The Staff of Rahgorra Book

The Staff of Rahgorra

I just finished reading Mark Oetjens's The Staff of Rahgorra. This is a science-fiction novel that follows the story an evil overlord named Thrull and his quest to secure a weapon called The Staff of Rahgorra and wield its power to control the galaxy. Along the way, Cam Del Rey- the hero of the story-, an ex-GSB agent is recruited to help secure the staff that was lost hundreds f years ago. On his quest, he meets up with a young GSB agent named Koya, who has a hidden past. Both possess a power known as "Jai", similar to the force. It allows a person to become hyper sensitive to the world around them. They can move faster than normal and 'sense' when someone else who has this power is close by. She accompanies Cam and he decides to teach her how to control her Jai, in order to help him overthrow Thrull. As any good book would, there are segments if intrigue, drama, and deception.

I don't want to give away a lot of the story, but Staff is a science fiction novel for the science junky. Mark litters the book with very cool and interesting science facts, such as String Theory, to educate and capture the interests of the reader, while weaving it into Rahgorra lore. Mark writes with a very smooth style, that carries the story long well. He knows how to capture the essence of science-fiction and evenly lace the story with technology and action, while keeping the reader engaged.

My only gripe with the story is that it is very familiar to me. I am a huge Star Wars junky, and this tale almost parallels it with similar themes of good versus evil and the power of Jai is somewhat like the Force. It was like reading a story within the Lucas world. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not something that I would call original. For science-fiction aficionados, it is a good read.