I am seeing a lot of this new genre lately: YA Space Operas. It’s a tempting area to work in for a beginning author, because of the looser writing standards of the original genre and a less sophisticated audience. However, writers should not take this as permission to be sloppy in style or execution.
The plotline of this story is standard for Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels: we see young people of an age about two years older than their prospective readers graduating into some form of training academy. As the story progresses, they learn the skills necessary to perform their real task, which occurs in the real world. When they complete this task, their training is over, and they have proved themselves able to function as adults. Ender’s Game is a good example of this.
In “Exiles,” the outside world intrudes into the school instead, so the whole story, including the climactic conflict, takes place within that setting. Think Harry Potter and Hogwarts. This format lends itself to a series, because the growing-up problems are not completely solved at the end, and the same theme, setting and original interpersonal and external conflicts can be recycled.
I really enjoyed the first few chapters of this novel. The first-person action of a sports game gave plenty of suspense while we learned a great deal about the main character and the society she lived in. From then on, it’s a good read, but there is little to make this story stand out above its peers. Good characters, if a bit stereotyped, lots of action and suspense, and a nice, low-key love story.
What is missing in this book is the careful attention to scientific detail that makes good Sci-Fi. An example: in an underwater scene, the character scoops a stone from the lake bottom to cut weeds with. Just for fun, walk out to the nearest creek or shoreline and, with your eyes half-closed and holding your breath, find a stone that will cut anything.
This is only one of several places where the plot or setting is just too convenient for us to suspend our disbelief. A more important question: how does her spy-borg manage to stay undiscovered in this hi-tech society, in plain sight curled up in her ear or wandering around on her clothing?
If you ask us to stretch our imaginations too much, the story loses the sense of emotional reality it needs to keep us involved.
There is also a vagueness about where and when things are happening. For example, there is a hint that Chapter 3 happens a year after Chapter 1, but I can’t be sure, because the main character was a Senior in Chapter 1, so presumably she would be graduating…a reader shouldn’t be worrying about that sort of thing while the story progresses.
In general, this book is a good start to a fun series, but the writing needs a bit of polish.
(4 / 5)