Drake: An Oral History of the Dragon War (Episode 1: Emergence) by Mike Kraus -

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Episode 1: Emergence

Lost to myth and legend, few believed that dragons were real, and still fewer believed they could ever return. When a covert operation resulted in their release, all the might and power of the world couldn't hold them back. With the world on the brink of defeat, the few who remain must grapple against all odds to combat an enemy that nearly drove us to the brink of extinction once before – and which is about to do so again.

From bestselling author Mike Kraus (Final Dawn, Prip'Yat) comes a new, five-book series: Drake: An Oral History of the Dragon War. In what can be best described as “World War Z with dragons,” Drake portrays a realistic, scientific history of the emergence of the drakes, and humanity's subsequent battle just to stay alive. The gripping 5-part series will take you around the world, examining the history of the war from all sides: political, military, civilian, scientific and more.

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I received this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. All opinions are my own and no further compensation was received.

An excerpt from Drake: An Oral History of the Dragon War

Didn't it attack you right away?

Oh no. See, the leviathans, they're like the Reds. They think too much.

[Points to top back of the skull.]

See that massive cavity? That's where the brain sits. And it fills up every square inch. They're smart, cautious and coldly calculating. This one did a few passes on us, trying to goad us into firing. And fire we did, unloaded on him with everything from small arms to a rocket launcher. He shrugged it all off like it was nothing.

What about the ship's guns?

The cannons had been removed; replaced with anti-air! And even if we had the cannons, not even they could have pointed at a low enough angle to reach him. Like I said, he was smart. He kept right up next to us, ducking under to go from side to side, making us run back and forth across the deck. And then, once he got tired of playing with his dinner, he submerged. Sonar pegged him at a straight vertical from surface down to four hundred feet before he reversed and charged back at the surface. If we were doing thirty-five knots, he was doing fifty or more with ease, straight into us.

My God…

There was a lot of that going around that day. Or might have been, had more of the crew survived. That one hit split the ship in half. An entire cruiser, split straight up the middle like it wasn't more than a popsicle stick, from one blow. And he didn't even take any damage.

[Rubs gently on the curved upper jaw.]

These things were like tanks, and nothing we had could stop them. You remember the Enterprise, the Gerald Ford-class aircraft carrier?

Yes, I–

Eleven hundred feet long. Carried close to a hundred aircraft. A hundred thousand ton displacement. Over four thousand crew, and armed with the best technology we had ever produced.

Yes–

Gone in less than an hour. Straight down to the bottom. And she was just the first. Not even her nuclear reactors going critical did more than kill a handful of the leviathans that attacked her. Less than an hour and she was gone.

[Pauses for a long moment before pulling the tarp back over the skull. All trace of levity is gone.]

The seas are barren and our civilization's been toppled. And they say we won the war.

Review- World War Z with Dragons? Yes Please! By now you all know I read a multitude of different genre. What can I say? I'm complex and I can never turn down a good dystopian book.

Drake: An Oral History of the Dragon War is the first book in the series and is only 88 pages. It's written in an interview style and that is new to me but it's so well written it draws you right in and it is very believable. The book even goes into a little bit of history (LOVE) between the US, China, and Korea. It also gets into conspiracies. Will I continue with the series? Heck yeah and I might even pick up his other series.

You can pick up the first book for $.99

Professionally trained as a Systems Engineer, Mike has been a writer his entire life, spending his summers as a child writing of daring adventures and epic science-fiction exploits in a college-ruled notebook instead of playing video games. That love of writing stayed with him until it finally burst forth in the form of “Final Dawn,” a thrilling post-apocalyptic series released in an episodic format that has sold over 70,000 copies and counting. Final Dawn was followed by two other stand-alone books, “Prip'Yat” and “Cold Springs,” and Mike's latest work is a new five-part series titled “Drake: An Oral History of the Dragon War.” Mike currently lives in Mississippi with his wife and three children and spends his days writing (of course), programming and tinkering on his PC.