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tani's review against another edition
5.0
I am so enjoying this series. I love the gender dynamics that come into play, as well as the racial ones. I also really love the characters. Rowena Cory Daniells has a way of getting me attached really quickly and keeping me attached. I am very anxious to find out what happens, and actually, I'm off to start the next book right now!
blodeuedd's review against another edition
4.0
I had to start this at once when I got it. I just had to know what would happen! She sure knows how to keep a reader on her (or his) toes.
Book 1 ended with a cliffhanger, still a cliffhanger that I could live with since the city was under siege. All good for now. But it was just the kind of book that you just crave more, you need to know how the story will end.
As this is fantasy there are many threads and people but I will mention a few. Sorne, the half-blood in the enemy camp who watches the king become more and more crazy. Imoshen who is chosen to make terms with the king. She has a brain, she wants more for her people. The whole Brotherhood against Sisterhood can't last. I have hopes for her.
Then there are others, siblings on an island who does not know that there is a deadline. Leave the country or die! An evil Baron trying to claim power. A member of the Brotherhood realizing how bad their leader is. All coming together in one good plot.
This story is all with trying to stay alive. The "humans" does not want them their. They will kill them all, they want them gone. But can they leave? And how? Daniells had me on needles as I read this book and had my heart in my throat. I love how dark the world is, and how stupid the humans are. That might be strange to say but it does make it more thrilling. They are so stuck in their ways, racists that does not like people being different. It made me hate them so much. Most are willing to slaughter a whole people. And the point is that the people that they hate are not really that different. If all of them leave half-bloods will still be born, yes they are all the same. That is just sad.
It's a rich world filled with conflict and even if I say that the "humans" are bad does not make the other guys good. But at least they only kill each other. Their society can't last they way it is. The T'en on top, the half-bloods under them and men and women leaving separately.
In the end I can't wait to see how this all comes together. Can they survive this hostile world? And can they come to live peacefully among themselves? I can't wait to find out as I need to read the next book. I need to know.
Book 1 ended with a cliffhanger, still a cliffhanger that I could live with since the city was under siege. All good for now. But it was just the kind of book that you just crave more, you need to know how the story will end.
As this is fantasy there are many threads and people but I will mention a few. Sorne, the half-blood in the enemy camp who watches the king become more and more crazy. Imoshen who is chosen to make terms with the king. She has a brain, she wants more for her people. The whole Brotherhood against Sisterhood can't last. I have hopes for her.
Then there are others, siblings on an island who does not know that there is a deadline. Leave the country or die! An evil Baron trying to claim power. A member of the Brotherhood realizing how bad their leader is. All coming together in one good plot.
This story is all with trying to stay alive. The "humans" does not want them their. They will kill them all, they want them gone. But can they leave? And how? Daniells had me on needles as I read this book and had my heart in my throat. I love how dark the world is, and how stupid the humans are. That might be strange to say but it does make it more thrilling. They are so stuck in their ways, racists that does not like people being different. It made me hate them so much. Most are willing to slaughter a whole people. And the point is that the people that they hate are not really that different. If all of them leave half-bloods will still be born, yes they are all the same. That is just sad.
It's a rich world filled with conflict and even if I say that the "humans" are bad does not make the other guys good. But at least they only kill each other. Their society can't last they way it is. The T'en on top, the half-bloods under them and men and women leaving separately.
In the end I can't wait to see how this all comes together. Can they survive this hostile world? And can they come to live peacefully among themselves? I can't wait to find out as I need to read the next book. I need to know.
tehani's review against another edition
5.0
Blown away! A fantastic second instalment to the series and one that kept me up last night – couldn't put it down. Daniells' characters leap off the page and drag you into the pages. Thank goodness there's not long to wait for book 3!
thiefofcamorr's review against another edition
Katharine is a judge for the Sara Douglass 'Book Series' Award. This entry is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the AA are over.
I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the AA are over.
g8girl's review against another edition
4.0
Exile by Rowena Cory Daniells
****4****
There isn't much I can say about this book without giving away the main plot. Suffice to say it picks up right where Besieged ended and carries forward. This installment does not have the same time leaps as the previous book and feels like it flows a bit better because of it.
We basically get to see the continuing stories of all of the major characters from the previous book as well as a brand new storyline of Ronnyn (a pure blood T'en living in hiding with his family) and his half-blood Malajune sister Aravelle. I found their story to be very interesting. My only criticism is that Ronnyn and Aravelle are supposed to be twelve and thirteen respectively but they really don't seem that young. I continuously pictured them at about eighteen and nineteen and not because of the physical descriptions but their actions and reasoning. They seemed much older and more responsible than twelve and thirteen but still young enough to sometimes make foolish mistakes.
Really great second installment which managed to expand even more on the magic systems and culture. Looking forward to book three, Sanctuary.
****4****
There isn't much I can say about this book without giving away the main plot. Suffice to say it picks up right where Besieged ended and carries forward. This installment does not have the same time leaps as the previous book and feels like it flows a bit better because of it.
We basically get to see the continuing stories of all of the major characters from the previous book as well as a brand new storyline of Ronnyn (a pure blood T'en living in hiding with his family) and his half-blood Malajune sister Aravelle. I found their story to be very interesting. My only criticism is that Ronnyn and Aravelle are supposed to be twelve and thirteen respectively but they really don't seem that young. I continuously pictured them at about eighteen and nineteen and not because of the physical descriptions but their actions and reasoning. They seemed much older and more responsible than twelve and thirteen but still young enough to sometimes make foolish mistakes.
Really great second installment which managed to expand even more on the magic systems and culture. Looking forward to book three, Sanctuary.
tsana's review
5.0
Exile is the second book in Rowena Cory Daniells's Outcast Chronicles. You can read my review of the first book, Besieged, here. A copy of this book was provided by the author for review purposes.
