The main character is Myrina, who joins the Amazons in her teenage years and becomes one of the very prestigious moon dancers.

In writing The Moon Riders, Tomlinson drew on a mixture of Greek mythology, such as The Odyssey and The Iliad,[1] as well as archaeological and historical works, such as a BBC2 Horizon programme called The Ice Maiden and Lyn Webster Wilde's book On the Trail of the Women Warriors.

The second book of the series, The Voyage of the Snake Lady, relates the tale of the now grown-up Myrina and her tribe of Moon Riders, many of whom are refugees from the slave pens of Troy.

[2] Tomlinson acknowledges in the Author's Note to this book that, whilst most accounts of the Trojan War have Cassandra taken by Agamemnon after the fall of Troy and then murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, after his own death at her hands, an account by Dares the Phrygian sees her released by Agamemnon to live near Troy.

This version, Tomlinson points out, was used by Chaucer for Troilus and Cressida[2] This second book sees a definite future established for the Moon Riders, whilst re-establishing and strengthening the ties between Myrina, Cassandra, and Iphigenia.