Exiles of the Stars

~ 2nd Novel in the Moon Magic Series by Andre Norton

(Series aka) Free Traders or Moon Singer

exiles.of.the.stars

 

Synopsis ~

Write-up from the front flap of the 1971 dustjacket ~

As crew members of the Free Trader ship Lydis, Maelen, in the furred body of Vors, and Krip Vorlund, who now walked as a Thassa, had put down on the planet Thoth to find themselves in the midst of an explosive civil war. The Thothian priests wanted them to transport the valuable Forerunner treasure to Ptah for safekeeping. The Free Traders agreed, but shortly after lift-off a sudden power failure forced their ship down on the uninhabited planet of Sekhmet.
How and why the Lydis was marooned was a mystery which neither Krip, with his esper powers, nor Maelen, with all the talents and knowledge granted her in her life as a Moon Singer, could penetrate. Their exploration of Sekhmet compounded the mystery, threatening to extinguish the identity of the searchers themselves--for the barren planet was not deserted after all. An underground labyrinth held in stass-freeze an army of aliens, and the bodies of four beings wearing the diadems of Set, Thoth, Ptah, and the cat goddess Sekhmet. They seemed to be the source of awesome powers--power able to run machinery by remote mental control or to commandeer the bodies of men, power which emanated from a time beyond the memory of man.
In this sequel to Moon of Three Rings, Andre Norton has created a fantasy-adventure story with the skilled imagination of a master writer of science fiction.

 

Write-up from the Longman Young UK edition dust jacket ~

As crew members of the Free Trader ship Lydis, Maelen, in the furred body of Vors, Krip Vorlund, who now walked as a Thassa, had put down on the planet Thoth to find themselves in the midst of an explosive civil war. The Thothian priests wanted them to transport the valuable Forerunner treasure to Ptah for safekeeping. The Free Traders agreed, but shortly after lift-off a sudden power failure forced their ship down on the uninhabited planet Sekhmet.

Their exploration of Sekhmet threatened to extinguish the identity of the searchers themselves - for the barren planet was not deserted after all. An underground labyrinth held in stass-freeze an army of aliens, and the bodies of four beings wearing the diadems of Set, Thoth, Ptah, and the cat goddess Sekhmet. They seemed to be the source of awesome powers - power able to run machinery by remote control or to commandeer the bodies of men, power which emanated from a time beyond the memory of man. In this sequel to Moon of Three Rings, Andre Norton has created a fantasy - adventure story with the skilled imagination of a master writer of science fiction.

 

Write-up from the back of the 1970's ACE paperback edition ~

As crewmembers of the Free Trader ship Lydis, Maelen, in the furred body of Vors, and Krip Vorlund, who now walked as a Thassa, had put down on the planet Thoth to find themselves in the midst of an explosive civil war. The Thothian priest wanted them to transport the valuable Forerunner treasure to Ptah for safekeeping. The Free Traders agreed but shortly after lift-off disaster struck – and their ship was forced down on the uninhabited, terror-filled planet of Sekhmet. 

 

Write-up form the back of the 1980's ACE paperback ~

The Free Trader starship Lydis appears to be making an ordinary run to the planet Thoth, carrying incense for the great temples Kartum. And so, she is - until a civil war lands her in the middle of a battle of ancient powers and nameless evil, with a Forerunner treasure at its heart.

The crew, too, seems normal enough - until you look closely at two of its members: Krip Vorlund, a man who walks in a body not his own, and his pet, a four-legged beast hiding the mind of Maelen the Moon Singer, a woman whose esper powers can save them all - or bring them to peril and eternal destruction.

An extraordinary novel of interplanetary adventure in a world where strange and compelling powers of the mind hold sway. Andre Norton has created another fabulous tale that will keep you enthralled from the first page to last. Enter once again into the world of Moon of Three Rings, and let Andre Norton's magic carry you into the stars...

