Exile to Hell

I picked up this novel about six years ago and was hooked on the Outlanders series from the start! It was exactly the kind of action-adventure sci-fi series I'd been wanting to read but hadn't been able to find. I was particularly drawn to all the conspiracy theories woven throughout. I've re-read Exile to Hell three times and even paid more than I should have for the audio book of it. To me, this novel in the series stands as classic, with the introduction of Kane, Grant, Brigid, Lakesh, Domi and the whole set-up with the villes and the baronies. I was never interested in the usual post-nuke series since most of them were too scientifically absurd to suspend my disbelief. Exile to Hell was something refreshingly different and it still remains that way! I hope if Hollywood ever makes an Outlanders movie, they start with this book.

This novel was the first in a series of what turned out to be quite literally ground breaking. Having been a follower of GE series, it's interesting that out of the 15 or so series launched in the 90s, it was the only that was a success and is still going strong, And GE apparently used it as the test for the new cover designs which have extended to the other series, except for DL. Originally when I finished reading it, the book was a little confusing to me. I was used to the Deathlands, and it was a little much to absorb. The baronies had changed, they had become consolidated, technology had been reintroduced to the world, many things that had been, at one time, a mystery was now laid out in glorious black and white print. I didn’t know what to think of the initial Characters. Grant, Kane, Domi, Brigid and Lakesh. I figured that they would be modeled entirely after the characters from Deathlands. Despite a couple of physical similarities in regards to Domi and Brigid, the characters were totally different than those in Deathlands. They each had a purpose. Grant and Kane were part of the enforcement arm of the new order; Brigid was a historian, Lakesh the rebel trying to overcome the new world order. Even Domi, a virtual slave, has her part to play. She’s a wild card in the group. The friendship between Grant and Kane was clear almost from the start, and the reader knew that there was more to Kane and Brigid than anyone could realize. The story was intriguing. Here we have an enforcer of the new world order literally throw everything he had ever known out the window to save the life of is partner and friend, and to save a woman who he didn’t even know from execution. All this, after he had been introduced into the Trust, and learned who and what the barons were. The novel showed that it could inform, as well as be action packed and very entertaining.

Exile to Hell, the first in the Outlanders series showed right from the start that it wasn't your daddy's Deathlands or anybody's Deathlands. Thank God, since there were about a jillion of those type of series published in the 80s through the early 90s. Exile to Hell staked out new territory at the very beginning, and the series itself continues to do so six years later. The courage to take chances instead of going to safe formula stories like in DL was evident even in this first book. It continues to grow and broaden its appeal. Kane, Brigid, Grant, Domi, Lakesh and the rest of the Cerberus warriors have changed and evolved in the six years since Exile was first published and the focus has shifted a little...but the high adventure template was established in this initial outing. Outlanders is NOT a post-nuke series or a survivalist series. It's a sci-fi adventure series first and foremost, that just happens to take place 200 years after a nuclear war. If fans of those kinds of books measure it against the tiresome formula of DL and other generic post-nuke series, then yeah...they'll see most of those cliches are missing. Now that DL has pretty much been turned over the revolving door system of multiple writers it lost whatever uniqueness it had. Its appeal has shrunk and narrowed until it seems the newer books have only two kinds of readers--teenaged boys with sexual orientation issues and long-haul truck drivers...or teenaged boys who will grow up to be long-haul truck drivers with sexual orientation issues. It's not that Outlanders doesn't have certain elements that continue from book to book, but it's more in the way of a philosophy and it's simple: * That friendship is good. * That greed and dominating other people is bad. * That heroes come in various shapes and sizes, all nationalities, religions and even both sexes. * That heroic people have ordinary concerns, and that ordinary people can be heroic. * That personal commitment and moral responsibility to your fellow human beings and the world at large are preferable to seeking power over others and doing whatever you have to do to survive another day. * That surviving is not the same as living. * That both good and evil work covertly and sometimes it requires involvement to a larger cause to discriminate one from the other. * That you might lose a battle, but you can still win the war, as long as you remain cool under fire and are willing to lay it all on the line. * And that in the end, the secret of life is courage, friendship and some smart-ass remarks.

From the point of view that its slang and much of its background is heavily steeped in being a spin-off of Deathlands, Mark Ellis took this first book and started it off on an incredible spin. It was an amazing balance of raw action, alien domination intrigue, and sheer awe and wonder. After already knowing the characters from later books, it was VERY interesting to see where they came from, and how much they've changed, while at their core, they've remained recognizable, and vibrant. The series is much different today, and yet, with a starting book like this with so many different tableaus of action and world exploration, it's hard not to see how this series wasn't meant to change and evolve. This book runs like a good chocolate shake down my throat.

Very well done. This is great sci-fi stuff. This book makes more sense if you read the first few Deathlands books, but it's not a problem if you haven't. Mark Ellis, writing as James Axler, tells a good story full of action, adventure, X-files like conspiracy, and characters you really come to like. If I had more time, I would get into the outlander series, If you like futuristic sci-fi fantasy stuff, this is the stuff you need to read. Another great Gold Eagle series. Monsta Mack reaches for Mike Linaker's Search and Destroy...