Review: Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty

Review by Eliza

Mallory Viridian is a murder magnet. Again and again, she’s present for murders. By the start of Station Eternity, Mallory’s fled earth for a space station run by aliens in the hopes that, by avoiding people, people will stop dying around her. When the station decides to welcome humans, Mallory fears another murder’s around the corner.

Instead, the humans’ arrival triggers a series of events that threaten the lives of everyone, and the sentient station itself.

Station Eternity Review

This book hooked me early on. Mallory’s an interesting character with a unique problem, and the notion that someone triggers murders was intriguing. Did she really, or was something else going on? The first part of Station Eternity moves at a rapid pace and is engaging and amusing. For example, the aliens trying to swear is hilarious, and the translation issues open the door for exploring some of the lack of clarity with human communication that comes from using expressions.

There’s a lot for sci-fi fans here. We’re in a post first contact world and there are a lot of alien species on Station Eternity. The station is, herself, sentient. This is intriguing and some of the aliens (e.g. the Gneiss) felt fresh and intriguing.

There’s plenty for mystery fans, too. We start with the mystery of who’s coming on the shuttle and how it could affect Mallory and Xan, the other human who’s received sanctuary on the space station. But then things go very wrong, and the case explodes. An alien dies on the spaceship, Eternity’s in distress, and an attack on the shuttle leaves several humans dead and others injured.

Like all good thrillers, the story continues to raise the stakes as it builds towards its climax. The biggest challenge with Station Eternity is the middle, because a lot of additional POVs are added to the story. While we get a very detailed perspective of all relevant characters, it does mean we go quite a bit without seeing Stephanie, Ferdinand, and Tina. Those long breaks without seeing central characters give the book a bit of an unbalanced feel, and the pace of the middle did slow some as new characters’ histories played out. Some may find it too complex, because there’s a lot going on. Hopefully, future offerings will incorporate relevant backstory without affecting the pace.

Overall, I found the concepts intriguing and was interested in the outcome. This was my first book by Mur Lafferty, but it won’t be my last. I’m curious to see what Mallory’s future holds, and hope for more intriguing space mysteries and an update on Mallory and Xan. 4 stars.