 

Write-ups from fans ~

Krip Vorlund and his companions of a ship of Free Traders contract to take a cargo--mostly religious objects--between worlds on behalf of the high priests, before a savage civil war destroys them.  Something strands them on a different world, and they stash the cargo, just before something attacks them.  In the process of trying to free the ship, Krip and Maelen, in her animal body as punishment for previous sins, discover a storehouse of treasure laid up by aliens, who had also put their bodies in some kind of suspended animation.  The alien's minds have the capacity to take over the Free Traders, and are busy looting the storehouse, and the place where the Free Traders had stashed their cargo.  Krip and Maelen manage to make an amazing (but not unexpected) change in the shape of things.  And free the ship, too, of course. ~ SL

 

Second book in the Moonsinger series. Krip Vorlund in the body of the Thassa, Maquad and Maelen, disgraced Thassa Moonsinger in the body of a Yiktorian glassia join The FreeTrader Lydis where he was a crewman, both of them having esper talents came in handy for the ship. What started out as a routine haul-for-hire job carrying forerunner artifacts from a temple on Thoth to the temple on the neighboring planet, Ptah takes a sinister turn when the ship is sabotaged and has to make a emergency landing on Sekhmet. They cache their cargo and send two men to find the Patrol emergency beacon and send for help. They also modify their com to send out an SOS, which to their surprise is answered by a patrol Scout ship. Krip, Maelen and a couple of Patrolmen take a flitter to find the missing crewmen. They find the Lydis' flitter, but not the men, On the way back to the Lydis, all the humans come under control of a mysterious psionic force. They sit there like statues. Maelen escapes and discovers a huge Jack operation taken over by Forerunners who have enslaved/possessed the two missing crewmen. Maelen has to find a way to break the alien controlling force. Like Moon of Three Rings, the narrator’s name starts each chapter. If they survive, the crew of the Lydis will be wealthy beyond their wildest, dreams. This is an amazing story, but I would recommend reading Moon of Three Rings first. ~ PG

 

Reviews ~

Kirkus Reviews ~ Issue: April 1st, 1971
This sequel to Moon of Three Rings (1966) again features Krip Vorlund, Free Trader, and the beautiful Maelen. Krip's personality has been transported into the body of a "Thassa" which offers him additional psychic powers, while Maelen is currently residing in the body of a small animal. Their Free Trader ship is caught up in a Civil War on the planet Thoth and the Thothian priests demand that they transport valuable Forerunner treasure to another planet for safekeeping. But they are forced down on an uninhabited world (sabotage?) where they find that they are about to become victims of a totally alien army which has for untold millenia been held in "stass-freeze" (suspended animation). The aliens have totems remarkably similar to ancient Egyptian Gods. . . they also possess remarkable, malignant powers and the secret of personality transference. The author provides her usual dashes of daring and dollops of intrigue in a labyrinthian plot designed to hold the reader in suspended admiration. 

 

Various reviews ~ For more info and other listings see Articles Over the Years
1972 by Charlie Brown in Locus #125, October 27
2015 by Patrick Reardon
2015 by James Nicoll
2017 by Judith Tarr

 

Bibliography of English Editions ~

  • (1971) Published by Viking, HC, 0-670-30112-4, 978-0-670-30112-6, LCCN 72136817, $4.95, 255pg ~ cover by Robin Jacques {Purple Cloth Boards, code 1 2 3 4 5 75 74 73 72 71} Library Edition Pictorial Boards - 30113-2 $4.53
  • (1972) Published by ACE, PB, 0-441-22365-1, $0.95, 249pg 1st print - #22366 1974 $1.25 2nd print - covers by Dean Ellis ~ #22367-2 1979 $1.95 3rd print - #22368-0 1984 $2.50 4th print - covers by John Rush

#22368 There are two printings of this ACE Number edition. The second printing (April 1984; 5th ACE printing) adds a Canadian price to the slugline and the ACE logo is moved.

