A review by rytheguy19
The Fire Within by Chris d'Lacey

inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

For a kid's fantasy novel, this is a pretty alright experience. This book doesn't do anything crazy or groundbreaking to make it amazing, but it also doesn't do anything confusing or bewildering to make it unpleasant. This is an easy to digest book that has an almost slice of life feel to it with a bit of a fantastical side, with it being about a collage student moving into a rented room that's owned by a mother and daughter which he grows a friendship with, and him writing a story about squirrels over the course of the story; but at the same time, the house is populated by clay dragon figurines that are secretly alive, with the main character actually bonding with one of them. It's a pretty fun and wholesome concept, with some okay world building and character backstory, but again the story doesn't do anything too insane to make it particularly noteworthy.

Overall, I think it's a good book for kids to read, but for older readers, they will probably need to be looking for a more easygoing book in order to get something out of this. With that being said, feel free to check this one out if you're curious enough.