Customer Reviews

The Exiles Trilogy

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was the first science fiction book I read as a kid. The simple but imaginative storyline launched me forever into a love for true science fiction. The story is simply written but is very thought provoking. I have recently found the book again, and re-read it. It still has a magical effect on me, and it will be one that I hope does the same for my kids someday! I too would love to see a sequel of some sorts from Mr. Bova...!

Someone recommended Bova's EXILES trilogy to me and at first, when I read the description, I wasn't too sold on the idea but I went ahead and decided to take in this adventure.

The three books that make up this trilogy are as different as different can be. EXILED FROM EARTH, the first in the series, was my least favorite. In fact, after reading it, I wasn't sure I wanted to read the rest of the series. It basically focuses on the world government forcing many scientists off Earth and onto a satellite that orbits Earth. It ends with the exiled crew voting to turn their satellite/prison into a spaceship that will carry them to another planet so that they can live in freedom once again. There's a lot of pulp-style action in it but a lot of it just wasn't very compelling and didn't make sense, ie, Lou escapes capture only to immediately return to work and grow suspicious that the place is deserted and then acts surprised when they come to capture him again. Unfortunately, if you're going to read any of this series, the first book is necessary to set up the real stories to come later on. I don't think the first book would make a good movie at all. On the bright side, it's a short, quick read.

However, book two is where things really get cooking. FLIGHT OF EXILES is somewhat of a murder mystery/political drama played out in space. The situation was much more compelling, as were the characters. This would make an excellent Sci-Fi channel movie-of-the-week.

My favorite book in the series was definitely book three - END OF EXILE. Talk about coming out of left field! It focuses on Linc, a kid amongst many other kids on the now century old, falling apart spaceship. There is almost no explanation given as to what happened to the adults in the prior book. Bova does a great job of leaving stuff up to the reader's imagination and I'm glad about that because I didn't necessarily want him to break away from the story he's telling here to take a time out and fill in the blanks. The story plays out almost like a LORD OF THE FLIES in space. There are a lot of themes about religion and faith - Linc ascending "up" the ship to consult Jerlet (more or less, God in this story) and then coming back ("resurrected") to face the masses and lead them to salvation. This third book would make an excellent made-for-tv movie.

People like to divide Science fiction in many genres: hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, alien sci-fi, whatever. I don't even know what each one means. All I care is if it's good sci-fi or not. "The exiles trilogy", though not a masterpiece, is one very enjoyable story.

Ben Bova wrote the three parts of his trilogy between 1971 and 1975. The first part, "Exiled from Earth", set in the near future, tells about how the World government decides to cast away all the top-most genetic scientists and people working with them, least they un-balance the already precarious staquos quo of the overpopulated planet. This first part is the most action packed and has little science fiction in its lines, and is in fact the least likeable part of the trilogy. But what I noticed is that Bova's style is very similar to some of Asimov's stories, the ones featuring Lucky Starr, Elijah Bailey and Hari Seldon in the prequels to the "Foundation" series (books that I constantly re-read). Full of little plots that get together in the end, shallow but likeable characters, fast-paced reading.

The second and third parts, "Flight of the exiles" and "End of exile" are set aboard the sattelite/spaceship that becomes home to the exiles. These two parts have little or no connection between themselves or the first part of the trilogy, except for the fact of the earlier exile. They're darker, better written and the main plots are much more interesting. I won't say anything because I don't want to spoil the fun of reading them.

But my two comments on "The exiles trilogy" are: 1) Although the three parts were written in separate and were meant to be standalones, I think they must be read back-to-back. They'll be better enjoyed this way. 2) There are many things that happened between the three parts of the trilogy, but Bova hardly explains what happens. I was left with the feeling that I wanted something more, and I kept looking for it till the end, but those explanations never came. Maybe Bova could write new books about the Exiles. The story is very good and has potential for further development.

Grade 8.1/10

I read this book when I was about 16, and it was one of the works that really got me hooked on this genre. Although I don't read much science fiction any more, I look back at this one as a great example of character building, plot development, and pure suspense mixed up with a good dose of plausible technology and fantastic imagery. Well done, Dr. Bova, and thanks for giving the world a great science fiction trilogy.

This is a great story packed into a trilogy. I liked it so much that I am now looking for a continuation. This is the kind of book which is hard to put down even at 1:30 a.m. This is true sc-fi - i.o.w. this storyline could not be transferred to our present or past. I did not like the fact that there is no continuation of the characters from one part of the trilogy to the next. Most disappointing though is the fact that the story ends when the exiles set foot on their new home planet! But - as I said - I want to find out if Ben Bova continued this story or if he has plans to do so in the future. What happens next, Ben? Go get the book - you'll like it.

BRIEF SUMMARY:
The exile of reason from human life drives an impassioned quest for intellectual understanding. Lou Christopher contemptuously writes off the world's rejection of reason and indifference to the forced exile of its greatest minds. Caught in a power struggle over her destiny, Valery Loring emerges triumphant on the premise that human freedom lies in a basic choice: to think or not to think. His thinking undercut by superstition-still, Linc must know before he can decide to save himself and his peers from disaster.

