequels even more while audiences that fell in love with ‘The Fire Within’ have only good things to say about the rest of the Last Dragon Chronicles series.

People who hate these books have accused them of being falsely marketed. The premise of the Last Dragon Chronicles –not to mention the titles and the book covers—seems to promise an epic fantasy series featuring dragons, magic, and earth-shattering conflicts between good and evil.

As such, it always comes as a shock for people with such mindsets to read ‘The Fire Within’ and find that it spends more time talking about squirrels than actually setting the foundation for epic magical clashes with dragons down the line.

‘The Fire Within’ explores the life of David Rain. A 20-year-old college student, David’s life changes when he moves in with Elizabeth Pennykettle and becomes her tenant. Elizabeth looks like an ordinary woman in her thirties.

David, who is a writer, first observes that she might not be so ordinary when he learns that she makes small clay dragon figures and that her kitchen is filled with them. David happily receives a housewarming gift from Elizabeth and her 11-year-old daughter Lucy, a clay dragon of his own called Gadzooks.

Gadzooks becomes David’s constant companion, a dragon that acts as his muse whenever he has a writing project to complete. It doesn’t take the young man long to realize that ever since he began to write with Gadzooks, his life has begun to mirror the stories he puts on paper.

David is initially skeptical of the notion that he can make things happen by merely writing them. But as the story progresses, he is forced to open his mind to the possibility that the clay dragons in his new home are not quite as inanimate and powerless as he assumed.

‘The Fire Within’ is definitely the most divisive of all the Last Dragon Chronicles Series. Even after the book sets up a fairly original concept that involves clay dragons, David Rain spends the rest of the story running after squirrels. The dragons are only allowed to make a few random appearances before disappearing into the background.

Fortunately, Chris d’Lacey resolves this issue in the subsequent novels. David has an inquisitive mind. And after the events of ‘The Fire Within’, he makes it his mission to discover the truth about the dragons.

His journey takes him all the way to the Arctic where the hero must come to terms with the fact that he might not be who he thinks he is and that the cosmos have a larger role for him to play, a role that could determine the future of mankind and dragon-kind.

The Last Dragon Chronicles are fantasy novels when they first start. Over time, though, a science fiction element emerges as talk of alien species grows rife. The simple concept of clay dragons that can inspire creativity which the author introduced in the first book takes a backseat in favor of far more convoluted plots that involve angels and transforming polar bears and inter-dimensional travel.

All the books are soft and quaint in their approach to storytelling. Even when the author begins to tackle heady topics that involve dragons trapped in other realms, there is a calm atmosphere that persists.
There is also a strong message about the environment that persists throughout.

David shares the screen with Elizabeth and Lucy Pennykettle, and his girlfriend Suzanna Martindale. Characters like Gwilanna and Alexa Martindale also play increasingly important roles down the line.

+The Author
Chris D’Lacey is an English author that was born in 1954 in Valletta, Malta, though it was in places like Leicester and Bolton that he grew up. A former student of the University of York from where he studied biology, Chris started out as a songwriter.

His first work of fiction was a simple story he wrote as a present to his wife. It would take several more years before the author finally put pen to paper to produce his first full-length novel. Chris primarily writes for children.

+The Fire Within
David Rain is a young man who meets Elizabeth Pennykettle when he rents a room in her home. David learns that Elizabeth makes clay dragon figures for a living. She even gives David one of her dragons as a gift to welcome him into their home.

David strikes up a friendship with Elizabeth’s daughter Lucy. Lucy is obsessed with the squirrels in their community. She went so far as to give them names. When these animals’ habitat –a tree—is cut down, they scatter and find new homes, all except for one.

Conker is a one-eyed squirrel that seemingly has nowhere to go. David and Lucy are drawn into his tale.

+Icefire
David met dragons when he moved into Elizabeth Pennykettle’s home and learned that she makes clay figures of the creatures for a living. David knows that there is more to the clay figures than meets the eye.

He comes across evidence which suggests a link between the Arctic and the last known dragon on the planet. If David wants to get to the bottom of the dragon mystery, he must put his life on the line by traveling to one of the coldest regions in the world.