Exiles by Mason Coile -- A familiar blend of scifi horror

 Exiles by Mason Coile — Blends familiar scifi horror themes to visit some root causes of self isolation

 

Cover Image Courtesy of

G.P Putnam's Sons 

A three man team (two men, one woman) embark on a literal suicide mission to Mars for the sake of humanity and the purpose of colonization. They know they won’t be coming back, except under unusually special circumstances. And, of course, they come to suspect those circumstances exist. Or the bots that were sent ahead of the mission to construct habitable living spaces do, and the mystery unfolds after our human team’s rough landing.

The narrative is led by Gold, the woman of the team that comprises Captain Blake and Engineering Specialist Kang (yes, Kang. For all the hardcore scifi aficionados). Gold is the Medical Specialist of the trio, and she comes with her own personal baggage.

Author Coile is no stranger to scifi, of which I haven’t read, but this book is a tight read. It doesn’t get bogged down with the science aspect of the genre and instead gets right into the guts of the horror. It has shades of Alien, as the bots have shut their home base down for fear of some monster outside its walls. But it also plays with the common science fiction themes of the dangers of AI and android sentience. Captain Blake and crew have reservations about trusting the three bots, who have come to name themselves and to exhibit distinctly human personalities.

These all play well together as common tropes within the genre, but the deeper story is inferred by the title. Exiles. Gold has a past that she wants to forget, one that she believes is rooted in fear and has toughened her up. It boils down to mommy and daddy issues—the dad who raised her, not good at it and the mom leaving her with feelings of abandonment at a very young age. There’s a twist to this part of the story that I’m not going to reveal, but it’s the weakest link—for me. And the problem is that I get why the author chose it theme-wise. The choice makes real sense. Reality wise, it’s a move that is hard for me to believe a smart parent would make, and Gold’s mom seems to be a smart parent. And I know, my definition of smart parenting is personal and probably skewed, but I could not get past this one. A smart parent would NOT do this.

But I get the author’s choice. It serves a specific purpose that fits an emotional framework made of guilt and the suffocating feeling that self-exile induces.

I generally enjoyed this read though, and it’s a fast one. It adds to the vast number of science fiction classics that pose the serious pros and cons of a world that is heavily reliant on artificial intelligence. Find the book HERE or at your favorite book retailer.