Flight of Exiles

Exiles #2

by Ben Bova, H. Lawrence Hoffman (Illustrator)

A group of scientists and other space travellers face life and death decisions after their spacecraft is damaged by fire

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Space Opera, Ebooks, 20th Century

185 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Ben Bova was born on November 8, 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1953, while attending Temple University, he married Rosa Cucinotta, they had a son and a daughter. He would later divorce Rosa in 1974. In that same year he married Barbara Berson Rose.

Bova was an avid fencer and organized Avco Everett's fencing club. He was an environmentalist, but rejected Luddism.

Bova was a technical writer for Project Vanguard and later for Avco Everett in the 1960s when they did research in lasers and fluid dynamics. It was there that he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz later of the Foresight Institute.

In 1971 he became editor of Analog Science Fiction after John W. Campbell's death. After leaving Analog, he went on to edit Omni during 1978-1982.

In 1974 he wrote the screenplay for an episode of the children's science fiction television series Land of the Lost entitled "The Search".

Bova was the science advisor for the failed television series The Starlost, leaving in disgust after the airing of the first episode. His novel The Starcrossed was loosely based on his experiences and featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend and colleague Harlan Ellison. He dedicated the novel to "Cordwainer Bird", the pen name Harlan Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project.

Bova was the President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past President of Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

Bova went back to school in the 1980s, earning an M.A. in communications in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1996.

Bova has drawn on these meetings and experiences to create fact and fiction writings rich with references to spaceflight, lasers, artificial hearts, nanotechnology, environmentalism, fencing and martial arts, photography and artists.

Bova was the author of over a hundred and fifteen books, non-fiction as well as science fiction. In 2000, he was the Author Guest of Honor at the 58th World Science Fiction Convention (Chicon 2000).

Hollywood has started to take an interest in Bova's works once again, in addition to his wealth of knowledge about science and what the future may look like. In 2007, he was hired as a consultant by both Stuber/Parent Productions to provide insight into what the world is to look like in the near future for their upcoming film "Repossession Mambo" (released as "Repo Men") starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker and by Silver Pictures in which he provided consulting services on the feature adaptation of Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon".

http://us.macmillan.com/author/benbova

Reviews

[Frank Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely enjoyed this one more than the first entry in the series, although still finished up with mixed feelings.

The main plot feature is two guys that had been best friends, fighting over a girl and that's not a storyline that I find particularly appealing. However, it leads to accusations of sabotage and some confusion follows over whether one or both of the lovestruck gentlemen are in fact mentally sound -or not.

I do enjoy a story that obscures the boundary between reality and insanity. I also enjoyed some of the discussion regarding the suitability of different planets for inhabitation.

Unlike the ending of the first book, the ending of this one doesn't propel the reader enthusiastically onto the next instalment, but these are nice, short reads so I'll be heading straight into the series finale.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is classic science fiction from the 1970s when men were portrayed as egomaniacs and women were just trying to keep from getting killed.

This is a continuation of the previous book "Exiled from Earth" several years later. (I'm thinking 50 years later.) The ship was headed for Alpha Centauri (apparently very fast) because the original crew had been exiles from Earth. Rather than orbit Earth until they died out, they decided to refit the ship and take it to another star. At this point in the story, most of the original crew has been in cryo-sleep. Their adult children are running the ship now and a decision must be made whether to stop at a rugged planet found at Alpha Centauri or to continue searching. In the midst of this is a power struggle between two men, once close friends, and a romance with the woman they both desire. There is going to be a murder.

Any problems with this story? It is written using classic plot devices that don't quite ring true any more. In fact, I'm not sure they would have rung true in the 1970's when this book was written, but it would have been familiar. It wasn't quite my cup of tea.

Any modesty issues? None that I recall. The romance aspects of the story were tame.

The ending tied up the major problems presented at the beginning of this story and left a big opening for the follow-up book in the series, "End of Exile".

I doubt I will read this book again, nor the series. It just didn't grab me, but if you are a fan of classic science fiction you might love it.

