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Exile's End
Carolyn Ives Gilman's Exile's End is a complex, sometimes uncomfortable examination of artifact repatriation and cultural appropriation. An artifact of indescribable and irreplaceable beauty created by an "extinct" culture has been the basis of another culture's origin stories. The race who created the artifact has survived on a distant world and has sent a representative to reclaim it, throwing everything into question. Inspired by the SF camp in Danzhai, China, which is co-hosted by the Future Administration Authority (FAA) and Wanda Group.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
48 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 12, 2020
6 people are currently reading
288 people want to read
About the author
Carolyn Ives Gilman
87 books156 followersCarolyn Ives Gilman has been publishing science fiction and fantasy for almost twenty years. Her first novel, Halfway Human, published by Avon/Eos in 1998, was called “one of the most compelling explorations of gender and power in recent SF” by Locus magazine. Her short fiction has appeared in magazines and anthologies such as F&SF, Bending the Landscape, The Year’s Best Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, The Best From Fantasy & Science Fiction, Interzone, Universe, Full Spectrum, and others. Her fiction has been translated into Italian, Russian, German, Czech and Romanian. In 1992 she was a finalist for the Nebula Award for her novella, “The Honeycrafters.”
In her professional career, Gilman is a historian specializing in 18th and early 19th-century North American history, particularly frontier and Native history. Her most recent nonfiction book, Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide, was published in 2003 by Smithsonian Books. She has been a guest lecturer at the Library of Congress, Harvard University, and Monticello, and has been interviewed on All Things Considered (NPR), Talk of the Nation (NPR), History Detectives (PBS), and the History Channel.
Carolyn Ives Gilman lives in St. Louis and works for the Missouri Historical Society as a historian and museum curator.
In her professional career, Gilman is a historian specializing in 18th and early 19th-century North American history, particularly frontier and Native history. Her most recent nonfiction book, Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide, was published in 2003 by Smithsonian Books. She has been a guest lecturer at the Library of Congress, Harvard University, and Monticello, and has been interviewed on All Things Considered (NPR), Talk of the Nation (NPR), History Detectives (PBS), and the History Channel.
Carolyn Ives Gilman lives in St. Louis and works for the Missouri Historical Society as a historian and museum curator.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
August 18, 2020
“She is the mother of us all,” Saronans said. She was the generous spirit of the planet that welcomed them and invited them to be at home.
The portrait dated to an era at least two hundred years after the original events. It was thought to be an Atoka artist’s image of Aldry, with wings foreshadowing her sacrifice. Who else could it show?
Unless it was Even Glancing, the daughter of the artist.
this is a beautiful, delicate story about conflicting mythoi around a cultural artifact and how difficult compromise can be between even well-meaning parties. two cultures, one long thought to have died out, have attached significance to a work of art, each with legitimate claims to its ownership. when a representative from the exiled indigenous people whose ancestors actually created the piece returns to retrieve it for ceremonial purposes, conflict ensues, since that ceremony, known as the immolation, involves—yeah—burning it to ashes.
it’s thought-provoking and sensitively handled examination of the complications around issues of repatriation, and it is the absolute perfect length for a story to be.
like this review. which is now over.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2020/08/12/exiles...
come to my blog!
August 8, 2024
I’m Giving it What it Deserves
This story has a great plot. The story is very interesting. But I have to take away two stars for poor editing. The editing is ferocious. It makes the story very difficult to read.
I’m not sure what the story is saying at times. The writing is all over the place. It is so scrambled I don’t know what it says, sometimes.
Three Stars. ✨✨✨
This story has a great plot. The story is very interesting. But I have to take away two stars for poor editing. The editing is ferocious. It makes the story very difficult to read.
I’m not sure what the story is saying at times. The writing is all over the place. It is so scrambled I don’t know what it says, sometimes.
Three Stars. ✨✨✨
February 1, 2021
One of the very best stories I've read on tor.com. An uncomfortable look at great art, artifact repatriation, and cultural weirdness. The ending.... well, see for yourself. Not what I was expecting!
Highly recommended. An easy 5 stars. Her best story, I think. Award ballots?
Here the link: https://www.tor.com/2020/08/12/exiles...
Highly recommended. An easy 5 stars. Her best story, I think. Award ballots?
Here the link: https://www.tor.com/2020/08/12/exiles...
November 1, 2020
Plot: Guy from lost splinter of lost civilization comes to see his past. Museum curator in charge of said past is rightfully wary about this.
Ideas: Repatriation, the cultural significance of art. Lost traditions and their impact on future generations.
