You’ve got an unidentified threat actively puncturing holes into your fledgling Martian base and it’s still less threatening to you than the idea of your male coworkers being sexist. What lacks in characterization is made up for with the atmosphere. Not to my taste, but a quick, interesting, thrilling read for fans of space horror.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This is the fastest I've read a novel in nearly 7 years. I really enjoyed its blend of mystery and sci-fi, and I loved that it dropped the reader right into the action. Many times, it made me think of the more horror-themed episodes of modern Doctor Who, a show I love. It was very fast paced and the unraveling of its mystery was engaging enough to keep me guessing the whole time, while also being twisty enough to keep me from being fully confident in any of my guesses. Loved it.

this was a short book with a lot of big ideas. In fact, I’ve been thinking about it much more than its length might suggest. Highly recommended.

Exiles by Mason Coile (pseudonym of Andrew Pyper) is a claustrophobic locked-room mystery set in the first colony on Mars. The story follows a trio of pioneers whose mission to establish a foothold on the planet quickly spirals into disaster. Confronted with catastrophic failure and worker bots that can’t even agree on what went wrong, the narrative twists and turns, immersing the reader in a desolate, apocalyptic atmosphere.

While the story is tight and gripping, it could have benefited from a bit more breathing room to further develop the characters. That said, it was an overall enjoyable, fast-paced, and spooky sci-fi romp.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I recently finished William and I am obsessed, that was a fantastic work of art, and I know Andrew has passed, so I didn't think we'd see anything else from Mason, and that was a shame.

Then I saw this drop on Netgalley and I screamed, I had to read this.

This is a little different, having to do with Mars, but its still some really good isolation horror, which I LOVE.

Three crew sent to Mars to make preparations for the first "colony" of people to arrive, which means, lots of empty spaces with just those three and some robots that were sent before them.

But as I suspected when they got there, things were super fucked up, I love scifi, so I had a small feeling, there were two remaining robots left and a destroyed lab.

The two that are left, tell a strange story, of the third robot that went crazy, and possibly aliens.

But are things really as they seem, and can they trust the two remaining robots in what looks like a disaster zone??

As things get weirder, the crew have to battle the nightmare on base, along with the demons that some of them left back home.

This was a scifi horror that I actually really enjoyed.

Exiles promised intrigue and mystery in the novel setting of Mars with its limited cast of humans and robots, but only delivered disappointment and confusion with the story getting too bogged down in what it felt like it was supposed to do rather than doing any one thing well.

Gold is one of the three selected astronauts to be on the pioneers of the Mars colonization effort. Along with the other two crew, they are tasked with getting to home base, which has already been set up by robots, and get everything squared away and functioning for a hypothetical future where actual colonists come to the planet to start the real colonization effort. But the moment the astronauts wake out of stasis in Mars' orbit, something is wrong. They can't establish a connection to the robots on the surface, even though they have confirmation that they are functioning. They decide to go down and see what's up. This unveils a mystery, two of the three robots seem to have developed a kind of self awareness that they should not have, adopting names and personalities, even genders. The third robot is nowhere to be found, but the habitat is half destroyed and none of the robots seem to be agreeing on what happened. The crew buckles down to figure this mystery out, but dangers escalate and tragedies start mounting. Their worst, most unbelievable nightmare might be lurking outside, but is that scarier than reality? Gold has to content with her own demons as she gets to the bottom of this. What is scarier, the unknown threat billions of miles from Earth, or the demons she's escaping?

This had every element of a story that would rope me in, a mystery, an isolated crew, a lurking threat. But man did it fumble the ball. The primary issue here is that I think it demanded a level of suspension of disbelief that I just wasn't willing to give it. The crew shows up at home base and one robot is missing, the other two have essentially developed sentience, but inconsistently. They can't lie except they just do lie and the story does very little to justify why they were able to. They have deep, complex emotions, personalities, names and genders, and demand for them to be respected, but then they frequently say their behaviors are limited by their programming.. I mean your behaviors are literally not limited by your programming, you are a walking contradiction to your programming. And the humans! Not once did they take a step back to say, "Hmm, perhaps this mystery is related to this spontaneous sentience that the bots have developed. They're not functioning correctly, so maybe it would be best to just shut them down until we can figure out what is going on." They beelined towards finding a culprit, but did nothing to figure out exactly WHY any of this happened in the first place. The story drives home that the crew has the mission protocol hammered into their head, and everything that could possibly happen has been accounted for and they just have to follow the protocol, so it is even harder to believe that, in the event that a bot is not functioning correctly, the mission protocol wouldn't clearly say to shut them down. It was just such a glaring oversight, and these kinds of things kept happening over and over. I don't need it to be "realistic" but I do need it to be internally consistent.

