View source for Fire World by Chris d'Lacey

{{infobox1
|title=Fire World
|author=Chris d'Lacey
|reviewer=Ali Baker
|genre=Confident Readers
|rating=4.5
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-1408309599
|pages=434
|publisher=Orchard Books
|date=October 2011
|website=http://www.thelastdragonchronicles.com/
|summary=In the world of Co:pern:ica, young David Rain is suffering from dreadful sleep disorders and night terrors. His family is ordered to take him to the mysterious librarium. In the librarium there is a mysterious tapestry guarded by firebirds, and David is to play a part in discovering its secrets.
|cover=1408309599
|aznuk=1408309599
|aznus=1408309599
}}

David Rain is an impressionable, imaginative boy who can ''imagineer'' (that is, visualise objects and make them solid). He is a threat to the highly organised society of Co:pern:ica, particularly to the terrifying Aunts who control society on behalf of the Higher, and his parents are blamed for their own faulty emotions, thoughts and abilities, and punished. David is sent to the librarium, the repository for obsolete books, where he meets a mysterious girl called Rosa. She will play a part, along with the beautiful but threatening firebirds and unexpected members of David's own family, in discovering the secrets of the ancient tapestry of the librarium and confronting threatening forces from Co:pern:ica and beyond.
 
This is a marvellously well written book, in vivid, beautiful prose. With lovely references to Alice in Wonderland and a paeon to the power of reading, it will be devoured by d'Lacey's fans, and to be recommended to fans of fantasy of 10+. However, I found that not having read the other books in the series, it was tricky to fully understand the world of Co:pern:ica and the society that David and Rosa lived in. However, I will most certainly be reading the rest of the books: d'Lacey has a new fan!

[[Un-Lun-Dun by China Mieville]] is another wonderful fantasy book with references to Alice in Wonderland. Readers may also enjoy Cornelia Funke's Dragon Rider, and of course, Alice in Wonderland itself!

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