Exiles of the Stars

Moon Magic #2

by Andre Norton

The Free Trader starship Lydis is making a run to the Planet Thoth, carrying incense for the great temples of Kartum, when a civil war lands her in a battle of ancient powers and nameless evil with a Forerunner treasure at its heart.

The crew seems normal -- until you look closely at two of its members: Krip Vorlund, a man who walks in a body not his own, and his pet, a four-legged beast hiding the mind of Maelen the Moon Singer, a woman whose esper powers can save them all -- or bring them to eternal destruction.

Enter once again into the World of Moon of Three Rings, in this sequel.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

249 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Andre Norton, born Alice Mary Norton, was a pioneering American author of science fiction and fantasy, widely regarded as the Grande Dame of those genres. She also wrote historical and contemporary fiction, publishing under the pen names Andre Alice Norton, Andrew North, and Allen Weston. She launched her career in 1934 with The Prince Commands, adopting the name “Andre” to appeal to a male readership. After working for the Cleveland Library System and the Library of Congress, she began publishing science fiction under “Andrew North” and fantasy under her own name. She became a full-time writer in 1958 and was known for her prolific output, including Star Man’s Son, 2250 A.D. and Witch World, the latter spawning a long-running series and shared universe. Norton was a founding member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America and authored Quag Keep, the first novel based on the Dungeons & Dragons game. She influenced generations of writers, including Lois McMaster Bujold and Mercedes Lackey. Among her many honors were being the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master. In her later years, she established the High Hallack Library to support research in genre fiction. Her legacy continues with the Andre Norton Award for young adult science fiction and fantasy.

Reviews

[Len · Rating 3 out of 5]

Try to ignore the Flash Gordon elements – ray guns, alien overlords aspiring to be Emperor Ming the Merciless – and there is quite a neat SF story here. It is a follow-up to Moon of Three Rings though not really a sequel more the further adventures of Krip Vorlund and Maelen the Moonsinger. At the end of Three Rings, Krip had been saved by having his mind transferred into the body of a young Thassa acolyte while Maelen's essence had entered her tame glassia: “she went now four-footed, furred, in my company.” They took off in the Free Trader ship the Lydis to secure further trade deals. (As everyone knows, trade deals are everywhere and easily negotiated. Just consult Trump: The Art of the Deal.)

The story begins on the arid planet of Thoth, part of a planetary system named by early explorers after ancient Egyptian deities. The religious rulers of Kartum are fighting to survive in a civil war and are desperate to have their sacred treasures transported to one of the other planets for safe-keeping. It is a contract the Lydis crew cannot resist. However, it is the Lydis' misfortune that the power struggle being played out involves far more than mere humans. The Lydis, carrying the treasure, is forced to make an emergency landing on Sekhmet due to sabotage and there the fearful truth of their predicament unfolds.

I won't expand into detail but the Patrol, the Jacks, the Thieves Guild all become involved in the plots of the remnants of a once powerful and fearsomely telepathic alien race to take over the universe. Blasters, stunners, tanglers, shielding devices, thought and body transference, anti-grav robos – even alien visitors to Earth building the pyramids - Norton throws everything into it and pulls a better than average all-action adventure out of the turmoil.

As a salve to all the radiation burns, breathless chases and escapes, and mind control, there is a bit of a love story. It is quite tame – rather respectful in fact. Maelen has always been close to Krip. Admittedly in Exiles of the Stars she spends most of her time inside a telepathic spaniel and is no doubt distracted by the compulsion to sniff intriguing splashes and smears. Despite that there is something in the romantic air and when, at the end of the story, she is able to take over the miraculously preserved body of a stunningly beautiful alien queen/priestess even she must have noticed something stir within young Krip Vorlund.

For Krip I suspect it must have been similar to a teenage boy seeing his girl next door in jeans and tee-shirt slapping on make-up and transforming herself into the stuff wet dreams are made on. He babbles on at the end about alien treasure securing Maelen's ambition to have a travelling circus in space. Clearly a young man confused by a hormonal surge. A cold shower probably sorted him out before the next adventure started. Completely enjoyable if one suspends belief and accepts characters who act before they think and get away with it.

[Kat Hooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will review at Fantasy Literature.

[Sally Boyington · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best sci fi sequels ever. Norton keeps her writing simple and compelling, and Krip Vorlund and Maelin are both well drawn, sympathetic characters with enough flaws to keep them human--even when they aren't.

[Cinnamingirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm only at the beginning of this, but its already shaping up pretty interestingly. I like how it's immediately a mystery story, and how Norton uses Maelen as an opportunity to discuss philosophy/religion.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read Moon of Three Rings first, this is the sequel.

The Free Trader Lydis is transporting a cargo that is incredibly valuable collection of Forerunner artifacts when the ship is sabotaged by a mysterious power and forced to land. Krip and Maelen must use their esper powers to free the crew and ship from some ghosts of the past. An excellent read but not the end of their story.

Notes on the Norton universe:
The Patrol - Unlike many contemporaries that had versions of space police that were squeaky clean, the Patrol is indifferent or in some cases hostile to those of have little power and often uphold the status quo, favoring large corporations. There are also corrupt and shady members, they show up in many of Norton's works.

Forerunners - Alien races that came before man and other current civilizations, I'm not sure if she coined the phrase, but she certainly helped make them popular.

