Title: THE DRAGON QUEENS
Publisher: Voyager
Author: Traci Harding
Edition released: 2007
ISBN 0-7322-8111-3
477 pages
Reviewed by: Adam Donnison
It is 1856 and a document that could rock the entire foundation of Christianity has come to light. Dug up from what is believed to be the ancient city of Ur, the document lays out Genesis, but not the one that many are familiar with. Ashlee Devere, through her ties with the Sangreal Knighthood, is asked to travel to Persia to verify the document. Little does Ashlee realise the extent of the adventures that she, her husband and her son will be thrust into.
Ashlee is also on a personal quest to discover her true genesis, and how she shares the blood of the ancient mythological Dragon Queens.
THE DRAGON QUEENS is written as a series of readings of journals of relatives of Tamar, daughter of Mia Montrose, a 21st century linguist. This results in a first person account from the perspective of the relevant protagonists, spanning periods from the time of Atlantis to the future.
While Tamar reads the journals she finds her own psychic ability expand and even her physical appearance change.
Traci Harding has written a well researched fantasy that is likely to have wide appeal. The writing style is likely to trouble some readers, changing perspective and using a stilted style for some of the journals that may have been meant to capture the period, but somehow falls a little flat.
It may well be that the target audience of THE DRAGON QUEENS is younger, and with a few more X chromosomes than this 40-something male. I can see this appealing to a younger audience with its strong females and the search for identity.
THE DRAGON QUEENS is the second book in The Mystique Trilogy.