Embargo On Hope: Star Marked Book 1 By Justin Doyle - Sci-Fi and Fantasy Go Together To Make A Fascinating Story Of A Young Man Coming Of Age

Embargo on Hope: Star Marked Book 1 by Justin Doyle

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Embargo on Hope will be released to the public on August 20, 2021 but is available for pre-order.

Recently, I received a review request from author Justin Doyle for his first major work, Embargo on Hope. It is the opening story of a trilogy in his new Star Marked series.

Embargo is a young adult, sci-fi/fantasy story set in the future on the planet Vastire.

I am not a fantasy fan for the most part, so if I read a book in that genre, it must be good, really good. I would say that this one qualifies as one I enjoyed. It moves at a comfortable pace and isn't bogged down with a lot of technical language. The reader will pretty well understand everything. Some of the character names will take a little getting used to, but I also found them to be clever. The story is well written with a good amount of world building I particularly enjoyed. I thought the ending was pretty amazing, and of course, it is open-ended, but it is also a story complete in itself. 

A governing body called the Planetary Alliance has placed the planet Vastire under an embargo. No goods, services, or people may leave or go to the surface of the planet for any reason. In order to enforce the sanction, other members of the Alliance are required to provide ships to blockade the planet.

On the planet, conditions are in a constant state of deterioration. A religious sect has imposed a caste system on Vastire. The lowest of the castes is the Olan-Har. Subsequently, they are the ones who suffer the most. The people of this cast have no access to food, water, or medicine. They are despised by all other castes and have fallen to a survivalist state of existence. They are constantly in conflict with themselves, and people live in bombed-out buildings and are forced to forage or beg to survive.

Darynn Mark is a member of the Olan-Har and is not happy with what he sees happening on his planet. When he meets up with Kaylaa Reesae, he is compelled to bring down the imposed caste system. In order to do that, he, Kaylaa and his best friend's sister, Fyra, go on a quest to get answers. Unfortunately, the way to where they need to go is fraught with people and beasts who make things difficult for the trio.

The story is told from the first-person point of view of Darynn. He is a tough, streetwise kid who can handle himself in a fight. He doesn't hesitate to kill, but as his character grows, he shows signs of remorse. His motivation through most of the book is to learn facts about his father, a great "Shard" warrior in his time (Shard is the planet's police force. They investigate and apprehend offenders). Darynn is uneducated, but he is bright and able to think for himself. When he is joined by Kaylaa, he realizes his mission in life is the same as his father's was - to break the caste system and achieve equality for all the people of Vastire, but especially for the people of his caste, the Olan-Har.

Kaylaa, a native of another planet in the Planetary Alliance, has been assigned to help Darynn through his quest of discovery. She is a skilled warrior packing a matched pair of plasma rapiers. She has a tendency not to show emotion but believes in the cause. Kaylaa is smart, she plans how the trio (including her, Darynn and Fyra) can best cope with difficult situations. 

Fyra is a compassionate young woman and is also Darynn's  love interest. She is devout in Vastire's dominant religious beliefs. She is wholly opposed to violence resulting in death but can understand how it is sometimes necessary for survival. Her brother was Darynn's best friend until he was accidentally killed while foraging for medicine to cure some ailment she had at the beginning of the story. If she has feelings beyond friendship and camaraderie for Darynn, she doesn't let it show, much to his dismay. Fyra is not well trained in combat, but she is smart, having completed some college education.

I have two favorite points in Embargo. The unfortunate thing is, if I talk about them, they will make up major story spoilers. I'll just say that one point involves a character's discovery of the past, and, the other, a battle resulting in achieving a goal.

Aside from that, a plot point I picked up on involved the three principal characters. To me, it seemed like Kaylaa and Fyra were like the two different sides of Darynn. Kaylaa being the logical, impassionate planner, while Fyra was the awakening compassionate side. While they were absolutely fine characters y themselves, I couldn't help thinking the same things I thought when Spock and McCoy reflected the different sides of Kirk in Original Series Star Trek. But unlike Trek, the conflicting sides analogy is far more subtle in Embargo, but it was there for me, nonetheless.

The dominant theme of Embargo is a young man comes of age by learning his life's purpose. Darynn strives to figure out his purpose in life is to improve his world by fighting injustice in the best way he can. His journey is a difficult one, and he feels quite alone in his quest, but he isn't. It will take a major victory, making him a rallying point to motivate others to action.

While not a fan of fantasy, I found much of this story in that genre. I mentioned this to the author who explained he is mixing two genres, Sci-Fi and Fantasy. He told me to imagine "Middle Earth on Tatooine." Well, after thinking about that, it makes sense, and this is definitely a synthesis of two different types of stories. The thing is, I enjoyed this story and was fascinated by the diversity of characters. The story is pretty intense in the beginning and end with a stretch of many varied trials and challenges to overcome in the middle. I recommend this story as something both sci-fi and fantasy fans will enjoy. It is loaded with satisfying moments for both types of fans.

Justin was born in Galveston, TX and raised in the Houston area. In middle school, he fell in love with two life-long pursuits: Space and writing. He knew he wanted to work at NASA and write Science Fiction/Fantasy on the side, and lo and behold, that's exactly what he ended up doing.

He now works for the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, who manages the International Space Station National Laboratory. He lives in the Houston are with his wife, daughter, and various small mammals.

See Justin's web page: https://starmarked.mailchimpsites.com

Well, there it is...

Qapla!