Exile

by Michael P. Kube-McDowell

Ana is a city of dutiful citizens, short vistas, and harsh lives. Meer Faschen is a middle-aged petty bureaucrat who has learned how to work the system to his advantage with some modest success. But twenty years ago he was witness to a rebellion the government says never happened, and for his knowledge he must venture past the boundaries of the city in search of a traitor long thought dead. What he finds outside the bleak walls of Ana is not only magnificent, but will change life in the city forever.

Genres: Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fiction

289 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Michael Paul Kube-McDowell's earliest science fiction stories began appearing in magazines such as Amazing, Asimov's, and Analog in 1979. His 1985 debut novel Emprise, the first volume of the Trigon Disunity future history, was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award. The Quiet Pools, published as a Bantam hardcover in 1990, was a Hugo Award nominee.

In addition to his solo novels, Kube-McDowell has collaborated with Sir Arthur C. Clarke (The Trigger) and Isaac Asimov (for the YA series Robot City. He also wrote the popular Black Fleet Crisis trilogy for the Star Wars Expanded Universe; all three volumes were New York Times bestsellers.

A former middle school science teacher, Kube-McDowell has written about science and technology for a variety of periodicals, on topics ranging from gnotobiology to ultralights to spaceflight. He covered the launch of STS-4 for The South Bend Tribune.

Kube-McDowell has attended more than 80 SF fan conventions, and met his wife Gwen (then an artist) in a con huckster room. They both were later members of the Pegasus Award-winning electric filk ensemble The Black Book Band, which performed at cons in the Midwest in the 1990s and released the live album First Contact (Dodeka Records).

Reviews

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got sent this book by accident by the Science Fiction Book Club. Boy, was I glad they did. One of my all time favorite books. If you like books where you get involved and care about the characters you will like this one. Many interesting ideas that I have not seen presented (over and over) in other books.

Not sure why some people hated the ending. I thought it was well crafted from start to finish. Got tired of waiting for it to be published for Kindle, so it is the first hard copy book, I am reading since I got my first Kindle about 10 years ago.
Rereading for the first time since then.
The author builds a unique and believable world quickly and draws you into the main character's world. Great payoff in the end for me.
I wish more of today's authors would write 200-300 page books with quality of this level of writing instead of all trying to get close to 1000 pages with more than half filler.

As I reread this I remember and feel what made me fall in love with this book years ago. The bittersweet heart pangs I feel as I read of the joy of youth and discovery stamped out by the harsh cruelness of people who crave power for power's sake. And the hard choices we all have to make that can make us accomplices in the process.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this around 1995. Very good book. On the other hand, the description given for this book is not very good. Definitely a good read, if you can find it.

[Elaine Cramer · Rating 5 out of 5]

In just a few pages Michael P. Kube-McDowell manages to create a complex, believable alien culture. He crafted his characters and setting with such vivid detail, I find myself thinking of this world often. It leads me to re-read this story again and again.
I have read it through and through six times. I have loaned this out to various friends, and none have liked it as much as me. The story goes from present to past with each chapter change, and that threw some. Others just found the subject matter too complex, I guess.
The bottom line is I love this book. It is part of my life.

[Sven · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book very much until the last 25 pages. The action was well paced and the characters were being developed. The concept has been covered in a number of books: a lost colony on a remote world with no knowledge of its history. This volume added some nice twists about the society and reactions to the search for knowledge.

Then the book became what appears to be a rushed attempt to finish very quickly. The action became essentially a plot summary, with little This seems to happen when a book is longer than about 200 pages and the author or publisher needs to "get it done."

I'd rate this as "4" if it were indeed a complete story, but I expected about 100 pages more.

[Garod Wayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing premise that fails to really deliver.