AN OPEN LETTER TO BEN BOVA:

Dear Mr. Bova,

I am writing to thank you for creating The Exiles Trilogy. I have read many of your novels, but regard The Exiles Trilogy as your greatest work. I first read it when I was thirteen, and recently bought a new copy. Today, at twenty-seven, I am just as moved by your heroic vision as I was fourteen years ago.

Back then I could not explain my emotional response to what your heroes sought and why. But I have learned much in the last few years, and I am deeply indebted to you. The Exiles Trilogy dramatizes the importance of the human mind and the value of human beings. It confirms an intense conviction that, until a few years ago, I had only sensed: that my own life is important -- an end in itself to be nurtured and kept, not sacrificed to the ignorant of the world or to the whims of brutes.

I do not presume to know your explicit philosophical beliefs. What is important is that your saga dramatizes, in terse plot structure and characterization, the rejection of the mind and its exile from human existence. Your heroes' struggles and ultimate triumphs suggest an impassioned plea, by you, for man to discover and embrace his own rational nature. Intellectual understanding is something I had continually sought as a teenager, but never found. I sensed only on an emotional level the life-preserving connection between thought and action, that action without thought leads nowhere, that to think or not is the fundamental choice and issue of human existence. Without a dramatic example like The Exiles Trilogy, my emotion would have remained precarious; your story bought me time to make explicit the important sense I had of myself and of life.

Your heroes are tremendous; their actions and purposes are a joy to contemplate. Not only do they possess great physical prowess, they also recognize and deal with their conflicts at the deepest level. They share a common quest for intellectual understanding. Lou Christopher, a computer engineer resolved to continue his life's work in exile, grasps the government's aimless, brutish nature; the people's indifference to the scientists' plight; the world's ignorance of the mind. He persuades the exiled scientists to turn their orbiting gulag into a purposeful starship. Valery Loring, a computer programmer determined to control her own life, is caught in a futile power struggle which threatens to destroy the ship and all aboard. In her search for truth she embodies the locus of human freedom, the choice to think. Linc, an active-minded boy stifled by hostile, superstitious peers and by his own fears, senses danger to them all. Still, Linc must know before he can decide to save himself and his friends.

It is not as if your heroes could decide, act, and triumph without knowing -- as if reason was desirable but optional. Your universe succinctly dramatizes the inescapable connection between individual thinking and human survival. This is what makes the heroes of The Exiles Trilogy so real and compelling.

I was a structural engineer at NASA/JSC for seven years before I quit in order to become a professional philosopher and intellectual. My favorite philosopher and top hero is Ayn Rand; perhaps you have heard of her. I highly recommend her novels. For The Exiles Trilogy you are my hero and mentor, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Respectfully yours,
Neil Erian

Monday, April 10, 2006

"The Exiles Trilogy" by Ben Bova, ©1971, 1972, 1975

This has to be one of the most presceint science fiction stories. The first part is developing the scene, so to speak: the exiles are exiled. The rationale is good and still a little far fetched. I do not see any government, national or international, sending a bunch of people off into space because they know, or have learned, too much. The idea is that there has to be some push to get us, as a species into the interstellar world. This was this story's push.

The second story I just of skimmed through. It was a predictable plot and the science in it did not seem to be of any great imagination. In the end, it was as I expected.

The third story was better and more interesting. The flaws were in its miracle work: how do those machines stay working or where do the replacement parts come from? It must have been some great foresight to have all the labatory equipment for developing zygotes and nuturing them to childhood. Why are these children not active sexually (obviously, the author did not want to deal with the inherent social problems, within and outside the book, that would ensue, but I think that children naturally have a curiousity about their bodies and sex, so there should have been some development)?

The growth and development of the characters was good, though, for purporting to be geniuses, they sure did not think things through very much. Some of the logic of what they were doing was just os much ordinary folks doing ordinary stuff, creating problems that required some adjustments. The sad part is that the children ended up on a virtual Eden, with all the hope that entails, but you know that problems will begin, and evil will enter the world. This will necissitate more growth and development, probably for the next million years or so. Lord be with us.

I find that the more I read science fiction books the more I am aware of the probability of finding and colonizing a planet like Earth is about nil. Taken separately: Finding: Is there a possibility of there being a planet out there like Earth? I would think that there is almost no likelyhood of it being one of the first planets we explore. I can not imagine that with all the ranges of planetary development, that one like ours would be nearby. Colonizing: the growth and development of our species to be able to develop machines and conquer the distances between planets, much less stars, is one thing, to do so with our social structures, would require a bit of growth and change. Other books have shown some different scenerios, not all of them are good, some are really bad.

Ever wonder who first came up with the idea of a space ship crew's descendants reverting to primitivism. Ben Bova thought of it first.