Thoughts: I usually speak of literary fiction in less than impressed terms, partly because if I want to read a philosophical discussion re: X topic, I'd prefer it to be as succinct as possible. The thing with sci-fi and fantasy is that they often have these discussions, but a lot of the heavy lifting of it is shunted to the story. It's both creative and more interesting. //shruggif
Of course, works of SFF are very varied in terms of how much of it is fun story and how much is something the author is trying to say. Tor.com shorts, it will suprise nobody, veer heavily towards highly conceptual. This often overshadows the characters, making them feel less like people than vehicles of plot. Which is not a complaint- the worldbuilding and ideas take up a lot of space. It's better to do some things well than all things half hearted.
Well. That was cognitively painful. I imagine I'd have had fewer mixed feelings about the plot of I weren't from a country and civilization that lost a lot of their culture to invaders in one form or another. As it is, my usually ruthless "the present matters more than the past" rhetoric was bombarded by screams of "that's my culture and beliefs you fuckers" and there may be no survivors.
Haha objectivity who needs it amirite?
Regardless, this is a very well written story- it follows events over a long period of time and it leaves you frustrated in the end but not in a bad way. I found myself going back and re-reading the epigraphs for more info and that is good use of epigraph, yo. It could have been better formatted, and I'm a little skeptical as to how a culture with the Immolation practice can be revived with as much fervor as it was but eh. I suppose people have done weirder things.
Ideas: Repatriation, the cultural significance of art. Lost traditions and their impact on future generations.
Thoughts: I usually speak of literary fiction in less than impressed terms, partly because if I want to read a philosophical discussion re: X topic, I'd prefer it to be as succinct as possible. The thing with sci-fi and fantasy is that they often have these discussions, but a lot of the heavy lifting of it is shunted to the story. It's both creative and more interesting. //shruggif
Of course, works of SFF are very varied in terms of how much of it is fun story and how much is something the author is trying to say. Tor.com shorts, it will suprise nobody, veer heavily towards highly conceptual. This often overshadows the characters, making them feel less like people than vehicles of plot. Which is not a complaint- the worldbuilding and ideas take up a lot of space. It's better to do some things well than all things half hearted.
Well. That was cognitively painful. I imagine I'd have had fewer mixed feelings about the plot of I weren't from a country and civilization that lost a lot of their culture to invaders in one form or another. As it is, my usually ruthless "the present matters more than the past" rhetoric was bombarded by screams of "that's my culture and beliefs you fuckers" and there may be no survivors.
Haha objectivity who needs it amirite?
Regardless, this is a very well written story- it follows events over a long period of time and it leaves you frustrated in the end but not in a bad way. I found myself going back and re-reading the epigraphs for more info and that is good use of epigraph, yo. It could have been better formatted, and I'm a little skeptical as to how a culture with the Immolation practice can be revived with as much fervor as it was but eh. I suppose people have done weirder things.
October 25, 2021
Wow, just wow! I loved this so much I'm having trouble finding the words to express it. It appeals to contemporary dilemmas regarding artefact repatriation, but also to anthropological dilemmas of irreconcilable otherness. That exacting difference between 'us' and 'them', which cannot be fully bridged no matter how hard we try, or how much empathy, good intentions and maturity we pour into it.
It also invites speculation into the nature and meaning of art, customs, and holding on to the past. I would have loved to see it more developed into an entire book, I'm sure the topic could have sustained that.
It also invites speculation into the nature and meaning of art, customs, and holding on to the past. I would have loved to see it more developed into an entire book, I'm sure the topic could have sustained that.
November 17, 2020
Review for Exile’s End by Carolyn Ives Gilman.
I didn’t quite get it. How did the soul get into the artwork? Did ALL items created have souls and the only way for the souls to pass on was by destruction? What if the item didn’t have a soul, why did it have to be destroyed too? Could the people make something for someone not of their culture and it wouldn’t have a soul, so it was ok it didn’t get destroyed? What if he made the dam for a different group, could it stay and not be destroyed then? Would they have to destroy something given to them by a person not of their culture? Too many questions and no clear answers.
2, it’s neat but need more than what I was given, stars.
I didn’t quite get it. How did the soul get into the artwork? Did ALL items created have souls and the only way for the souls to pass on was by destruction? What if the item didn’t have a soul, why did it have to be destroyed too? Could the people make something for someone not of their culture and it wouldn’t have a soul, so it was ok it didn’t get destroyed? What if he made the dam for a different group, could it stay and not be destroyed then? Would they have to destroy something given to them by a person not of their culture? Too many questions and no clear answers.