Beyond those gripes, I just think this story was trying to do too much with what it had. This was a short book, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think it would have benefited from being longer. We didn't have enough time to sit with the characters and develop our own opinions or theories about them. Character deaths are obviously supposed to feel heavy, but when I didn't really know them, I care less. It was also trying to do a lot with Gold's background, the trauma of her past, and weaving that into the existential dread she was facing in the moment. This could have been REALLY good. It almost was really good. But with the speed that the narrative was moving, we didn't have time to explore that enough. Her old demons coming to haunt her all the way on Mars is such a good concept in theory, but it just wasn't executed very well.

It is really disappointing that this wasn't better, I think the idea is there and with some more rounds of editing, it could have been really good. Sci-fi fans might like this more than mystery fans.

ARC Review -
<i>Exiles</i>, by Mason Coile, is a horror sci-fi novel. I'm a fan of sci-fi and I'm a fan of horror. I can't say I've read many of the genre combined, but this book did a fantastic job of merging the two. The story follows 3 members of a crew leading a mission to be the first group of people living on Mars. The main perspective is from the only woman of the initial crew, along with Kang and Blake. Upon arrival, things are a bit odd, communications aren't working properly and these three bravely step into their mission. Once on Mars, they are met by the 3 robots who were sent ahead to build the living and working facilities for the arrival of the humans. While interviewing them, they learn that one robot went haywire and there may be an alien compromising the mission.
A limited number of characters is one item that I enjoy about this novel. They are not particularly likeable or necessarily relatable characters, but I think that adds to the horror of the story. This is also a shorter story, about 200 pages, leading to great pacing and a sense of urgency. However, it is not rushed. The author makes some really great choices about what to reveal and not to reveal at the right moments. The suspense is incredible.

I would recommend this book to someone that loves horror and someone who loves a quick/short read. Easy to get through in one sitting! This is my first time reading Mason Coile, and I will definitely be reading more. 4 stars from me!

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The narrator of Exiles is Dana Gold, the only medical officer onboard the spaceship Valient, on a one-way mission to Mars. Her fellow astronauts are Blake, the ship’s pilot and leader, and Kang, the engineer. Our story begins as the crew awakens from a few months of “extend-sleep” to find that things on Mars are … not as they expected. From this point on, it is basically non-stop, suspenseful space horror. Threats, from outside and from within, will push Dana to her limit, sending her on a journey of discovery that she could never have imagined.

Exiles was unpredictable and dark. I loved it.

It was a strong 4-star read for me and what would have made it 5 is if it had been longer, if the suspense had been given more time to build. It felt like things developed too quickly (shocking words, I know, from this reader, who is notoriously impatient). But that did not diminish my enjoyment of this scary tale. Another great book from Mason Coile and another great cover! And this is also begging to be made into a movie, and judging by the author’s acknowledgements with thanks to film and TV agents, I am keeping my fingers crossed!)

Exiles cements Mason Coile as the current king of AI horror! I really enjoyed William, so I was thrilled when I saw he was writing another sci-fi thriller about robots; and I loved this book.

A small crew of astronauts is headed to Mars, prepared to be the first wave of human settlers. It should be as easy as surviving in the hostile expanse of space can be, since they have sent 3 robots ahead to prepare their base and assist them in surviving the red planet. But when they arrive, they find the base damaged, one of their robots missing, and the other two behaving strangely. As they work to investigate the damage, they discover that something outside in the barren rocks of Mars is stalking the human astronauts; and the line between artificial intelligence and human nature sets the stage for a claustrophobic nightmare.

Exiles is a short read, but it packs a huge punch. This is a fast-paced, scary thriller of a sci-fi story; I could easily see it being adapted into a movie in the future. Psychological horror meets AI horror and space horror in an incredibly fun and effective mix, while exploring ideas and fears that feel very relevant in our current world. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I hope the author continues to write stories in this genre!

I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy sci-fi horror, especially space horror or stories that explore the ethics and possibilities of AI usage.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the arc! All thoughts & opinions in the review are my own.

this book was really good! It was an interesting concept with a mystery on mars. It was a bit like interstellar the movie, but still had its unique twists to it. I think it was a cool fast paced read, I liked it overall!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

Huge thank you to NetGalley for an ARC for an honest review!