[Marco Beneventi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quando il pianeta Terra diventa sovrappopolato e la pace raggiunta è sempre più precaria, gli scienziati genetisti, gli unici che attraverso il proprio lavoro avrebbero potuto incrinare questa condizione, vengono esiliati su un'astronave diretta verso Proxima Centauri.
Il viaggio, che dura da cinquant'anni, è quasi arrivato al termine e un pianeta sconosciuto si profila all'orizzonte ma l'astronave, ormai usurata dagli anni d'attività, comincia a guastarsi.
Sarà compito di Larry Belsen, direttore del centro di "Comando e Vigilanza" e del suo migliore amico Dan Christopher trovare una soluzione a tutti questi problemi a cui si aggiunge quello più misterioso, qualcuno pare stia tramando nell'ombra e faccia accadere tragici incidenti sull'astronave...

"La nave dei 20.000", scritto da Bova e pubblicato nel 1972, è un romanzo che ha in se tutti gli ingredienti classi di un libro di fantascienza e ha il pregio di riuscire a tenere con il fiato sospeso dall'inizio alla fine.
Dalla scrittura fluida e semplice, Bova riesce ad intrecciare l'avventura all'amore contrastato, l'azione alla psicologia in un connubio perfettamente riuscito.
I personaggi, ben caratterizzati, soprattutto i tre protagonisti principali, risultano convincenti e credibili, così come le descrizioni degli ambienti dell'astronave e degli esterni sono ben rappresentate.
Un romanzo di fantascienza in pieno stile anni '70 che merita di essere letto per gli amanti del genere ma non solo.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good sci-fi/suspense for 1972. Bova's writing isn't even particularly sexist in this one (other than the use of the word "girl" to refer to women and the lack of female characters in power positions - frankly not much different from a lot of modern sci-fi by male authors).

It's pretty laughable how old a character in his late 50s-early 60s is portrayed, though. The writing makes him seem geriatric and the narrator makes him sound like he's about to kick the bucket.

Again, the narrator has a fabulous voice (same guy as the first book), but his Asian accents are even more offensive in this one since the characters have been fully integrated for a full generation – there's zero reason for any of the characters have any accent different from the other characters on the ship. Bova should get points for having several Asian characters (and I guess forgiven for calling them "Orientals" in 1972), but major points off the narrator for adding the accents.

[Nelson Minar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed this more than the first book. This book has much more of a sci-fi plot. Particularly interested in the dynamics of the old first generation vs the young second generation and how so many people are in cryosleep. Also the challenge of inheriting a generation ship, as the second generation. And the challenge of finding a safe planet to call home. Good stuff!

But then lots of sexism and a plot centered on two-men-fight-over-a-woman. Fortunately Bova gives the woman plenty of agency of her own, she ends up being a pretty good character despite some of the man-centric writing. Also some of the action plotting gets a bit silly. Although again it works better than I would expect; Bova can write two fisted tales pretty well.

All in all a mildly enjoyable book but nothing spectacular. Again, mostly reading this to set up the third book which so far seems to have the payoff I was hoping for.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the Earth’s entire cohort of geneticists and biotechnologists was exiled to an orbiting space station, they had no long-term plans for them. The exiles themselves decided to convert the station into a starship and head off for Alpha Centauri and its planets. On board, nearing their destination, good friends Larry and Dan have a falling out over a woman they both wish to marry, and a series of unlikely accidents creates suspicion of sabotage and murder. But the love triangle may be the least of their problems as the planet they arrive at is unsuitable without biological modification and a further trip to a different system would tax the decaying ship to destruction. Valery, the object of the two rivals’ affections, comes up with a dangerous plan to find which of the two men is the saboteur using herself as bait, but what if it is a third party? Ben Bova’s sequel to Exiled From Earth is a bit melodramatic but is entertaining enough. Book 2 of a trilogy.

[Cr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well. It's not so good.
I don't agree with the politically correct crowd about "blah blah blah",
but the story is weak, the characters are bland and uninteresting.
The first book ain't great either, but this one ends up being even more forced and stupid.

Seems like most of his protagonists (heros) are fairly much idiots with
some type of teenage obsession over some girl. . .
Boring.

I guess if you really need to murder a couple of hours, this mess might do
as "mental bubble gum". . .

[Hannah Belyea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Available English translation read

Fifty years after Earth exiled its top scientific minds, their offspring are close to the planet they hope to consider home - but a series of unexplainable accidents brews tensions, particularly between Larry and Dan, who both vie for the beautiful Valery and seek different paths for the next generation. Bova delivers a engaging sequel, a polishing of its sci-fi quandaries and characterization while balancing its decent mystery and romance. Could there be something - someone - more behind these flukes...?

