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I thought this was a trilogy from Michael Moorcock - but maybe not. I can't remember the name of the trilogy or any of the books (the one I read was a three-in-one volume, like The Stainless Steel Rat was).

In book 1, the wisest political and scientific minds on Earth forsee a complete annihilation of the human race on Earth, and build a super spaceship to carry a remnant to a far distant planet - and no hyperspace here... The people were to be kept in cryogenic stasis for a time.

I think the second involves some of the people waking up for some reason.

The third involves several generations later when the people on the spaceship have begun to worship the ship itself (and its computer) as supreme beings, and have no knowledge of the actual facts (that they are on a computer-controlled spaceship vessel). One of the people on the ship dares to "go behind the curtain" (and violates all kinds of religious rules) and finds that they are actually on a computer-controlled ship, and that something has gone wrong and they are about to crash. He saves the day somehow.

UPDATE: Could be by Ben Bova too. I can't remember for sure.

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Sheesh. No one with an answer?

I found it. The author was Ben Bova, and the series was The Exiles Trilogy:

The Exiles Trilogy (cover)

The three stories are Exiled From Earth, Flight of Exiles, and End of Exile. There is no Wikipedia page on it; the Wikipedia page on The Exiles Trilogy is a different story.

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    I considered and reject it because your description misses major plot points and misrepresents others. Either that or I misrecall it. It's only been about twenty five years since I read it...
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Commented Jan 26, 2012 at 3:00
  • Same here - maybe 35 years. I missed the "exiled to space" part (must be my memory going bad!)...
    – Mei
    Commented Jan 26, 2012 at 14:47
  • Most if not all of my memories are of book 3: memories of book 1 were vague and of book 2, nearly nothing at all.
    – Mei
    Commented Jan 26, 2012 at 15:43
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It wouldn't be Frank Herbert's Destination: Void, would it? The element of people worshipping the ship makes me think of that series. The trilogy would be Destination: Void, then The Jesus Incident, and then The Lazarus Effect.

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  • There is a fourth book, called The Ascension Factor
    – Xantec
    Commented Jan 25, 2012 at 3:29
  • I read the Jesus Incident and no, that wasn't it. Does bring back some good memories though - I liked that book. Didn't realize that was part of a series.
    – Mei
    Commented Jan 25, 2012 at 14:41

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