Mystery of Gwendolen

Hello my thrilled and quizative readers! As you know I have finished reading The Fire Within by Chris D'Lacey and am now midway through IceFire by Mr. D'Lacey also. This sequel leaves off a couple of months after the ending of the first. Characters are the same, except for two changes. Sophie, David's girlfriend, is now in Africa, while Zanna-a gothic with a nice figure- seems to be taking her spot. More on that later...

Now, for the point of my post, in the first book, we learned about the legend of Gawain and Guinevere. We know that when Gawain died, Guinevere was there to catch his fire tear and protect it. Now, in the second book we find out more of that legend. Mr. D'Lacey brings forth Gwilanna in the sequel. Here, she goes by the title of Aunty Gwyneth. Any way, we learn that Guinevere went to Gwilanna for aid in protecting the Fire Tear where a deal was made. Guinevere would receive a daughter made from clay, hair, and scales in exchange for the tear of Gawain. However, Guinevere changes her mind at the last second and fleas to the mountains where instead, she gets help from polar bears in protecting the tear. It is said that the island Guinevere was residing in sank to the bottom of the arctic taking her and the tear with it. Days later, the bears came forth and declared that they were the protectors of the tear now.

All very thrilling huh?!?! My question comes in now though. If Guinevere was suppose to gain a daughter in exchange for the tear, but never gave up the tear, then how are Liz and Lucy supposedly decedents of Gwendolen? I wonder how Liz and Lucy can manipulate clay to bring forth dragons if the tear was never given for power. Furthermore, what is the story behind Gwendolen? She clearly had some kind of connection to dragons and the tear, but she came after the death of Gawain and Guinevere. SOOOOOO, how can she have a connection to the power of dragons? I feel as though there is still some mystery left that will answer my question. Whether it's in this book or the next, I will find the answer!

                                                                                                                              ~TarzanTron

Lighting a fire on characters

Over break I finished reading the Fire Within by Chris D'Lacey, and it was phenomenal! One thing I did not do in my last post was discuss the characters in detail. This novel goes deeper into the story of each character and the connections each character has to the dragon's fire. Now, for many of the characters (if not all of them) there connection to the fire is unclear. However, Mr. D'Lacey included hints and leads throughout the novel. I'll most likely not hit them all, but the rest are for you to find!

First on my list is David Rain, the skeptic tenant and main protagonist in the novel. The biggest clue given by Mr. D’Lacey happens when Conkers and Snigger are in the garden, running away from Caracturus. During said event, David is in his room typing up his story. Every event that David writes actually occurs in real life. It was as if David was creating real life events with his mind. This happens many times through the story. David has some kind of special ability that lets him almost control how events occur. To what extent can he use this ability is unclear so far, but man is that cool!

Last on the list would be the Pennykettles. They are clearly not normal. Liz creates dragons with her special dragon Guinevere, while Lucy can speak with the “clay” dragons. It is completely clear that they have some sort of connection to the fire of Gawain, but what that connection is goes untold. At one point in the novel, David ponders the idea of Liz and Lucy being direct descendants of Guinevere – the female that first caught the fire tear of Gawain – as a way of explaining their dragon like habits.  

Summary Of T.F.W

Hello again my friends. I just recently finished The Fire Within by Chris D'Lacey. Let me tell you, it was great! It is definitely original, unique even. On a scale from one to ten i would give it a nine. The only reason that it lost a point was because it started out kind of slow. it took it a bit to reel you in. After i got past the beginning though, i could not put it down. I read whenever i could. I don't usually do that with books. Now, I'm moving on to its sequel.

The Fire Within revolved mainly around David Rain and his special dragon Gadzooks. David moved into a room-for-rent at the Pennykettle household. Liz, the land lady, and Lucy, her daughter became his family. At first David thought they were crazy. Liz always had some silly dragon puns and Lucy was your typical ten year old. The books plot was mainly about David discovering secrets in the Pennykettle house hold, with a side-plot of squirrel rescue.

Chris D'Lacey did a phenomenal job with description. At times, the scene was described so vividly that it would have been impossible not to imagine it. The plot was so far in depth that many questions are still unanswered. Seriously, at the end i felt rage because i didn't get all of my questions answered. The mystery around the fire tear and Gwillana were barely scratched. I do have to say that this book wasn't really one of those life lesson books, where you walk away with some enhanced understanding of the world. In my point of view, it was exactly what a story should be. It focused on entertaining the reader, not educating the reader. Don't get me wrong, novels that educated are splendid. Once in a while it feels nice to just get lost in a story rather then question it. Trust me, you will get lost in the dragon world and love it!

