CLIMATE DRAGON: Treachery, Pestilence & Weirding Weather by S.W. Lawrence – Climate Fiction, Lab Lit, Thriller

Climate Dragon by S.W. Lawrence offers a unique blend of climate fiction, thriller, and real scientific inquiry, setting the stage for an intriguing trilogy centered on dual crises—an impending climate catastrophe and the outbreak of a mysterious disease.

Jake Harper, a newly minted engineering professor, and his romantic partner Abbey London, an infectious disease specialist, balance their burgeoning careers with their bustling inn outside Washington, D.C. But the demands of their lives are disrupted as the two crises draw in Jake and Abbey—the only people prepared to face them.

Jake’s suspicions of a cyberattack on the North American power grid grow after attending a lecture at George Washington University. Meanwhile, Abbey discovers an alarming new bleeding disorder spreading among the drug-injecting population, raising the stakes for both her career and personal safety as she navigates the risks to her pregnancy.

Climate Dragon splits into two threads: Jake’s investigation into the cyber-threat and Abbey’s race to stop a new plague.

Jake zeroes in on a suspicious attendee at one of the lectures. When a consultant at the Department of Energy’s NEST (Nuclear Emergency Support Team) unit stays at the inn, Jake reports the shady man. Jake’s suspicions, we come to discover, are well-founded.

At the same time, Abbey dives into her own mystery when the university’s infectious diseases department is called upon to consider a post-mortem patient who presented with unique and confounding bleeding disorder symptoms, including an inability for the body to coagulate blood-draw sites. More patients with the same symptoms soon arrive on the scene, suggesting a spreading hematologic disease. Cautious of her pregnancy but eager to abide by her medical oath to observe and treat the disease, Abbey risks exposure each time she engages with an infected patient.

Lawrence’s integration of fact into fiction will be a highlight for the scientifically curious reader.

The story thrives on discourse. Conversations between the guests at Jake and Abbey’s inn serve as a kick-off point to a discussion of how individual actions can be taken in response to the planet’s impending climate crisis, as seen when one couple shares their building process for an energy-efficient home.

The stakes for both the protagonists and the society they inhabit are left somewhat ambiguous, leaving readers to interpret much of what’s at risk. This, coupled with pacing issues, occasionally detracts from the narrative’s momentum. However, Climate Dragon’s engaging world and likable characters give readers strong reason to care about the fates of both.

Cli-Fi lovers will find Climate Dragon a rewarding read, especially through its intersection of science and storytelling.

The audiobook version, with alternating male and female narrators, enhances the experience. The epigraphs at the start of each chapter add a thoughtful layer, enriching the themes and grounding the story in broader scientific and cultural contexts.

With Climate Dragon, S.W. Lawrence lays a solid foundation for the trilogy to come. The novel concludes on a satisfactory and hopeful note while leaving enough threads to entice readers into the next installment of this thought-provoking series.