I had no idea what to expect when I picked up this book. I was originally attracted to the exciting cover art ...
Dale Mattheis "Exile to the Stars" passed all my criteria with flying colors. In general the writing style is excellent, the plot exciting, and the characters appealing. I really felt like I was becoming friends with the characters in the book. At first it was a little hard to keep track of all of them, but that smoothed out. The book is a long one, but Mattheis keeps the action coming and I was sorry when I reached the last page.
I also appreciated the fact that the Salchek (who for most of the book are a faceless threat) are toward the end of the book portrayed in a way that makes some of the enemy sympathetic as characters. I am hoping this continues through the rest of the series. If bad guys are portrayed as too black in characterization something is lost and belies the deeper, more self-examining, portrayal of the good guys.
This book is to be highly recommended and I can't wait to read the rest. If Mattheis is this good in a first book, I would think that the series can only get even better as it goes along. This book is certainly recommended for readers who like David Eddings. I've always enjoyed Eddings and find that Mattheis in some ways reminds me of Eddings. If you like Eddings you should love "Exile to the Stars". This book also compares well with Christopher Stasheff whose series starting with "The Warlock In Spite of Himself" also thrusts a modern man onto a planet with a society that is analogous to earlier Earth history.
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