Exodus - The Ark

I've recently finished reading Exodus - The Ark , by Paul Chafe. This is the continuation of Genesis, which I recently blogged about, and is from Webscriptions too.

Genesis speaks of the creation of a human multi-generation ship to another star, in a ten thousand year voyage. One of the practical effects of that time frame is that (in the book, at least) almost no technological artifacts will survive this long - thus they must fall back to an agrarian society.

Thus all of this intermediate book takes place with minimal tech (for us), in the middle of high tech world.

What I found most aggravating was the constant rise of the crazy religious dictatorship, which happens more than once in the books so far. There are a few hopeful moments (SPOILER ALERT), such as when the previous religious order converts to a natural history society, or the very ending of the book.

I'm not complaining about the lack of realism - in fact, the awful turn of events that happens more than once in the books might be the most likely. They are, however, quite depressing to witness.

Overall, ok. If you liked the first book you might like this one. The might is mostly because of the difference in tones on both books (developing huge spaceship and low tech society flying in that ship unaware is pretty different).

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