Exile picks up not long after Besieged left off. If you've read the first book, this one is definitely a continuation of the same story. There are some new characters introduced but mostly Exile follows the, ahem, surviving characters of Besieged. I have the feeling The Outcast Chronicles suffer less from absolutely needing to be read in order than some fantasy series. Yes, reading Exile first will spoil many events in Besieged, but in terms of understanding what's happening, I think it wouldn't be too bad.
That said, this review contains spoilers for events in Besieged.
Where book one spanned something like twenty-five years from start to finish, book two only covers two-ish rather tumultuous years. It continues to portray interesting and unusual sexual/gender politics in terms of women having more power in T'En culture because of their stronger magic. The T'En being segregated into sisterhoods and brotherhoods causes more tension in this book than the previous. Before it was just generalised bitterness on the part of the men that the women had more power and worry on the part of the women that the men were physically stronger. Now external factors are causing changes to their society which in tern generates a different kind of tension. It's all rather interesting and the gendered power structures among the T'En and the contrasting power structures of the humans (where women are chattel and lucky if their husbands don't beat and rape them) are a compelling reason to pick up this series. That and the fact that it's an excellent yarn.
The Mieren (ordinary human) threat is shaking up T'En society and forcing change upon them, something which only Imoshen seems capable of taking in her stride. After being elected causare, the negotiator for the all-mothers and all-fathers, she manages to broker a deal with the ailing King Charald to allow the T'En to go into exile, rather than be slaughtered. Many T'En are disappointed with this decision, which causes much dissonance among their ranks.
Sorne, now secretly serving as Imoshen's spy among King Charald's men, was a much less conflicted character than in the first book. The main tension in his story arises from trying to help the T'En without outing himself to the Mieren, rather than trying to work out who he is. For me, that made him a more sympathetic character in the sense that his motivations weren't in question.
I feel that almost everyone who isn't a point of view character (or close friends/family of a point of view character) is a terrible person, generally lacking in anything approximating compassion. This was more stark than in the first book, not because the horrible people are more horrible but because the morally ambiguous characters are out of the picture for various reasons. There are so many travesties committed by aforementioned terrible people that it bordered on getting a bit much. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't gratuitous and it was in keeping with plot and characterisation, but by-gods more than just wanting to slap annoying characters, I wanted to watch some of them die slow and painful deaths, preferably at the hands of the people they were horrible to. Which is a mark of Daniells's skill as a writer.
With Exile I am continuing to enjoy the Outcast Chronicles. I was originally planning to read something else before getting into Sanctuary, the third book, but whoops, I couldn't not pick up book 3 as soon as I finished Exile. (Not that it was a cliffhanger, but the story is definitely unfinished.) I highly recommend this series to lovers of fantasy.
4.5 / 5 stars
You can read more of my reviews on my blog
Exile picks up not long after Besieged left off. If you've read the first book, this one is definitely a continuation of the same story. There are some new characters introduced but mostly Exile follows the, ahem, surviving characters of Besieged. I have the feeling The Outcast Chronicles suffer less from absolutely needing to be read in order than some fantasy series. Yes, reading Exile first will spoil many events in Besieged, but in terms of understanding what's happening, I think it wouldn't be too bad.
That said, this review contains spoilers for events in Besieged.
Where book one spanned something like twenty-five years from start to finish, book two only covers two-ish rather tumultuous years. It continues to portray interesting and unusual sexual/gender politics in terms of women having more power in T'En culture because of their stronger magic. The T'En being segregated into sisterhoods and brotherhoods causes more tension in this book than the previous. Before it was just generalised bitterness on the part of the men that the women had more power and worry on the part of the women that the men were physically stronger. Now external factors are causing changes to their society which in tern generates a different kind of tension. It's all rather interesting and the gendered power structures among the T'En and the contrasting power structures of the humans (where women are chattel and lucky if their husbands don't beat and rape them) are a compelling reason to pick up this series. That and the fact that it's an excellent yarn.
The Mieren (ordinary human) threat is shaking up T'En society and forcing change upon them, something which only Imoshen seems capable of taking in her stride. After being elected causare, the negotiator for the all-mothers and all-fathers, she manages to broker a deal with the ailing King Charald to allow the T'En to go into exile, rather than be slaughtered. Many T'En are disappointed with this decision, which causes much dissonance among their ranks.
Sorne, now secretly serving as Imoshen's spy among King Charald's men, was a much less conflicted character than in the first book. The main tension in his story arises from trying to help the T'En without outing himself to the Mieren, rather than trying to work out who he is. For me, that made him a more sympathetic character in the sense that his motivations weren't in question.
I feel that almost everyone who isn't a point of view character (or close friends/family of a point of view character) is a terrible person, generally lacking in anything approximating compassion. This was more stark than in the first book, not because the horrible people are more horrible but because the morally ambiguous characters are out of the picture for various reasons. There are so many travesties committed by aforementioned terrible people that it bordered on getting a bit much. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't gratuitous and it was in keeping with plot and characterisation, but by-gods more than just wanting to slap annoying characters, I wanted to watch some of them die slow and painful deaths, preferably at the hands of the people they were horrible to. Which is a mark of Daniells's skill as a writer.
With Exile I am continuing to enjoy the Outcast Chronicles. I was originally planning to read something else before getting into Sanctuary, the third book, but whoops, I couldn't not pick up book 3 as soon as I finished Exile. (Not that it was a cliffhanger, but the story is definitely unfinished.) I highly recommend this series to lovers of fantasy.
4.5 / 5 stars
You can read more of my reviews on my blog
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