BLOGS

Africa has traditionally been a neglected landscape in speculative fiction. Terry R. Hill brings the second largest continent to the fore in a spectacular way in his compelling work of science fiction titled Third Exodus. In the novel, terrorists inadvertently unleash a chain of events on Earth that sparks a catastrophic conflict between humans and machines. The war devastates the planet, but leaves the African continent relatively unscathed. A visionary African leader, recognizing that life on Earth is doomed, proposes and eventually implements a plan to settle humans on Mars. Col. Zune Adamini, a famed military officer, is chosen to lead an expedition to the Red Planet.

All is not smooth sailing in this monumental endeavor to save humans from a dying Earth. Power, greed, and unbridled ambition casts a shadow over the evacuation efforts. Adamini is forced to undermine an agenda set in place by superiors he cannot trust, but he must do so with utmost secrecy and deception. He receives assistance in his efforts from an alien artificial intelligence. While Adamini understands the mentality of his human enemies and takes measures accordingly to thwart their plans for the Martian colony, the AI's intentions remain a mystery to him.

The author does a seamless job of imagining a manned journey to Mars and its eventual colonization. His background in NASA confers an authentic feel on the narrative, infusing his description of space tech with an engineer's eye. Add to the hard science element his skillful use of science fiction's popular tropes: the sentient AI and FTL travel, and what you have is a well rounded adventure with interesting, well developed characters. Third Exodus envisions a desperate migration from a world that can no longer sustain life. Hopefully, a real world exodus will not be saddled with that level of urgency. ”