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not overly impressed with Flight of Exiles. I haven't read the first book in the trilogy so came in a little cold, but it was easy to pick up what went on in book 1. The plot involved 3 characters who were friends and grew up together. As the booked started they didn't seem like friend though, they seemed to want to stab each other in the back. This made everything seem very forced. I am not sure I will read the next book.

[Stacy Moll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this is the second in the series, it could be read without reading the first. I was sad not to have any people from the first book in the second, but it makes sense; they are traveling to a planet far from Earth. I thought the bad guy in this book would turn out to be someone else and that he was trying to throw the reader off, but that is not the case. I still enjoyed this book and was happy to have a third to start right away.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A somewhat pedestrian piece of pulp buoyed a bit by realistic elements such as stun guns for which the victim needs medical attention afterward instead of simply shrugging it off, and a psychological mystery that at first seems no mystery at all. Not totally hard sf, though: the characters are very casual about the resources needed to climb out of a planet’s gravity well.

[Aly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Si tratta di un romanzo breve che tratta del classico tema del viaggio interstellare.
La trama è abbastanza cliché. Lei che deve scegliere tra due amici che poi finiscono per farsi la guerra e anche il finale è scontato. Lo consiglio se vi interessa il tema. Se cercate qualcosa che parla di criogenesi purtroppo è trattato in modo molto superficiale.

[Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel’s entire story kinda hinges around a love triangle where 2 of the 3 people are idiots and (spoiler) the last one is insane. Not the most compelling foundation for a story, but I still enjoyed reading it.

It just shows the cracks that are forming in the society of the ship, even after a relatively short period of time since launch.

Worth reading, and an improvement on book one, but still flawed.

[Nicola Strangis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ciò che mi è piaciuto di questo breve libro è semplice: i rapporti tra i tre personaggi principali, e quel minimo di suspense che l’autore è riuscito a creare. Ci sono dei punti di contatto tra questa trama è quella di Interstellar.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very excited to see how the journey to a new home would go but was not impressed with the story. Especially after o found the first so interesting. I’m going to give the last one a go in hope it gets better again.

[Laz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book in the series was pretty weak, but this put things back on track. The story keeps you guessing to the end, and it has some very interesting thoughts about difficult decisions humans have to make. Loved it, now on to the last one, I have high expectations!

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allowances being made for the “traditional” SF of the era, this is a surprisingly tense story. The narration makes the dynamic between the three key players both tender and terrifying. I am intrigued as to what the final book in the trilogy will bring.

[Fern · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gender roles do not date well. Giving up on this trilogy.

[Josephine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank goodness this book is not long.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read. A straight forward adventure yarn. Our intrepid space travelers may have a murderer among them. Bova tells a good tale.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up b/c audio book (especially since it was on the audible plus catalog, so I didn't have to buy it).

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Duration: 4:54:03

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

A waste of my time. I hope the last book in the trilogy makes up for it.

[The Heretic ElishAKAD3rpii · Rating 3 out of 5]

enjoyable read, didnt expect the direction of the plot but fun nonetheless. 3.5

[Annette2009 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sure this would be terribly dated by this point, but I absolutely loved this series as a teenager. It imagined a painfully crowded, unstable world, and colonies of people living on satellites. Some of the brightest minds decide to leave earth to find another home, an idea rejected by the world powers because such a desire would be "destabilizing" to the masses. I remember not enjoying book 2 as much, but absolutely loving book 3, which has skipped forward generations to a failing spaceship, and a society of children who live by a strange set of rules, the primary one being: don't touch the machines. A great YA introduction to sci fi and dystopian worlds.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series ignited in me a love for the genre science-fiction. I can vividly remember imagining the spaceship that these children lived as their world traveled through space. Even now I sometimes send my thoughts to these "far-off destinations".

[Tayla36 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The whole exiles trilogy is just plain good classic science fiction

[Angela Randall]

We own this as an omnibus of the trilogy: Exiles Trilogy

[Scott Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

These three books, made me a big fan of Ben Bova.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good 2nd book in the trilogy. Nice plot that follows along from book to book. Good solid SiFi, quick and easy read. Recommended