I love watching sci fi and I love reading horror, yet this was truly the first book I have read about the two together more or less. I was definitely intrigued. This was a great introduction, as it was not over unbelievable, but at the same time, just enough “out there” to keep you wondering.

The initial synopsis of the book gave me a thrill, almost sending me to “The 100” vibes, which I enjoyed very much, fighting with an AI who took a “mind” of its own. While this was on a much smaller scale, it really captured the essence of how AI begins to adapt. The limitations but also the capabilities beyond human control. There is truth in this.

I loved the woman’s POV of this book, also highlighting some pertinent structural inconsistencies in hierarchy, whether intentional or not, it’s almost always there. It was refreshing to see the woman acknowledge this and still be able to overcome and withstand that.

This was a quick read for me, and the only disappointment i had was that it actually wasn’t longer. I did feel like this could have been a much longer story, but was completely satisfied with how it turned out. The details were so well written, I had visuals of exactly what was happening. I felt like I had a Birds Eye view of everything going on. Like I was a part of it.

Definitely looking forward to additional reads by this author!

Thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for an ARC of this book!

I mostly enjoyed this — the pacing was weird and I think it could’ve benefited from being a little bit longer. It was mostly science fiction and action-packed, but there were some moments that had me kinda ponderin’ I’m ngl. Quick read if you wanna read about Mars and robots!

4 stars.

I quite enjoyed last year’s WILLIAM by this author (a pseudonym for Andrew Pyper.) Here we get a super creepy locked room mystery on Mars, so two of my favorite tropes combined. I just knew I was going to be a satisfied customer.

A human crew of three is sent to Mars to prep for the first colony; they know this is a one way ticket, they will never return to Earth. Three robots made the trip before them to set up their habitation. When the crew arrives the lab has been destroyed, the codes changed and only two bots are there. And the bots have changed too. And they both have disturbing tales to tell.

Coile does a good job with both the location and the characters. His Mars is every bit as desolate and forbidding as it needs to be to serve the story; the idea of being there for a day is depressing, the thought I would be spending the rest of my life there…..no. And in a very limited amount of time the reader gets a fairly good sense of at least two of the three crew members and both bots - all interesting characters with different agendas, it would seem. I liked this - recommend.

a very claustrophobic and relentless thriller. space horror + "locked room" mystery are both big favorites for me, and they're perfectly utilized here - coile does an outstanding job at creating a sense of unending dread that permeates every word, and it only increases the further the story progresses, aided immensely by the immersive setting and the vivid portrait of mars' desolation that coile paints. i really like the characters; despite not really learning much about their personal lives, their personalities are very clear and present, and that goes double for the robots, who for me, are the driving force of the story. despite it being a stereotype of trans and nonbinary people relating to robots in media, i've never found myself engaging in it until now; there's something about the way coile decided to defy the expectations of pre-designated genders and instead allowing the robots to cultivate their own identities that really speaks to me. the disbelief and mistrust from the humans, the initial unwillingness to accept their identities - then stripping them of them entirely when they're deemed a "threat"; it's all very familiar, very timely, and in some ways, even more horrifying then everything else going on. the psychological aspects really are the story's strong suit, how we explore the psyche of the narrator and how isolation and being 'free' of society defines us; despite not really liking the ending (i wish it was tighter, and a little less ambiguous, i guess, for lack of a better word), i can't help but find the commentary on autonomy so engaging that the minor flaws really don't matter too much to me in the end. the very definition of a story that understands how to utilize its setting to maximum potential.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) for a copy of this ARC! This story was fantastically creepy!

I’ve been keeping my eye out for my next favorite Sci-Fi book, and I had tentatively high hopes that Exiles would be it. A mix of space and horror piqued my interest and I was thrilled when the publisher approved my request. Unfortunately, there were a couple things holding this novel back from being amazing.

This book follows Dana Gold, a female astronaut on her way to Mars where she and a team of two other men are tasked with preparing the colony for the arrival of more people. Ahead of them, a small team of robots were already on Mars, busy setting up their livable habitat. But when communication with the robots suddenly goes dark, the crew is concerned. Even worse, when they land they find half of the habit destroyed, and one of the robots missing.

I’m going to start with the thing I didn’t like, and that was the characters. Strangely, all the human characters felt flat. This is tricky to explain because our main character, Dana, does have a backstory that is slowly revealed over the course of the novel but I didn’t feel any personality or identity shine through. I don’t know if it was the author’s intention but she felt more robotic in nature than the robots themselves. I found myself much more interested in the robots and their dialogue and mannerisms and struggled to find connection with the human characters of the book. Ultimately, I just wanted the characters to feel more real. Another small thing that bothered me because it pulled me out of the book slightly was the boss of the three astronauts - Blake. He seemed like a bit of a hot-head and I had a hard time believing that after months of trials and testing and personality assessments that that type of personality would have been picked to head a crew, regardless of his dedication to the mission.

