The Last Dragon on Mars

At a glance

The planet Mars has been colonised in a world where all planets and moons have dragons. Lunar Jones is a 13-year-old Martian orphan, a scavenger to look after the other children at the relocation clinic waiting for adoption. One of his outings ends up going terribly wrong, with Lunar escaping to an old bunker. He inadvertently discovers a secret base of others of a similar age, led by Poppy and a special dragon called ‘Dread’. Dread recognises Lunar as ‘the one’ and he is recruited as the ‘Dragoon’ (pilot) for Dread. Mars is slowly dying, food is difficult to access, nothing grows and all because Mars was cursed when Ares, a special dragon, was killed and other planets abandoned Mars as a result. Poppy is training young recruits and Dread to allow Mars to rise again as a planet. However, their secret is betrayed and Mars is attacked by other dragons and teams from other planets. Dread plays his part and with the aid of Jupiter’s dragon, who recognises Dread as the son of Ares, is able to restore Mars, lifting the curse and making it plentiful again. But the book ends with a twist as they learn that ‘Neptune is coming – and they’re coming for us!’.

I can see the appeal of this book. It has everything thrown at it – drama, excitement, team relationships, dragons, outer space, planets. I particularly liked how the crews were equally made up of genders, with a focus on strong female characters. For example, names are not gender specific and even Jupiter, the biggest and most powerful dragon there is, is referred to as ‘she’. Cleverly written.

Published by Rock the Boat, 2024 (373 pages)