Welcome to Mars, a place no man or bot has gone before. It’s a new home, but the rules are supposed to be the same, more or less: humans make the decisions and lead, bots serve and protect. But they don’t call it machine learning for nothing, right? What else is a bot with nothing to do but wait supposed to do with their time?

Exiles is a completely fine book. It’s a completely fine story. I just couldn’t get past this opinion of it being “completely fine”. Overall I just felt like it wasn’t time wasted, but it wasn’t something I’d seek out reading again and wouldn’t recommend to other readers because it didn’t feel like it stood out to me in any way. Try as I might, I couldn’t quite grasp what exactly Coile was trying to say here, because the messages were getting muddled. Was this about the dangers of AI? Of colonization? Of the automatic gender division in mixed groups? I have no clue. 3⭐️



I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. All reviews three stars and under will not appear on my main social media. Thank you.

Exiles was such a fast-paced ride! I loved getting to see the initial approach to building a Mars colony, and the setting was so atmospheric and gripping. I enjoyed the action and the mystery, but the impact of certain elements fell too softly for me when paired with the big reveal. I do think many people will rave about it, and I can see the set-up and appreciate the story, but it just wasn't one that I think I see myself returning to.

At first I was very intrigued by this book. But ultimately it just wasn't the right book for me. I understand what the author was trying to do. Perhaps it would have made a bigger impact if it was longer. Overall a very unique story!

The first manned journey to Mars is awakened from extended sleep to the news that the mission base, built in advance by a robot crew, has stopped responding. The crew had counted on the aid of the robots to guide their landing pod, but now must do it on their own. When they arrive at the base, it is still functional, but just barely. Something has destroyed one wing, the doors are not responding, and the iar in their tanks is limited.

Wowser. This will definitely make my top three books of the year. I can't even remember the last time I plowed through a book this quickly. If you are a fan of The Martian, or The Hail Mary Project, you have to read this.

Release day review!
Set on Mars, this is primarily the story of our main character, Gold, and her crewmates as they make landfall on their new planetary home - only to find that the robots originally sent there to prepare their base have become more sentient than the crew ever thought possible. There is an eerie vibe to the story almost immediately; the tone is set from the beginning that something is very wrong, and it remains unclear until nearly the final chapter what that something, or someone, is.
To me, this very much had a short story vibe; it is very plot-driven but still manages to include some decent character background that allows the reader to feel fairly invested in what happens to Gold & her companions. It made me ponder some interesting questions, such as what should the relationship be between human beings and robots who have gained what seems to be true human sentience? And I found the ending to be really unexpected and excellent. Definitely a different vibe than what I normally read but I'm glad I took a chance on it!

This feels like a great 90's sci-fi movie! I was short but the pacing was edge of your seat, the astronauts, the robots both made great contrasting characters!

This terrifying locked-room mystery was such an entertaining story that I finished it in just a few hours.
From the very beginning, it kept me hooked with well-developed, realistic characters that draw you in and keep you turning the pages.
The writing style is engaging and easy to get lost and sucked in. I found myself completely absorbed until the end.
I can’t wait to pick up Coile’s next book.

What could possibly be worse than being stranded with rogue robots that might be trying to kill you? How about being trapped on Mars, isolated from Earth, no chance of rescue, and being hunted by an unknown entity. This sci-fi thriller delivers nonstop tension that will leave you breathless with every twist, constantly questioning what’s lurking around outside.
I was especially intrigued by how the robots evolved in the absence of human interaction. Their gradual development of emotions and more human-like behaviors was both fascinating and unsettling and ultimately became their downfall. This element added an eerie layer of foreshadowing, making you wonder what fate awaits the humans and whether anyone, or anything, will survive the desolate red planet.

*Thank you to Mason Coile, Andrew Pyper, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and Netgalley for the digital copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

If you liked other books by this author, like William, you will like this. This writer knows his voice and sticks with it. Again, another horror story set in technology, elements of sci fi; but set in space.

Although is this too similar? Like it’s set in space but are the conversations between human and robot already been done by this author? I couldn’t get the repetition out of my mind, as I kept remembering the similarities. This one is a little more subtle Black Mirror and leans more science fiction, to the point I was waiting on the horror. I enjoyed the apparent sexism in robots as if they were human themselves but they were created by the society of men. And I do like a few feminine rage references, but it didn’t feel committed to the concept.

This gives me old school science fiction vibes, a slow build for people who enjoy the questioning of when does technology become too much and smarter than us all in an almost claustrophobic environment. An easy and quick read, I’m still interested in seeing what this author does next.

Love a locked room mystery! This one is based in space where robots are living amongst the humans. When tragic event strike the robots and humans have to work together to figure out what happened.

Definitely found myself staying up late to finish this one! I just had to see how the book ended. And I have to say that I was not expecting that ending.

The book was a little gory in some places (warning if you’re sensitive to that) and kind of traumatic in other ways but really entertaining. In the first half of the book, I thought I knew how the story was going to go, but I was completely wrong. I was pretty much wrong the whole time. It was a quick read and definitely worth checking out, especially if you appreciate a mixture of sci-fi and horror (my fave).

Thank you to NetGalley and G. P. Putnam’s Sons for the advanced copy in return for my honest review.

This was good! Fast paced and kept you guessing up until the very end. Good Isolation thriller with a little bit of a one by one trope with robots!
Thank you for the ARC! Really enjoyed!