Okay, enough of the bad! Let’s talk about the good. The atmosphere is great, the tension and worry was palpable throughout and I loved the way it was built up over the course of this novel. I love the horror aspects that were incorporated into this book too, it felt well-balanced and not over the top or gratuitous which I think would have caused some desensitization and taken away from the shock value of this story.

I really enjoyed the pacing of this book too, though I’m a bit back and forth on whether the book was too short. Part of me wonders if I’d have felt more connected to the characters if we had spent more time with them at the beginning of the book instead of being thrown right into the action? That said, because we were thrown right into the action, I was immediate gripped by the story and ended up reading the book rather quickly. I also loved the way this story unfolded, revealing more and more of Dana’s past as the book went on. Sometimes these types of stories can feel too long and drawn out but I think this one was done really well.

Finally, while I think the ending might be decisive, I love a good ambiguous ending and really liked how the author wrapped up the story.

Overall, I think this was a good book. I definitely feel there was room for improvement, particularly on character development but I loved the pacing, atmosphere and the horror parts were wonderfully shocking. Overall, I’d recommend this to anyone that enjoys a good sci-fi horror.

This book releases on September 16 2025.

Rating: 3.5/5
Book Review will be published on my website on September 8, 2025.

*An ARC of this book was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.*

It's early in the year for me to like a book this much. This reads like a movie, so descriptive you can see it without getting bogged down in detail. Fast-paced and genuinely frightening.

Programming versus loyalty. Assembly versus creation.

In Exiles, Mason Coile reveals the terrifying subtleties between artificial intelligence and humanity. On a one-way mission to Mars, a team of three astronaut pioneers is forced to land without safeguards they've come to rely on, as something unexpected has occurred at the prefabricated base waiting for them. The story's technical detail and realism are as immersive as Andy Weir's The Martian, allowing the reader to empathize with the characters in an otherwise unimaginable scenario. When they arrive, they meet their android companions whose explanation of recent events is as puzzling as the condition of their habitat.

True to form, Coile spools out the dread in a steady feed, gradually increasing the tension as the narrative progresses, but the darkness looms from the first page. Characters are as dynamic as the environment is vivid in this desolate landscape, but less is definitely more with this author's style. Minimal descriptions and transition sequences make the pace of the story unrelenting, and similar to Coile's previous release, W1ll1am, this narrative slows just enough for the reader to make assumptions before dismantling them entirely.

Like the best science fiction, this book tackles some fairly heavy social and philosophical issues while painting an authentic emotional picture of its characters. Each serves a role in the discussion, but mileage may vary on how well the discussion is resolved. Like Ridley Scott's Alien, Exiles' glittering aesthetic is enough to distract from the small flaws in its structure. Fans of Ex Machina will find this story especially satisfying.

Check your oxygen mix and clear the dust from the porthole, prepare for Exiles.

A galactic thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC.

Exiles was a really engaging read with plenty of twists and surprises that kept me on my toes. The only thing that kept this from being a 5 star read for me was the ending. It didn’t quite deliver for me. The writing was solid and I really enjoy the dry humor in the book. However, it could use some refinement as sometimes the dialogue was a little confusing.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was just alright, it felt very derivative to me, and reminded me a lot of other similar stories set in space. I was hoping for a little bit more of an in depth storyline to go along with the different robots perspective.

First, I would like to thank Mason Coile, Penguin Group Putnam, and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

In this story, we are following a crew sent to Mars to finalize preparation for a human colony. However all is not what it seems. Something has gone wrong and the autonomous bots are acting strange with the colony in disarray. They have to figure out what has happened.

This book was both thrilling and entertaining. It began a bit slow but as it ramped up it really began to show its true strength, There were so may twist and it always kept you guessing. It blends to gather paranoia, the fear of A.I., and the meaning of “sentience”.

I only had to problems with the book. The first is that, there were moments when I couldn’t tell who was speaking. Everything just kind of jumbled together. I think this need to be addressed more clearly. The second is that I just wished it was longer.

Other than that, I enjoyed all the twist and turns and the thrills I got reading this book.

Once again, I would like to thank Mason Coile, Penguin Group Putnam, and NetGalley for the ARC. .