Free read book 1

Hello people of the world/English class. Mr. Kain has assigned as all to read a book no less then two hundred pages. I have chosen The Fire Within by Chris D'Lacey. It's a fiction book mainly revolving around dragons. They aren't the kind of monstrous, fire breathing dragons that come to our imaginations. They are more little cute dragons...made out of clay with a dragon spark inside of them.

"Does David believe in the power of dragons? When David moves in with Liz and her eleven-year-old daughter, Lucy, he discovers a collection of clay dragons that come to life. David's own special dragon inspires him to write a story, which reveals the secrets behind a mystery. In order to solve the mystery and save his dragon, David must master the magic of the fire within, not only with his hands but also with his heart" (cover)

I admit that the last sentence sounds way to corny, but the rest really drew me in. I love a good story about dragons. For those that share my love, then let us start reading this book!

Sherlock BLOW YOUR MIND Holmes.

As many of you know, Sherlock Holmes was an incredible detective. The movie did a really good job of showing this. It blew my mind! How he could plan out moves in his head and gather data on the spot, simply amazing! For example: when he was in the pit fighting the big fat guy, he devised a plan to knock him out all in no more then 15 seconds. The crazy part is that it all went according to how he planned it. I know it was a movie and all, but the thought of someone being able to do that is crazy!

I wish i could have such great deductive powers. In the field of science, that skill would be golden. Say you're in the middle of an experiment and you have to gather data in an environment. Being able to see every little detail would greatly increase the accuracy of the data. A scientist could make quick calls and very precise theories. All hail the little details!

Reaction to dog genocide book.

Well, let us see. The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon, was indeed a curious book. It really was a unique and eye opening book. At first, Chris just wanted to find the murderer of the poodle. Silly poodle. Christopher’s simple yet challenging investigation of Wellington’s murder Lead him to uncover a dark and distraught secret about his parents. They weren't his real parents! I'm just kidding, actually his mom was alive and not dead like his father had said. This caused him to lose his trust in his father and to set out on an epic and tron filled quest to London in search of his mother. Beautiful plot, yes, but I've seen it before so it was alright in my eyes.

What i look for most in a book is the meaning of events. Things that make me think or that make me understand whats going on better. I enjoy coming up with meanings or symbolic values of events. Its like a mind puzzle for me. For today's blog i will use motifs as my "word-of-the-blog". something new that i have just decided to include in my blogs, only where it can be applicable though. Now, a motif is a reoccurring event in a story that holds some symbolic value.

I'm choosing the love of science that Chris has, since i share the same love. One thing that caught my eye was when Christopher started talking about alien life forms and the workings of the human mind. Exobiology is fascinating my my eyes and the human mind has to be the hardest and most sporadic system in existence. Christopher feels most comfortable with subjects that he views as logical, such as physics and math. I also feel comfortable with things i view as logical. In mathematics, you can see why something works and why it doesn't. You have proof for what you say and what you see. In other subjects such as social studies you cant really prove history like you can prove math. It just isn't as strong of proof to me, therefore i have trouble paying attention in those classes, just like how Chris has trouble understanding feelings and other non logical things. 

When a book has things such as motifs, i can connect with it better and understand the feelings that the author wants to send through his words. I feel like The curious incident of the dog in the night-time did a good job in doing this. it wasn't a book that just came out and screamed at feelings. At some parts one had to actually look deeper into the meaning to understand the feelings of the character.


                                                                                                                             ~TarzanTron

Possesions

Current Topic: Henry David Thoreau believed that in order to live well, we must reduce the number of material goods we have. Otherwise, these things begin to dominate us. Take a position on this and explain.

I completely agree! Luxuries seem to out weigh necessities in our society. Ill admit, they do at times in my life also. Most of the time i spend my paycheck on things like video games, electronics, black light accessories, or things that just look cool. Instead, i could use the money to buy new clothes, maybe buy groceries. Instead of spending my money on things i NEED, i spend it on things that i want.

I feel like society holds the idea that property equals power. Take fashion for example. Hollister or shoes or whatever, kids desire these things because they think it separates them from others. Brand clothing can be seen as an indicator of wealth. If you have it, you're richer and better then those that don't. I feel like this is what society sells to us. So, now it becomes a fight for luxuries. The more luxuries you have, the better you are then the other person. Instead of enjoying what we have, we buy more and more thinking that it will make us better. We are stuck in a never ending cycle of greed. When one product comes out, we rush to attain it to improve our status. When the next product comes out, we rush to that one too. It will never stop, not unless we stray from that feeling of greatness that we think we feel when we have shiny new things.

                                                                                                                                ~TarzanTron