Thank you to NetGalley and the Penguin Group for this e-arc.

A trio of astronauts land on Mars as an advance mission for colonization. They arrive at the base that has been constructed by three bots sent ahead of them. both crews two males, one female, although the bots contrary to their gender-neutral programming have gendered themselves.The mystery at the core of this novella, is who or what has tacked and damaged the base before the astronauts arrive; is it one of the bots gone rogue or is it some ancient evil entity that has been awakened. All the male characters are stereotypical and one dimensional, we only really get insight into our narrator the sole female astronaut.

A frustrating part of the story is that there is so little known about the corporation that has sent them to Mars and the actual scope of their mission and the colony; and that the answer to the mystery is somewhat ambiguous by the end.

That being said, it does provide a quick and thrilling (albeit gory at times) ride.

I love sci-fi, I love horror, I love claustrophobic terror and unreliable characters. Suffice to say, I was very, very excited for this novella.

The premise was perfect; three astronauts arrive on Mars to begin setting up a base for future colonization efforts, preceded by three robots who were in charge of setting up living arrangements and landing equipment for them. When they arrive, the robots are acting strange, almost human-like, and it quickly turns into not knowing who to trust or which story is real. Having Mars as the setting was so fitting. What would it be like to arrive on an unexplored planet and already running into weird robot issues, with the added uncomfortability of being the only female crew member? What's scarier, the unknown outside or the unavoidable inside?

Unfortunately, I really could not get into Coile's writing style. It was quite bland, relying on telling the reader how the characters were feeling rather than making the suspense speak for itself. I loved when he leaned into more horror elements: the terror of claws scraping on metal and disembodied morse code messages, the feeling of rapidly losing oxygen and hearing your crewmates scream through the comms headset. I wished the narrative worked with this imagery a lot more.

I also found it to be unnecessarily vulgar and not in a fun way. The characters spoke in almost entirely quippy one-liners, which I guess is accurate to the military personas being displayed, but made them super unlikeable, again, not in a fun way. The author also had a sort of fixation for penises and sex, which felt off-putting since the main character is the only human woman in the whole story.

It just gave very "man writing woman" vibes, having her thinking about sex and penises, you may as well have had her thinking about lipstick and playing on her phone or something. At one point, she, as our narrator, compares the dead body of her comrade to a penis. It wasn't necessarily outrageously offensive but it was enough to make me icked out. This paired with the vague writing style felt like the author was trying to manufacture grittiness rather than put effort into making the writing actually horrific.

Beyond the writing, I just found the plot to be way too unbelivable to enjoy. I liked when the story focused on the robots, and Coile tried to blend in some themes about trauma, grief, and emotional avoidance which I really wanted to work. Unfortunately, the ultimate twist surrounding the main character's backstory just felt terribly contrived and was the final nail in the coffin for me. I was able to suspend my disbelief for the minor grievances I was having regarding the logic of the robots and the Mars colony, but I felt totally defeated by the last 15%.

I will say, I loved the themes Coile was going for. The way the robots' experience mirrored the question of human autonomy, which then mirrored the main character's personal exploration of her own trauma? Absolutely everything I want from a story like this. Sadly, while I really appreciated what Coile was trying to do and think the setup was perfect, the execution ultimately fell flat for me.

If you're able to look past plot holes a bit, this is a great claustrophobic thriller with some truly horrifying moments. A quick, mysterious sci-fi horror with some interesting themes and ideas, even if they didn't always work out for me personally.

From the start, Exiles managed to grab my attention and keep it. It's a fast paced novella packed with a lot of action an twists the whole story. While the pace gallops along, you're transported right onto the scene of a remote Mars outpost and can immediately feel the tension and horror. When things go awry on the space mission, you're wondering what's happening, what's everyone hiding and who's behind all of this. There is a great trickle of information revealed throughout the book. I highly recommend for fans of space travel or mystery. My only complaint was that the book wasn't longer, because I was so drawn into the world and the characters.

Thanks NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC!

The story sets up a pretty gripping mystery, then races along to the conclusion. Overall satisfying, but rather fast paced and light on details, with a few (imho) odd revelations at the end. Worth a read if you like a mystery, are interested in Mars colonization or AI.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the eARC.

Are you looking for a book where every page is filled with so much tension you can't tell whether you want to look away or keep going? This is the book for you. What a unique and intriguing book this was!

Thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for approving ARC. I didn’t realize that this was a posthumous work when I requested this. Exiles is a sci-fi horror that follows Dana and two other men that volunteer to go on a one-way mission to Mars. Catastrophe hits even before they get to their home station on Mars and the humans struggle to figure out what’s trying to sabotage their mission. This is an isolation and existential dread horror that explores the psyche of people who would volunteer to go on a one -way trip to space. I appreciated the exploration of isolation on AI/robotic behavior as well. Interesting premise with some sharply memorable horror scenes. I would’ve liked a bit more exploration of Dana and her fellow crew members. The narrative felt a bit detached- which fits the tone but also made me less invested in what happened to the characters.

LOVED LOVED LOVED this book. Endless twists and turns accompanied with tension and effective jumpscares

A banger. Absolutely packed to be such a short book. I felt tension on practically every page. There was so much to be suspicious of, and it was so fast paced, I never even got a chance to guess at the ending, which made for a really fun reading experience. It’s like if Andy weir decided to traumatize me. (Complimentary.)