2, it’s neat but need more than what I was given, stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 22, 2022
Fascinating and caught my attention from the start and kept it. One of Tor's best shorts, imo. 5 ⭐!
September 29, 2020
this is definitely one of the short stories that exemplifies what a Good story can achieve imo.. very satisfyingly executed & the concept as well was! so interesting - an exploration of repatriation when there is a conflict in the mythology and cultural importance of an important artefact, set in a fantasy world - truly provided much food for thought. even if the story felt marginally slighted towards a certain argument by the nature of the POV perspective, the complexity and nuance was still well handled overall imo to build to a both melancholy and hopeful conclusion. it was also rather eloquently written:
How do you lose your name? / When people stop telling your story. / Why must we tell our story? / Because others start telling it for us.
How do you lose your name? / When people stop telling your story. / Why must we tell our story? / Because others start telling it for us.
March 5, 2023
Stunning 🌟
January 16, 2026
Fascinating and moving story dealing with cultural sensitivity regarding antiquities in a sci fi setting.
September 16, 2023
5 Stars! I loved this novelette so much! The Manhu culture is so interesting… It is available for free on Tor’s website. I’ll link it below… This was my first by this author and now I’m very excited to read more. Just ordered Arkfall to read next.
Read: 3/4/23
Link: https://www.tor.com/2020/08/12/exiles...
Quotes:
- “To us, Home was a place. To her, it is her people.”
- “The made-up portion of his mind had crowded out the curiosity.”
- “It’s not worth her suffering. Pride can’t justify that.”
- “How do you lose your name? When people stop telling your story. Why must we tell our story? Because others start telling it for us.”
- “Be our imagined angels. Be what we can’t be. Reject us, love us, teach us, exalt us… We are so tired of being told who to be.”
- “It’s not guilt… It’s pride, to prove that we’re better than our ancestors—as if we inherited their planet but not what they had to do to get it.”
- “Would you leave one person suffering in prison for the sake of redeeming a few others? This is not a balance sheet. You can’t weigh souls on a scale and say four make one not matter.”
- “Your people made her up… You can remake her.”
- “What ruler can measure the past?”
- “I am sorry to cause you pain. But that is the only way for us to be free of our pain. It has been building for generations. It is our parents’ pain, our grandparents’, clear back to Even Glancing. We carry it around with us, always. We must do this to free not just her, but ourselves.”
- “But, this is not an ordinary object. At some point, great art ceases to be bound to the culture that produced it. It transcends ethnicity and identity and becomes part of the patrimony of the human race. It belongs to all of us because of its universal message, the way it makes us better… Yes, it has a ghost. The ghost speaks to all of us, not in words but in our instinct toward beauty and goodness. We are better for having seen it. If it burns, something pure will pass from the world.”
- “That would be fine, except that the right answer is almost never ‘no.’ The right answer is ‘maybe.’”
- “What about our pain?.. Your people never cared about that... This isn’t about you at all. It’s about us. Our chance to reclaim who we are.”
- “If they can sleep on the mountain, I can sleep in the car.”
- “It’s hard to give it all up. But anything worth doing is hard.”
- “We don’t want to be like you people of Sarona, you Hoarders. We don’t want to drag our past behind us. It’s too heavy for us to bear.”
- “What good is the past? The past is everything lost. The past is never again. The past doesn’t feed anyone. Only the future does that.”
Read: 3/4/23
Link: https://www.tor.com/2020/08/12/exiles...
Quotes:
- “To us, Home was a place. To her, it is her people.”
- “The made-up portion of his mind had crowded out the curiosity.”
- “It’s not worth her suffering. Pride can’t justify that.”
- “How do you lose your name? When people stop telling your story. Why must we tell our story? Because others start telling it for us.”
- “Be our imagined angels. Be what we can’t be. Reject us, love us, teach us, exalt us… We are so tired of being told who to be.”
- “It’s not guilt… It’s pride, to prove that we’re better than our ancestors—as if we inherited their planet but not what they had to do to get it.”
- “Would you leave one person suffering in prison for the sake of redeeming a few others? This is not a balance sheet. You can’t weigh souls on a scale and say four make one not matter.”
- “Your people made her up… You can remake her.”
- “What ruler can measure the past?”
- “I am sorry to cause you pain. But that is the only way for us to be free of our pain. It has been building for generations. It is our parents’ pain, our grandparents’, clear back to Even Glancing. We carry it around with us, always. We must do this to free not just her, but ourselves.”
