Legends of the Sky: an interview with Liz Flanagan
By Michelle Pauli.
Think of dragons and you’ll likely imagine soaring, fire-breathing creatures full of power and grace. But chickens? No, chickens probably don’t spring to mind. Yet it was Liz Flanagan’s flock of hens that inspired the dragons in her Legends of the Sky trilogy.
‘I’d take my cup of coffee and go and sit with the chickens,’ explains Flanagan. ‘I was amazed by their different personalities, their little scaly feet and the way they communicated. And then one of them became broody and she went from being this cute, fluffy, chatty little hen to being incredibly fierce. She sat there for 21 days, hardly eating, hardly moving but growling and pecking if I tried to check the eggs. That really caught my imagination. And that’s where the story started.’
Despite the clucky inspiration, middle grade readers can be reassured that there is nothing remotely chicken-like about the awesome dragons in The Pirate’s Dragon, the concluding book in Liz Flanagan’s thrilling trio. Fans of the series will recognise the powerful dragons Ravenna and Della from previous books, but there are also three adorable newly hatched baby dragons who have chosen three children to bond with. Because, unlike most chickens, dragons are perfect story catalysts, as Flanagan explains.
‘There is a transformation that takes place – when they’re tiny they need protecting, but then very quickly they become powerful and dangerous and they give power to children, which is perfect for middle grade fiction. Dragons make stuff happen from a narrative point of view – and they also get you from A to B.’
In The Pirate’s Dragon, A to B is a treacherous voyage between the dragon kingdom of Arcosi, familiar from the first two books, and Skull Island, a rocky outcrop fiercely led by Malena, former Queen of the Pirates. The two places are personified by Serina, the daughter of Duchess General Tarya and Duke Viggo, who readers previously met as young teenagers in the first book, and Raff, son of Malena. In the action-packed dual narrative tale, the deeds and feuds of previous generations divide Arcosi and Skull Island. Serina and Raff, brought together by their love of their dragons, must overcome fears and prejudices to protect all the dragons’ future.
While the whole trilogy takes place in the same world – and Flanagan is a highly accomplished world builder – each of the three books follows the story of a subsequent generation as they bond with newly hatched dragons and deal with threats to family, friends and homelands. This structure allows Flanagan to explore her fascination with the impact of past decisions on those who follow.
‘I’m interested in actions and consequences,’ she says. ‘All humans are doing their best with the information that they have but we all make mistakes and here we see what happens as a result of those mistakes.’ In The Pirate’s Dragon, Flanagan was also particularly keen to delve into the difficulties of talking to people we profoundly disagree with, an issue shaped by the experience of how the country has dealt (or not) with the divisive topics of the past few years.
It plays out most noticeably in the unbending of infuriatingly stubborn Malena, who is fuelled by piratical pride and swagger. Still mourning the death of her wife who had been wounded years earlier in Arcosi, she is filled with vengeance for the wrongs inflicted then and a sense of injustice stemming from Arcosi’s unique status as the home of the dragons. She is, however, a swashbuckling joy to read – and to write, says Flanagan.
‘We don’t always know how much freedom and agency women had in previous centuries because it’s not there in the record but there are some amazing, documented examples of women pirates. And if there are some documented examples, well, there must have been more. I love the exuberance of it, the adventure, the fact that the rules are different. There’s definitely a little bit of Suranne Jones’s Gentleman Jack in Malena and Rosa. It was so much fun to have a woman character who didn’t give a damn, who was doing what she wanted and was charming and reckless. And imagine being the son of a woman like that…’
The trilogy itself has had something of an epic, interrupted journey. Flanagan started the series 10 years ago, with Dragon’s Daughter, but struggled with trying to fit too much into one story. She put it aside to write a YA novel, Eden Summer, instead, during her creative writing PhD, which became her debut. Publisher David Fickling then picked up Dragon’s Daughter as the second in her two-book deal and it was published in 2018, followed by Shadow Dragons in spring 2020 – unfortunately perfectly timed for the closure of all bookshops, cancellation of all events and a predictable lack of sales as a result.
Flanagan wrote The Pirate’s Dragon during lockdown and, unlike many writers, she found that writing was ‘a real escape. It was a wonderful, tethering, anchoring thing’. However, in the cautious publishing environment immediately following the pandemic, David Fickling Books passed up the chance to publish it. To get over the disappointment, Flanagan threw herself into writing the younger middle grade Wildsmith series, which was published by UCLan, before steeling herself to ask for the rights to Legends of the Sky back from David Fickling, which they kindly agreed to do. All three books have now been brought out by UCLan with stunning new cover art by Joe Todd Stanton.
Flanagan has been hard at work in the meantime, with two more Wildsmith books due out this year, an adult historical novel currently out on submission and, just to complete the full age range, she is also working on a picture book.
However, seeing the full Legends of the Sky trilogy on the shelves after 10 years is clearly a moment of immense gratification.
‘I’m a finisher. I like finishing things, so I’m really satisfied that I got to finish the story,’ she says, smiling. Fans of dragons, and epic, thrilling fantasy sagas, should be equally pleased that this wonderful series has had a new lease of life.
Michelle Pauli is a freelance writer and editor specialising in books and education. She created and edited the Guardian children’s books site.
The Pirate’s Dragon is published by UCLan, 978-1915235992, £8.99 pbk.
