The draw of Exiles is the plot, which is pacey and taut. The story strikes a savvy balance between the cold, hard protocol that’s been drilled into Gold and her compatriots and the raw animal terror they experience as soon as they set foot on Mars ... Coile’s prose is evocative and chilling ... But what of our human lead? Gold is a mixed success ... So little of this lean novel is devoted to Gold’s personality and motivations that she teeters between enigmatic and underexplored ... Coile wields genre conventions with a practiced and confident hand ... He’s particularly good at exploring how the mind plays tricks and conjures outlandish possibilities under extreme stress ... Even if Exiles isn’t reinventing the extraterrestrial thriller, it’s still a standout example of the form: satisfying, entertaining and emphatically human.
Nerve-shredding space whodunnitry with a side of existential dread ... Lean, mean, and propulsively paced. Although Coile’s characters are hastily sketched and a few of the tale’s more bizarre twists falter under scrutiny, Gold’s terse first-person narration and the claustrophobic setting conspire to amplify the high-stakes plot’s inherent tension
Curlicue plot twists and an Among Us vibe both enhance and plague this space gothic ... Readers may struggle to keep a grasp on events. Still, with its tough-as-nails heroine and scheming robots, there’s plenty here to hold sci-fi fans’ interest.