- “But, this is not an ordinary object. At some point, great art ceases to be bound to the culture that produced it. It transcends ethnicity and identity and becomes part of the patrimony of the human race. It belongs to all of us because of its universal message, the way it makes us better… Yes, it has a ghost. The ghost speaks to all of us, not in words but in our instinct toward beauty and goodness. We are better for having seen it. If it burns, something pure will pass from the world.”
- “That would be fine, except that the right answer is almost never ‘no.’ The right answer is ‘maybe.’”
- “What about our pain?.. Your people never cared about that... This isn’t about you at all. It’s about us. Our chance to reclaim who we are.”
- “If they can sleep on the mountain, I can sleep in the car.”
- “It’s hard to give it all up. But anything worth doing is hard.”
- “We don’t want to be like you people of Sarona, you Hoarders. We don’t want to drag our past behind us. It’s too heavy for us to bear.”
- “What good is the past? The past is everything lost. The past is never again. The past doesn’t feed anyone. Only the future does that.”
September 7, 2022
Exile's End (Trở về cố hương): Một cuộc chất vấn phức tạp về việc hồi hương hiện vật và chiếm đoạt văn hóa. Ai là người "xứng đáng" nắm giữ số phận của món cổ vật đẹp đẽ vô giá kia? Dân tộc đã tạo tác ra nó nhưng cũng muốn hủy diệt nó? Hay dân tộc đã cướp đoạt, rồi xây dựng một phần văn hóa của mình dựa trên nó và sẽ bảo tồn nó đến muôn đời?
"Exile's End" là một trong số ít truyện xây dựng xung quanh vấn đề xung đột văn hóa và nó đã làm rất hay. Hai nhân vật, đại diện cho hai dân tộc đối đầu nhau trong cuộc tranh chấp một món cổ vật vô giá này. Cái tài của tác giả nằm ở chỗ bên nào cũng có lý lẽ của riêng mình, khiến người độc không khỏi gật gù đồng tình với bên này rồi lại cảm thông với bên kia. Không có kẻ đúng người sai rõ ràng, không có sự thỏa hiệp nào, chỉ có sự cúi đầu chấp nhận một nền ván hoá đã, đang và sẽ tồn tại vì những lí do của chính nó. Dù đến cuối cùng, họ vẫn không thể đồng lòng với nhau, cả hai vẫn cùng chờ đón món cổ vật hồi hương và ngắm nhìn một thời khắc huỷ diệt đẹp đẽ.
"Exile's End" là một trong số ít truyện xây dựng xung quanh vấn đề xung đột văn hóa và nó đã làm rất hay. Hai nhân vật, đại diện cho hai dân tộc đối đầu nhau trong cuộc tranh chấp một món cổ vật vô giá này. Cái tài của tác giả nằm ở chỗ bên nào cũng có lý lẽ của riêng mình, khiến người độc không khỏi gật gù đồng tình với bên này rồi lại cảm thông với bên kia. Không có kẻ đúng người sai rõ ràng, không có sự thỏa hiệp nào, chỉ có sự cúi đầu chấp nhận một nền ván hoá đã, đang và sẽ tồn tại vì những lí do của chính nó. Dù đến cuối cùng, họ vẫn không thể đồng lòng với nhau, cả hai vẫn cùng chờ đón món cổ vật hồi hương và ngắm nhìn một thời khắc huỷ diệt đẹp đẽ.
Và đó là bức tranh một thiếu nữ mặt áo khoác thêu hoa và đội mũ màu bạc, đôi môi hé mở như thể sắp nói. Các vở opera đã được viết về nàng. Bao tập thơ đã suy đoán về những gì nàng sắp nói. Các bài phát biểu gọi tên nàng, các luận thuyết phân tích nàng, trẻ em học về câu chuyện của nàng gần như ngay khi chúng học nói. Nàng là người phụ nữ được yêu quý nhất trên toàn cõi Sarona.
August 20, 2020
Wow. This gives complicated feels. I felt like it demanded I as the reader analyze the ethics of the situation and come up with a solution. Faced with such a foreign culture what is the right answer?
And now I wax philosophic...
And now I wax philosophic...
October 25, 2020
Damn. This short is amazing. It is everything. An ethnographic study with feet in both sci-fi and reality right here in these short pages.
The story is about a piece of art. Named Aldry by the people whose museum she inhabits, the portrait is of a woman in a silvery headdress, comprised of microscopic fragments of luminescent things- feathers and bug carapace and such. The portrait's background shifts and every viewer has a different experience when gazing upon it. They have built their origin story around the woman in this painting, and it has been recognized by civilizations across the universe as one of (if not the) most significant pieces of art.
