Station Eternity

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.

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WHAT'S STATION ETERNITY ABOUT?

In the not-too-distant future, Aliens (of various species) have made Contact with Humanity. It's not unheard of for them to be seen on earth, looking around. Many humans are worried about war with the aliens—that they're around to invade or something. What they can't accept is that the aliens just don't think enough about humanity to bother.

Nearby—but not that near—is a Space Station where the aliens that Earth knows about are living. It's important to know that the Space Station is sentient. She's allowed three humans to live on board. One is an ambassador from the U.S. (you're going to spend a lot of time wondering how he got that appointment, until—of course—Lafferty explains it, and then it'll actually make sense); another is our protagonist, Mallory Viridian (more on her in a bit); and Xan, an Army quartermaster, Mallory met in college a few years back.

People tend to die around Mallory. Well, that's not exactly true—people in Mallory's vicinity have a tendency to be murdered. When that happens, Mallory is really good at solving the murders, too. Sure, she has to repeatedly convince law enforcement that she wasn't involved in the murder—but after that, she's great at figuring out who did the killing. Her presence on the Space Station is her attempt at staying away from people. Her thinking is that if she's not around people, they can't be killed. Yes, there are two other humans on board, but she avoids them as much as possible for their own sake.

But now...Eternity has decided to allow a shuttle-full of humans to visit, and Mallory is worried. Beyond worried, really. She tries to convince Eternity to call it off, but before she can...there's a murder. And before long, there are others—is Mallory up for the challenge?

THE ALIENS

There's a lot that I liked about this novel—more than I'm going to be able to really dig down into. But one of my favorite aspects of the novel is the alien races, their cultures, how they relate to humans, and so on. Aliens should be...alien. They shouldn't all be humanoid with a few cosmetic differences. Novels are a better place for this than movies/TV because they're not limited by an F/X budget, but still, we tend to get variations on a theme. Lafferty's good at keeping the aliens strange and humans should be equally strange to them (beyond a McCoy-can't-get-the-whole-Vulcan-logic thing)

A couple of examples to start with: there's the food on the station—a lot of it is lethal to humans, some is just unpalatable (think of the way 80s sitcom characters would react to the idea of sushi, and then multiply that). There's also the way way that the universal translation device (fairly reminiscent of Adam's Babel Fish) being implanted is a bloody and painful process—which is still not easy and pain-free by the end of the book. Unless I'm forgetting something (likely) or haven't been exposed to the right things (very likely), I'm used to this being a seamless, easy and pain-free process in SF.

We are talking about races here that can remember thinking of species like humans (and some others on the station) as "masticatables,*" before they got to the point where they saw them as sentient beings who should be treated with respect and on the same level. Physiology, communication, ethics, and worldviews that we can't comprehend easily. Not only are they only barely interested in dealing with humans (it's never stated, but I think most of Eternity's residents wish they'd waited a few centuries before making First Contact)—they're sure not going to go out of their way to make things accessible to humans. It's up to the three on board to figure out how to survive.

* Of the thousands and thousands of words that I read last week, that's probably my favorite one.

That said, they are pretty curious about humanity's squishy bodies full of wetness, our lack of symbiotic relationships (oh, yeah, I forgot to mention—every other race in this book is in some sort of symbiosis). Isolated creatures are hard for them to wrap their minds around. Throughout the novel, various characters repeatedly express how they can't understand how humans get by without a symbiotic relationship of some kind—in fact, they pity humans for how they must be isolated and hampered by it.

I could keep going here, but without writing a few hundred words on each race, I'm not going to be able to say enough (besides, that's Lafferty's job, not mine). Let me just sum up by saying that these aliens are alien, and we're pretty strange to them. I love seeing both of these in action.

A QUESTION OF GENRE

In my Spotlight post, wrote that Station Eternity is:

"a witty, self-aware whodunit with a unique sci-fi twist" (at least that's what the promotional material says—I'd call it a witty, self-aware Sci-Fi novel with a unique whodunit twist, if I was in the mood to split hairs).

Now, largely, genre is used as a marketing tool—how do we get this in front of the readers who are most likely to respond with their attention (and wallets, can't forget to get Lafferty and the publisher paid). As such, maybe it doesn't matter what genre it's classified as—and there's something to it. But genre also helps you talk about a book—the conventions of the genre, the way a book diverts from and/or uses them, etc. It also helps you find a book, "I'm in the mood for a good book," really doesn't get you very far, whereas "I'm in the mood for an Urban Fantasy," points you in the right direction.

So, Ace's marketing—and the title of the series itself—leans on the mystery. And I think that's fair. But I think the emphasis in this novel is on SF elements. That might not really be the case* in future novels in the series, but it felt that way this time. Lafferty's own bibliography and résumé are pretty heavy on Speculative Fiction, too—so it makes sense that the book would be Science Fiction-heavy.

* Pun unintended. But I really wish I had planned it.

Considered separately, I think the mystery part of the novel isn't as successful as the SF part is. That's largely because the SF aspects change the rules for the mystery. Thankfully, you don't have to consider the two strains separately—the book doesn't, there's little reason for a reader to do that (unless you're trying to talk about it in a blog post or something).