  • (1972) Published by Longman Young Books, HC, 0-582-15246-1, 978-0-582-15246-5, £1.40, 256pg ~ UK printing ~ cover by Michael Jackson
  • (1972) Published by Kestrel Books, HC ~ UK printing ~ cover by unknown
  • Moonsinger (2006) Published by BAEN, HC, 1-416-52061-9, 978-1-416-52061-0, $25.00, 464pg ~ cover by Alan Pollack ~ Omnibus containing Exiles of the Stars (1971) & Moon of Three Rings (1966)

 

Non-English Editions ~

  • (1972) Published in Rastatt, Germany; by Pabel, OCLC: 74136810, Terra TB196, DM2.80, 161pg ~ translation by Susi-Maria Roediger ~ cover by Karel Tohle ~ German title Verfemte des Alls [All in all]
  • (1985) Published in Rastatt, Germany; by Moewig, 38-118-3808-3, Moewig 8-254, DM5.80, 160pg ~ translation by Susi-Maria Roediger ~ cover by Nikolai Lutohin ~ German title Verfemte des Alls [All in all]
  • (1978) Published in Bologna, Italy; by Libra Editrice, Slan. Il Meglio della Fantascienza, n. 41, 256pg ~ translation by Roberta Rambelli ~ Illustrated by Allison ~ Italian title Gli esuli delle stelle [The exiles of the stars]
  • (1988) Published in Italy; by Solaris, n. 11 ~ Italian title Gli esuli delle stelle [The exiles of the stars]
  • (2000) Published in Poland; by Zysk I S-ka, 83-715-0899-9, 236pg ~ translation by Dorota Żywno ~ cover by Dariusz Jasiczak ~ Polish title Gwiezdni wygnańcy [Interstellar exiles]
  • (2007) Published in Moscow, by Eskmo, 978-5-699-25971-7, PB, 320pg ~ cover of R. Hescox ~ translation by O. Kolesnikov ~ Russian title Звездные изгнанники [Star exiles] ~ Limited to 7000 copies
  • (2016) Published in Moscow, by Eskmo, 978-5-699-85701-2, PB, 320pg ~ cover of A. Dubovik ~ translation by O. Kolesnikov ~ Russian title Звездные изгнанники [Star exiles] ~ Limited to 3000 copies
  • (2017) Published in Moscow, by Eskmo, 978-5-699-97841-0, PB, 320pg ~ translation by O. Kolesnikov ~ Russian title Звездные изгнанники [Star exiles] ~ Limited to 3000 copies 

 

Russian Omnibus Editions ~

  • (1993) Published in Moscow, by Sigma Press and Zelenograd, by Zelenogradskaya Books, 5-86314-016-x, HC, 416pg ~ cover by D. Avvakumov ~ Russian title Лунная магия [Moon Magic]

Contains:

    • "Moon of Three Rings" as "The Moon of the Three Rings" ~ translation by K. Prilipko, pp. 3-204
    • "Exiles of the Stars" ~ translation by K. Prilipko, pp. 205-412

 

  • (2004) Published in Moscow, by Eksmo, 5-699-05456-1, HC, 384pg ~ cover by R. Hescox ~ Russian title Луна трех колец [Moon of three rings]

Contains:

    • "Moon of the Three Rings" as "The Moon of Three Rings" ~ translation by O. Kolesnikov, pp. 5-190
    • "Exiles of the Stars" as "Star Exiles" ~ translation by O. Kolesnikov, pp. 191-382

 

  • (2015) Published in Moscow by Eksmo, 978-5-699-76610-9, HC, 992pgs ~ cover art by A. Dubovik ~ Russian title Звёздные изгнанники [Star Exiles] ~ Limited to 3000 copies

Contains:

    • "Moon of Three Rings" as "The Moon of Three Rings" ~ translation by O. Kolesnikov, pp. 5-220
    • "Exiles of the Stars" as "Star Exiles" ~ translation by O. Kolesnikov, pp. 221-442
    • "Voorloper" as "Wandering along the Vour" ~ translation by D. Arseniev & O. Kolesnikov, pp. 443-608
    • "Forerunner" as "The Forerunner" ~ translation by D. Arseniev, pp. 609-802
    • "Forerunner: The Second Venture" as "Forerunner: The Second Adventure" ~ translation by D. Arseniev, pp. 803-989

View the Original contract

View the 2004 Russian contract

See Also: Timeline 1 - Andre's Universe entry for this title.

View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://andre-norton.com/works-of-a-master/series-of-a-master/the-moon-magic-series/292-exiles-of-the-stars#sigProIddb801c6644

 

 

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