Title: Legend of the Maara
Author: Patrick Castles
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Co.
ISBN: 978-1-6376-4003-6
Pages: 332
Genre: Science Fiction
Reviewer: Jason Lulos
Hollywood Book Reviews
Legend of the Maara had me hooked from the beginning. The story opens with our protagonists trapped in an isolation cube, having been abducted while on a deep space mission. What follows is an inventive science fiction epic that will keep readers continually engaged. When our heroes find themselves in this Twilight Zone scenario of the cube prison, their primary goal is to escape. Next, the story takes readers on a fascinating long game of survival, rebuilding a world, and the stunning discoveries of how and why these explorers were abducted in the first place. This is a brilliant plot-driven story, but the scientific and ethical implications of the plot twists are just as intriguing.
Jason, an archeologist, and Mia, a biologist, find themselves naked, trapped in a cube. As part of the Deep Space Investigation Project, they had gone to investigate the planet Maara. Upon being kidnapped, the notion of being guinea pigs or part of some zoological experiment by their captors implored them to find a way out of the cube. Using their scientific backgrounds and their limited knowledge of the Maara, they do escape the cube and, fortuitously, are able to steal a Maaran spaceship that seems to use a telepathic technology bringing them to a new world, devoid of intelligent life. Still feeling they are part of some alien experiment, they must put aside those feelings to focus on surviving. Thirty-six other explorers from their original mission inevitably find themselves in this new world, all having escaped their own cubes. Still determined to solve the cosmic mystery of their abduction, they have no choice but to rebuild their own human society from scratch.
These new “settlers” each have stellar scientific backgrounds covering every subject. It is as if they were hand-picked to make a new world. They are starting at day one: a new planet with strange creatures and plants will require a systematic and scientific plan to learn what can help them and what might kill them. Although survival is a struggle, their cumulative scientific knowledge gives them a great headstart. As they rebuild society, their twin goals of surviving and discovering, and perhaps seeking revenge upon their captors are always intertwined. What happens when you take some of Earth’s most brilliant minds and place them in a new world to fend for themselves? Will it devolve into a Lord of the Flies situation, or will they rise to the occasion and not only survive, but uncover the cosmic mystery of their initial abduction?
Jason and Mia are essentially Adam and Eve. When the other thirty-six settlers join them, they also seem to quickly find compatible mates. Thus, the rebuilding of society has serendipitous catalysts once again. What follows is an epic story that covers over five hundred years. Given their highly advanced scientific headstart, the ideas of returning to Earth and/or confronting their abductors seem less like mere hope and more like a real possibility. But they will have to play the long game.
This is an extremely entertaining story and a must read for science fiction fans. When the plot makes a hard turn from high tech space travel to the early days of hunting, gathering, and farming, we have a genuinely unique plot twist. It is a riveting story, but it also has thought-provoking considerations in terms of the ethics of inter-species communication, exploration, and basic humanity. The story is well written and intelligently thought out, the plot and characters’ cosmic queries always informing one another. In short, it’s a great read.