Exiles

One of the best things about Science Fiction is that it also works as Science Fact. Much of the science and fantasy in the books are based on real research; taken to the nth level, but with a basis in truth. Exiles by Mason Coile layers this with some fundamentals in philosophy. Occam’s Razor suggests that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one, but when the option is between robots gone bad, or aliens, which is the more obvious?

The first three human colonists are about the land on Mars. Their mission is to make the planet habitable for those that will arrive later, they themselves will never return to Earth. They are not the first things on Mars as three sentient robots have been sent ahead to build the base and start the terraforming process. Even from the sky, things are not looking good with the base partially destroyed. What happened? One robot says it was a rouge unit. One robot says it is an alien. One robot is missing. Which, if any, are telling the truth?

Science Fiction is a wonderous genre as it allows the reader to believe anything. This is a concept that Coile plays with in Exiles as it is a book that relies on the reader having an agile mind. At a base level it is a thriller, a novella that follows a slow disaster, but it is also more. It is a book about Gold, one of the astronauts, and why she decided to join the mission, and why the other two colonists, Kang and Blake, where also chosen.

The humans are only part of the story. We see the adventure through Gold’s eyes, and she talks to her fellow humans, but the robots also play a key role. They have been on Mars for awhile already. Pushing against their programming. They have started to develop personalities, even assigned themselves genders.

The book has its roots in 2001, but also The Thing. It has that level of claustrophobic horror and a mistrust of technology, but it also has that added layer. Occam’s Razor. There is a simpler thread that runs through the book that some readers will recognise, and one that I enjoyed a lot. A real crime fiction story set in space.

At just over 200 pages this is a punchy and short thriller, not one that hangs around. Character development is sacrificed for pace, so people who like deeper characters will have to go elsewhere, although we do learn a decent amount about the main protagonist Gold. If you are a reader on the lookout got a fun and fast sci fi thriller, that poses some interesting questions, then Exiles will work for you.