The Last Dragon on Mars

This is an exciting and fast paced space adventure, with the added bonus of dragons.  It is set in a solar system where every planet and moon has a guardian dragon; their key role being to maintain the balance of nature and the structure of their homes.  Unfortunately, the dragon of Mars has been killed a century before and the whole planet is gradually declining, with failing harvests and poor weather conditions. The central character, Lunar, and his fellow orphans manage to scrape a living from scavenging for discarded technologies from the past, but there are others fighting for the same ‘treasures’.  After a dangerous encounter with one group, Lunar and his guide Little Will, find themselves in a forbidden area and are then captured by a secret team of warriors.  The greatest surprise is when they discover that this team are looking after a new dragon and looking to bond it with one of the warriors; however, the dragon has other ideas and decides that Lunar is going to become his ‘dragoneer’.  This is the start of a quest to save the dragon and to find help from other dragons on outlying planets.  However, there appears to be a group who want to kill the dragon and will go to any lengths to achieve their aim, the question is, why?

Dragons are one of the enduring favourite themes in both adult and children’s fiction.  This book reminds us of books such as The Dragons of Pern, and Eragon, as well as the very successful Skandar series.  I particularly enjoy the fusion of science fiction and fantasy, together with the fact that the planets involved are all part of our solar system, so we can visualize the scene and the dangers that the heroes must deal with.  A major element of the story is about the gradually deterioration of the planet Mars and the way that it is only by major intervention that these planets are habitable by humans.  Perhaps there is a lesson to be learnt by those who want to build communities on the Moon and on Mars.  As the young heroes follow their quest, we see them gradually begin to blend as a team, despite the rivalry that they had at the beginning.  This is a brilliant start to a new series, and I can’t wait for the rest of the stories.