A Real Page Turner

Disclaimer: No financial inducement was offered or requested for this review and no payment was received. The reviewer was provided with a free review copy of the book. The views expressed in this review are those of the reviewer and are not necessarily those of Selfishgenie Publishing.

Exiles, by Miles Watson, is a novella, but it could almost stand as a full length novel.

The book serves as an introduction to “The Magnus Chronicles”, a series of dystopian novels set in a world that could be Earth in either the past or future. That is not clear from the story.

​Is it an alternative history or a possible future? I think the reader must decide.
 
There is some modern technology, but it is limited by “The Order”, the body that rules over most of Europe. However, there is also a lot of 19th century technology still in use, though that might be because so much modern technology is banned.
 
This little book actually tells two stories in one. The first is told by Marguerite Bain, the Captain of a smuggling ship. Smuggling is an organised, if dangerous, profession with its own ruling Guild. Marguerite gained her command under the tutelage of a senior Captain who now serves as one of the Guild’s governors.
 
While smuggling is illegal, a blind eye is turned for the most part. Bribery and corruption play a large part in that unofficial tolerance, as it does in most of life under The Order.
 
Marguerite has had a hard life, not one to be envied by any woman. Now, as skipper of her own ship, she has to show that she is ready to kill anyone who challenges her position and the only way she has been able to prove that is to do it. Now an uneasy truce lies between her and her crew, though she knows that if she shows any sign of weakness they would kill her, after taking their pleasure first, of course.
 
The Sea Dragon, her ship, is contracted to deliver supplies to the eponymous exile on his remote and barren island. It is a task she is unable to refuse because it has been brokered by the Guild and such a contract can’t be broken.
 
Her orders are strict. Deliver the supplies and leave the island. Do not make any attempt to communicate with the exile. The previous contractor forgot those rules and now he is no longer alive.
 
But Marguerite is curious and can’t resist finding out about the exile, so she secretes a notebook and pencil in the supplies, asking him to tell his story.
 
Which is the second story in the book.
 
Enitan Champoleon is a name that is notorious as an opponent of The Order, an organiser of the resistance. He is almost mythical, a sort of Scarlet Pimpernel figure. But if the Order captured him they would just kill him, not exile him on a barren rock. So, who has placed Champoleon in this living hell?
 
All becomes clear by the end of the story.

But through this dialogue Marguerite starts to feel a bizarre kinship with the exile. 

The story's point of view switches back and forth between Marguerite and Enitan but at all times it is clear who is narrating. 

The style of language is fitting for the ambivalent chronological setting of the book. In many ways it is Victorian, but interspersed with more modern phrases and idiom.
 
Either of the two stories are capable of engaging the reader fully, but the two of them together become compelling and the book is a real page turner. For lovers of fantasy or sci-fi it is a very good read.
 
This reviewer is now a convert and will soon be embarking on reading The Magnus Chronicles in full.
 
The ebook can be purchased from Amazon for £3.95 or can be downloaded on KindleUnlimited for free. The paperback version is £4.74 (all prices correct at time of posting).
 
I recommend “Exiles” by Miles Watson and to find out more, click here

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