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A senior engineering student at UCLA, Kevin seemed on the verge of realizing his ambitions--when one night he is attacked by a murderous youth gang and accidentally kills one of them while escaping. Now Kevin is on the run, and on all of Earth there is no place to hide. . . . New revised edition.Tags
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My reactions to reading this novel in 1993. Some spoilers follow.
This is the last installment in what The Science Fiction Encyclopedia calls the Laurie Jo Hansen sequence.
I enjoyed it, particularly the climax where the hero/engineer Kevin Senecal builds a steam powered rocket (an idea which also shows up in the conclusion of Pournelle’s King David’s Spaceship) to escape captivity on an asteroid. The scientific and enginnering nuts-and-bolts details were well worked out and enjoyable.
The book’s pessimism about the future of the world (as seen from 1977) as a descent into welfare statism with ever increasing welfare costs, ever more reluctance to invest in long term engineering and scientific ventures, and eve rmore environmental show more degradation (latter Pournelle writings, both fact and fiction, show his pessimism lessening on this point) is certainly a product of its time though the state of American society (petty bureaucrats overseeing welfare kingdoms, coddling of criminals, a propensity to see human society as something that can be rationally ordered using tenets from the “science” of psychology) is not to far removed from current America.
There were some problems with the novel. Wiley Ralston, Senecal’s old friend, was obviously involved in the sabotage of the Wayfarer ever since the spaceport scene where he warns Senecal to take another capsule. Also, the scene where Senecal and Glenda Hansen-MacKenzie are interrupted by clever villain (who ultimately succeeds in getting away and paying his gambling debts) Henri Stoire was pretty hackneyed. (Though thematically in keeping with Senecal being humilated and set on by street gangs and petty, power mad college counselor.). I liked the secret, rule-breaking fellowship of Futurians (hardly a coincidence that there was an sf club by that name) and the bomb driven asteroid. show less
This is the last installment in what The Science Fiction Encyclopedia calls the Laurie Jo Hansen sequence.
I enjoyed it, particularly the climax where the hero/engineer Kevin Senecal builds a steam powered rocket (an idea which also shows up in the conclusion of Pournelle’s King David’s Spaceship) to escape captivity on an asteroid. The scientific and enginnering nuts-and-bolts details were well worked out and enjoyable.
The book’s pessimism about the future of the world (as seen from 1977) as a descent into welfare statism with ever increasing welfare costs, ever more reluctance to invest in long term engineering and scientific ventures, and eve rmore environmental show more degradation (latter Pournelle writings, both fact and fiction, show his pessimism lessening on this point) is certainly a product of its time though the state of American society (petty bureaucrats overseeing welfare kingdoms, coddling of criminals, a propensity to see human society as something that can be rationally ordered using tenets from the “science” of psychology) is not to far removed from current America.
There were some problems with the novel. Wiley Ralston, Senecal’s old friend, was obviously involved in the sabotage of the Wayfarer ever since the spaceport scene where he warns Senecal to take another capsule. Also, the scene where Senecal and Glenda Hansen-MacKenzie are interrupted by clever villain (who ultimately succeeds in getting away and paying his gambling debts) Henri Stoire was pretty hackneyed. (Though thematically in keeping with Senecal being humilated and set on by street gangs and petty, power mad college counselor.). I liked the secret, rule-breaking fellowship of Futurians (hardly a coincidence that there was an sf club by that name) and the bomb driven asteroid. show less
In some ways this book has the feel of a juvenile science fiction mystery. It's a stand alone, but follows on with some events and characters explored in Pournelles 'High Justice' collection.
This was a quick read, and a pleasant break from more dense science fiction.
This was a quick read, and a pleasant break from more dense science fiction.
A typical Pournelle planetary novel.
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148+ Works 40,407 Members
Jerry Eugene Pournelle was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on August 7, 1933. During the Korean War, he served in the U. S. Army. He received a B.S. in psychology in 1955, an M.S. in psychology in 1958, and a Ph.D. in political science in 1964 from the University of Washington. He worked for Boeing and NASA where he worked on the Mercury, Gemini, show more and Apollo missions. He also advised the federal government on military matters and space exploration. He wrote science fiction and helped popularize the military science fiction genre. His first novel, Red Heroin, was published in 1969 under the pen name Wade Curtis. His other novels published under his own name included Janissaries, Starswarm, and The Mercenary. He also wrote novels with Larry Niven including Oath of Fealty, The Mote in God's Eye, Lucifer's Hammer, Inferno, Escape from Hell, and Footfall. Pournelle was widely credited as the first major author to write a published novel entirely on a computer. He wrote a witty advice columns for computer users in Byte magazine. He received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer of 1973. He died of heart failure on September 8, 2017 at the age of 84. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1978-07
- Dedication
- For Dan Alderson, the sane genius.
- Disambiguation notice
- Exiles to Glory is not the same as Exile - and Glory. Exile - and Glory contains High Justice and Exiles to Glory.
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