Exile is Sci-fi Fantasy at its finest

Exile by C.J. Hawthorne is the sequel to Exodus, and book 2 in the phenomenal New Covenant Trilogy. This is a story that steals your heart and breath, while imprinting on your soul. The book is out on April 29th. Read my 5-star review below:

Cloelia is a captain now, and the war she feels responsible for started 4 years ago. The Coalition still stands against the Alloran tyranny, but something has changed in the enemy's actions. A rescue mission has Clo bringing together an unexpected crew, a mission that morphs into probably the most important one yet, for the course of the war. During their travels, ancient powers awake...

So I guess it is becoming tradition for the books in this series to start with Cloelia piloting, and jumping into an adrenaline-fuelled scene forthwith. The time jump creates a new kind of anticipation and intrigue, though Hawthorne's always inviting narrative never makes you feel lost, just piques your curiosity. It is the midst of a rebellion, and we certainly feel that, even in the first pages, but we still have the wonderful emotional immersiveness we loved in Book One. The personal implications and repercussions — the straight to the heart wording. This part of the universe has gotten so much bigger, but it still feels ours.

There is no middle-book slump here. The pacing is perfectly timed, the breath-caught-in-your-throat action. I am in awe of the story-weaving. There were beautifully descriptive moments where I felt swept away. Once again, the author gifts us with delicious morsels of clues concerning things to come. This is the Empire Strikes Back or The Two Towers of the series, in its parallel missions & rescues glory, plus the emotional gutpunch.

There are cool new characters, even a certain flirty one you will fall in love with. Cloelia continues to put the weight of the galaxy's fate on her shoulders. I often want to scream at her to stop punishing herself. It is masterful how the author has made us care for these characters so much. Corro's inherently kind demeanor, even now when he is more soldier than cabin boy, always makes my heart sing. A trick that this author has mastered, and I respect the heck out of her for it (among other things), is the grounded, realistic evolution of her characters. No hitting us over the head with direct or indirect proclamations of "ooh my character changed, look at that".

A few of the themes approached in an elegant manner here are: guilt, regret, second chances, making things right and fighting for the right thing. The Star Wars Rebels vibes are still here, though we also have the feel of a Clone Wars mission-oriented episode. This is a better-behaved Guardians of the Galaxy crew (well, most of the time), and the Rogue One comp is obvious, for very cool reasons. I will throw in Battlestar Galactica (the 2004 one), to complete the mix.

I almost threw my phone in the air with that mind-blowing reveal in the last chapters that reshapes this universe, and had my brain spiraling. Consequences always find you, even across the stars. Book 3 cannot come quickly enough.