As I mentioned, most of the various races in the novel are in a symbiotic relationship of some kind to survive (and things do not go well for them when the symbiosis is disrupted). I think the relationship between the two genres here could be thought of that way—it's a mutually dependent relationship. The SF needs the mystery to generate and advance the plot, and the whodunit needs the SF to have a setting and for the characters to work.

Ultimately, I think a Mystery-reader who isn't that into SF is not as likely to enjoy this as a SF-reader who isn't that into Mysteries will. But I think readers of either genre who are open to the idea are going to find themselves really getting into this.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT STATION ETERNITY?

I've said almost nothing about Mallory, Xan or any of the other humans running around this book—but this has gone on too long already. Also, most of what I'd say is best discovered in the novel. So let me just say that Mallory is a fantastic character, and I'll sign up for at least three more books about her now. She's this great mix of neurosis (tied to all the murders around her, so they're understandable), talent, determination and snark. We don't get to know Xan quite as well—but I'll eagerly take at least one more book about him, too. He's going to be able to be a very different person after the events of this book, and I'm curious to see what that looks like.

Eternity herself is a character I want to understand more—and everyone on board, too. There's a Princess, for example, who seems like good comic relief when we meet her—and stays that way for most of the book. Then she does something and becomes a whole different kind of character—she's still a hoot, but she's a whole lot more.

That goes for the series, too—after Lafferty has created this world and shaken it up pretty well in this book, I want to see what happens afterward.

But I've gotten side-tracked, I want to focus on Station Eternity—there's a lot of backstory woven into plot, and Lafferty handles it well. We learn enough to advance the plot and understand the characters—but not so much that she can't throw us a curve-ball every now and then to be surprised by someone. And she does—and I relished each of them. These events and the characters will keep you on your toes.

This is a funny book—in the narration, some of the situations, and the way the characters relate to each other. The circumstances around a lot of the murders that Mallory encounters, for example, are frequently ridiculous. But it is not a comedy—we're talking about a lot of murders for one thing. Then there's intergalactic intrigue, the dangers of space travel, and life-or-death situations all around. The interactions and histories between the various characters are full of drama and the serious stuff that comes from being a person, too. There's a great balance of light and darkness throughout the book and Lafferty writes both with skill and a touch of panache.

I had a great time with this book and will be thinking about it for a while to come—and as I've suggested, I'm eager to see what's around the corner. I strongly recommend this book for mystery fans open to aliens walking around, SF fans interested in a different kind of story, and readers who like good things.

Interesting novel, and a story that is, I think, impossible to tell with only one narrator. 25 years ago the author would probably have gone with 3rd person, but since this is the era of multiple narrators being far more prevalent than they used to be, multiple narrators it is. At least they possess very different voices. But there are too many of them, and the story is unnecessarily complicated.

At least one species of alien is suitably alien, however, and not just "humans but X."

I was amused by just how much NC comes up, for a novel that's set in space.

Mallory Viridian is a murder magnet. When she's around, murders happen, and she's the only one who can solve them. She tries offering assistance to the police. She'd like to become an investigator herself. But her efforts are repeatedly blocked, and it isn't long before she becomes the top suspect in all the crimes that happen in her vicinity. This is a problem, and to Mallory, claiming sanctuary on a sentient alien space station where she's only one of three humans seems like a perfect solution.

Until the station decides to allow other humans to come there. The shuttle arriving from Earth is destroyed on its approach to the station, and humans and aliens both are dying, and Mallory is trying to figure out what the heck is going on before the station loses control and destroys them all.

It took me a minute to really get into Station Eternity. The different character arcs unfold through current episodes and flashbacks, and it felt a little convoluted at first. But if you start the book and feel that way, don't get discouraged. I promise it's worth it in the end!

Lafferty does a great job conveying how the few humans struggle to function in a space station built with no consideration given to them at all. The furniture isn't sized correctly, the food may or may not be agreeable, things we take for granted in our daily lives are a challenge for Mallory. Even communication with the different alien species can be difficult, translation bug notwithstanding.

I also enjoyed the descriptions of the different types of aliens aboard Eternity, as well as Eternity herself. The insect-like Sundry, the Gneiss who seemed like giant sentient rocks, the inscrutable Silence, each alien species had its own unique characteristics.

The human charaters were engaging, too. Calliope was one of my favorites, with her general attitude of badassery and nonchalance. I found it fascinating, too, that she could fail at multiple individual skills in military testing, but when you put them together, she was a juggernaut. And Mrs. Brown! She is the absolute best. She is proof that age doesn't have to be an obstacle to, well, anything you put your mind to.

When all the threads of the story came together, when relationships were revealed and the mystery was unraveled, it was glorious. I read past the end of my lunch break so I could see what happened. I normally don't like a cliffhanger, but in this case, I'm tickled. It means I get to dive into Eternity's universe for at least one more book, and I can't wait.

Five stars for a good mystery, solid sci-fi world building, well-written characters, and a story I'm clamoring to know more of!

Disclaimer: Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for a review copy. All opinions here are mine, and I don't say nice things about books I don't actually like.