[Jeff Dickison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good sci-fi story with all of the great Norton attributes: imagination, good plotting, suspense, fascinating aliens, shape-shifting and esp power. Rocket ship gets marooned on what is supposed to be an empty planet but wonderous archaeological artifacts are found, both by the good guys and the bad guys. Highly recommended if you're a Norton fan.

[amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

TBH, this one lost me; I gave up even though it had an interesting gimmick integrating elements of ancient Egyptian culture, but it was a bit too far "out there," if you will (even for me). For example, it also involved two main characters who were somehow living inside host bodies, and one of them was in at least the second such host, and both hosts were creatures from other planets (one of them was a cat-like telepathic being)... Also, the hosts may have just been letting them *borrow* the bodies...?

I will probably never know how they wound up in those bodies or how they could possibly be passed on to the next host... I digress, since this isn't even related to the plot with space travel and being harassed by angry Egyptian priests. I just couldn't keep up. It could be cool now with CGI and whatnot, but I shudder to think what this story would have looked like had it been turned into a movie at the time it was published.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first one in the trilogy (at least I think there is another one). I loved Moon of the Three Rings and even gave it 5 stars which I do rarely. This one has Krip and Maelan off on an adventure on his ship the Lydis. They land on a world that has priests that want them to transport valuable objects but another one who disagrees with this causes their ship to have to make an emergency landing on another planet. Much adventure ensues but it seemed kind of drawn-out. Once again this book was narrated alternately by Krip and Maelan.

[***Dave Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sequel to "Moon of Three Rings," continuing its tale of protagonists trying to decide who they truly are, trapped in bodies not their own. I don't think it's quite as good as the first book, but it's still full of Nortonesque exploration of ancient ruins and blurred technology / magic. An enjoyable read.

[Luka · Rating 4 out of 5]

yes, yes, yes
that ending? gorgeous. 4.25-4.5 stars because I didn't get emotional and that's kind of my thing if I want to give a book full five stars. but anyways, this was very fun, loved the concept. If every book in this series is just travelling to a new planet and going on a life or death adventure, then I'm going to have the best time with this series. Can't wait to read the next one

[Ray Savarda · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, wording / language attempts to be different, since it's dealing with alien forms, but it was rather slow reading.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another fun adventure. It was interesting seeing what life was like after the events in the first one. I still liked all of the characters.

[Robert D · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the concept of the story. Unfortunately I didn't care for the different chapters being told first person by different characters.

[Amit Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this second novel the best in the Moonsinger 4 novel series.

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dieses Buch hat mich total an einen Urlaub mit meinen Eltern erinnert: ich war Teenager, hatte eigentlich gar keinen Bock mitzufahren, noch dazu nach Frankreich (ohne nennenswerte Französisch-Kenntnisse) und zu allem Übel hatten sie auch noch ein Mobilwohnheim auf einem Campingplatz gebucht und wollten den lieben langen Tag nichts machen als am Strand zu liegen. Das einzige, was mich in diesem Urlaub bei Verstand gehalten hat, waren die Perry Rhodan-Heftchen (und ähnliche Reihen) die in dem Mobilwohnheim rumstanden und die ich mangels anderer Beschäftigungsmöglichkeiten reihenweise verschlungen habe. Da natürlich keine Nummer 1 dabei war, fing man irgendwo in der Mitte an, hat nicht ganz durchgeblickt, um was die Geschichte eigentlich ging, aber Hauptsache lesen.
Das war für mich meine erste Begegnung mit solch ganz klassischer Sci-Fi (nicht, dass ich mich inhaltlich an irgendwas von damals erinnern könnte, aber es hatte so einen gewissen Vibe, den ich beim Lesen dieses Buches auch hatte.
Die Geschichte war jetzt nichts besonderes, aber sie hatte eben alles, was man aus dem Bereich kennt: Raumschiffe, Planeten, Aliens, Telepathie-Fähigkeiten, Körperwechsler. Ein bunter Mischmasch eben und das hat es eigentlich ganz unterhaltsam gemacht.

[Steve Kettmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have fond memories of reading THE ZERO STONE and other Andre Norton in my teens and when I stopped off at used bookstore in San Clemente, CA, and found a batch of old Andre Norton paperbacks, it was fun to grab this one and drive right in - I'd have given another star if it felt like the writing had a less dashed off feel, but the story-telling vibrates with that winning Andre Norton combination of brisk adventure (I was often eager to turn the page to find out what would happen next), simple but winning characters, at least the two main characters, who communicate telepathically, and thumb-scratching what-if big-picture imaginings. I'd recommend this to any fan of Andre Norton.

[Obi Wan Kenobi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I continui riferimenti al passato di alcuni protagonisti, che lasciano intuire grandiose avventure, mi hanno lasciato con un desiderio insoddisfatto di poterle leggere per intero anziché dovermi accontentare dei flashback. A parte questa che considero una nota a margine, resta per me una lettura consigliatissima per chi apprezza il genere Sci-fi.

[Valerie]

Part II of the Krip Vorlund/Maelen books. Body-switching, Forerunners, Free Traders, and experiments (fairly successful) in telling the same story from more than one point of view.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Norton's books age fairly well; taking in to account current technology when they were written. She was my first Sci-Fi author back in the 50's and a major influence on many future SF authors.

[SciFiOne · Rating 3 out of 5]

1979 grade C

Series book M2

[colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

read 08.08.84