To Taste the Dragon's Blood, Childen of the Dragon - Theresa M. Moore, Author

To Taste the Dragon’s Blood – Children of the Dragon – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

‘Mars. Small, cold, foreboding, so close to Earth….. For billions of years it remained that way, untouched and untouchable by man, glinting redly in the night sky, until one Martian “spring” day in July of 2069 when the Earth starship Percival Lowell pierced the thin envelope of its atmosphere and perched its angular hawk-like body on the rim of a crater in the shadow of Olympus Mons. Dust and smoke filled the pink sky with a dark haze thrown up by control and attitude thrusters as they formed a small crater. The cloud drifted aimlessly in the thin air before settling down, covering the ship in a thin layer of micro fine ferric oxides. There was no one there to greet the twelve astronauts who crowded around the main viewport in Lowell’s cramped, instrument-laden command module. The image of the semicircular plain stretched out before them spoke mutely of a land colder and more dangerous than the icy glaciers of Antarctica. No marching band, no reception committee, not even so much as an incurious stare from a herd animal munching lichens. Lowell was cast adrift on a sea of barren rock far from home.’

As scientists from Earth proceed in their search for another planet that will allow life to live and multiply, their sight has turned to Mars. The mission is to test, sample and determine if there was or is life on Mars. But when the ship’s archeologist Jonathan Kraine falls into a chamber below the planet’s surface, all is changed. And when he solves the puzzle that opens the walls of the chamber, exposing compartments that still contain bodies of travelers before them, all hell breaks out.

The crew will only have the means to rescue one body from the chamber but that apparently turns out to be enough to wreak havoc on Earth. The survivor, Andruantellus Trocana Dragonsblud, is from the planet known as Antellus and is a descendent of the “Dragon”. In other words, he is what planet Earth calls… a Vampire.

Author Theresa M. Moore continues with her Children of the Dragon series by adding new characters, stories and places, but entwining them with her characters from her book Destiny’s Forge. As I said after reading Destiny’s Forge, I’m not a Sci-Fi fan but Ms Moore has me hooked with this set of books. I’m now looking forward to reading the next book in the series – Red Dragon. Each book is written as a standalone, meaning you can read each individually without reading the others, but I recommend that you start with Destiny’s Forge and continue down the list. --