D'Lacey's latest Dragon book is his best yet, with David and the others adventuring with polar bears as well as their dragon companions. While the language still sounds too young for David's age, the author builds strong suspense toward the story's conclusion. Several new characters and some well-written good-and-evil scenes make this installment worthwhile for series fans.

The third in the series that began with The Fire Within (2005) leads its characters into a world-saving adventure in the Arctic. College student David and his girlfriend Zanna are ostensibly researching global warming with their professor, Dr. Bergstrom. None of the three, however, are really what they seem. David's writing, inspired by his muse, the dragon Gadzooks, has a disturbing tendency to come true. Zanna is a sibyl with unexpected powers, and Bergstrom is trying to prevent an apocalyptic summoning of dragons. Meanwhile, David's young friend, Lucy, is kidnapped by her powerful sibyl ancestor and imprisoned in the ice. Side plots intrigue, though they are marred by flat and stereotyped characterization: intolerant, superstitious monks; nearly bestial Inuit gifted with shamanic knowledge and the like. The mixed ages of the protagonists (college students, young child, adults mourning lost love) lead to some inconsistency of style, but the originality of the approach makes up for shortcomings in implementation. An entertaining adventure. (Fantasy. 9-11)

Gr 7 Up-College student David Rain; his Goth girlfriend, Zanna; and his dragon-creating landlord, Liz, and her daughter, Lucy, fulfill their destinies in this exciting conclusion to The Fire Within (2005) and Icefire (2006, both Scholastic). David is writing a book about polar bears, dragons, a mysterious fire star, and a transdimensional race from another universe. He's shocked to realize that his fictional tale is actually coming true. He discovers that a powerful dragon is lying dormant and petrified in a mountain. The Fain, an ancient race that revered dragons, intended to colonize Earth eons ago but something disrupted space and closed the line between the worlds, leaving some survivors behind. They have possessed Gwilanna, Liz's powerful and malevolent relative who is determined to call down dragons when the fire star aligns with Earth and the portal to Fain's world opens. If Gawain, the dormant dragon, awakens and dragons arrive and are allowed to breathe fire, they will cause widespread panic and catastrophic environmental damage. The multiple story lines and frequent but cryptic references to events from previous books make this novel a bit confusing for those unfamiliar with the earlier titles. Despite this, the story, with its involving and thought-provoking plot full of clever little dragons, mystical polar bears, and spiritual and ecological aspects, will appeal to many fantasy lovers.-Sharon Rawlins, NJ Library for the Blind and Handicapped, Trenton Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Picking up where IceFire (Orchard, 2006/VOYA August 2006) left off, this novel continues the story of David Rain and Elizabeth and Lucy Pennykettle. Embroiled in a mystery involving an ancient dragon, the small dragons that Elizabeth creates, polar bears, witches, an Inuit tribe of the artic, an emerging star, and an alien race, the trio race between the wilds of an Artic Research Station and the United Kingdom, all while battling evil forces and the clock in order to save the world from ultimate destruction. Although the plot is fast paced, it is too convoluted. At the climax and the subsequent conclusion, the whole novel just falls apart. Long passages of pedantic instruction in physics and the novel's mythology bog down the tale further. The introduction of Elizabeth's long-lost love who has been living as a monk and an evil member of the alien race strain even further the plot's credibility. The characters are flat, mostly because the characterization comes in previous series volumes, making this installment highly dependent on the others. The settings are the one exotic, bright spot in the work, adding to this mysterious fantasy. Although readers of previous series titles will want to read this continuation, encouraging librarians to complete their set, others should pass by this poorly constructed novel.-Rachel Wadham.