But the thing is that this was a piece of art created by some being lost to time and history, until Traversed Bridge comes from lightyears away searching for his ancestors. When he gazes upon Aldry, he names her Even Glancing as he sees things in the piece that even her most scholarly of keepers has failed to see. What ensues is an eloquent legal and moral battle over two different peoples' histories, and damn if it doesn't just move you. This, my friends, is a beautiful piece of work.
The story is about a piece of art. Named Aldry by the people whose museum she inhabits, the portrait is of a woman in a silvery headdress, comprised of microscopic fragments of luminescent things- feathers and bug carapace and such. The portrait's background shifts and every viewer has a different experience when gazing upon it. They have built their origin story around the woman in this painting, and it has been recognized by civilizations across the universe as one of (if not the) most significant pieces of art.
But the thing is that this was a piece of art created by some being lost to time and history, until Traversed Bridge comes from lightyears away searching for his ancestors. When he gazes upon Aldry, he names her Even Glancing as he sees things in the piece that even her most scholarly of keepers has failed to see. What ensues is an eloquent legal and moral battle over two different peoples' histories, and damn if it doesn't just move you. This, my friends, is a beautiful piece of work.
October 31, 2020
Why must we tell our story?Beautifully written, haunting and thought provoking, this was the perfect length taking me on a worthwhile journey over the course of only 48 pages. From the moment that Traversed Bridge appeared I knew that this would be a meaningful read and I was not disappointed.
Because others start telling it fo us.
- Exile's End
December 23, 2020
An interstellar museum lawsuit about stolen cultural heritage, justice, memory, the art world. Really heady stuff for a feathered painting. Beautiful and disturbing at the same time.
December 17, 2020
Nice point vs. counterpoint in the academic debate in the value of art versus the value of cultural justice. Because the author included two main characters, acting as representatives for each culture and with contrasting views about what to do about this contested piece of art, the MacGuffin of this story, the audience could choose who we sided with.
I get the impression Carolyn Ives Gilman is a very intelligent woman, but she isn't terribly interested in science-fiction. She just uses that as a vehicle to tell stories that she wants to tell about culture. I'm basing that off reading this short story and one book of hers, so take that with a grain of salt.
I get the impression Carolyn Ives Gilman is a very intelligent woman, but she isn't terribly interested in science-fiction. She just uses that as a vehicle to tell stories that she wants to tell about culture. I'm basing that off reading this short story and one book of hers, so take that with a grain of salt.
April 25, 2023
“We don’t want to drag our past behind us. It’s too heavy for us to bear.”
Exquisite execution of a brilliant idea - it's so hard for me to pick a single outstanding moment when the entire work is of such high quality. The main plot and “The Song of No.” are masterfully interwoven and make for a delightful reading experience. Thus, Exile's End its rightful spot at the top of my "Best Tor.com short stories" list right alongside The Lay of Lilyfinger.
Exquisite execution of a brilliant idea - it's so hard for me to pick a single outstanding moment when the entire work is of such high quality. The main plot and “The Song of No.” are masterfully interwoven and make for a delightful reading experience. Thus, Exile's End its rightful spot at the top of my "Best Tor.com short stories" list right alongside The Lay of Lilyfinger.
March 24, 2025
As a fiction story, this is a very "meh" story: it is not very original, just telling something we have read in the news many times, and I've heard since I'm a kid; at the same time, it tries to taught a moral, just like in children stories, but I'm not a child, and the story is not enlightening at all.
As a science fiction story, it's very bad, because nothing in the story depends on science, nor progress. John W. Campbell wouldn't have published this story in Astounding.
As a science fiction story, it's very bad, because nothing in the story depends on science, nor progress. John W. Campbell wouldn't have published this story in Astounding.
March 25, 2023
4 stars. A gripping read about a cultural clash handled with appropriate thought and depth. The cultural tradition at the heart of the premise was somewhat hard to believe, though, and almost viscerally discomfiting.
August 18, 2020
very intriguing, a little painful, and unfortunately still relevant to this day. culture/art/identity are such important topics.
September 1, 2020
What a lovely story albeit bitter sweet. I cannot understand the motivation of the Mahu but then that is probably the point.
December 13, 2020
This was interesting. The message of the story is a long overdue examination in our own world.
January 1, 2021
A great way to end the year. 🎉
April 10, 2021
Loosely, a scifi story. The story is around a philosophical question on the right for civilization to follow their customs, no matter how destructive they are to this civilization.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 27, 2021
Very enjoyable and thought provoking novelette about repatriation. I was pretty torn myself at times.
September 26, 2022
"Why must we tell our story? Because others start telling it for us."
July 14, 2023
Space Hippies teach the City Folk about woo woo bs
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews