First published 2024
Lunar Jones lives on Mars, where nothing grows and everything rusts. He tells the other kids at the relocation clinic to keep moving or the planet will kill them. Born on a world that rejected humanity from the start, Lunar scraps valuable gear from storm-damaged zones to survive. Mars became cursed when humans killed its dragon during their colonization war. The dying dragon doomed the planet. Crops fail, animals turn hostile, and endless storms rage across the surface. Three generations of settlers learned this lesson too late. Lunar knows the old stories about dragons filling space, one for every celestial body. He knows Earth's dragon died to make that world livable for humans. But no one from the stars plans to rescue Mars. During a salvaging run gone wrong, Lunar seeks shelter in a forbidden underground zone. What he uncovers in the Martian dust might be the last chance for a dying world.
Genres: science-fiction, dystopia, adventure, fantasy
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, last-chance
Setting: Mars
Period: 21st-century
383 pages · Kindle Edition · Aladdin