Collection
Series
Publication
New York : Ace, 2022.
Description
Amateur detective Mallory Viridian's talent for solving murders ruined her life on Earth and drove her to live on an alien space station, but her problems still follow her in this witty, self-aware novel that puts a speculative spin on murder mysteries, from the Hugo-nominated author of Six Wakes. From idyllic small towns to claustrophobic urban landscapes, Mallory Viridian is constantly embroiled in murder cases that only she has the insight to solve. But outside of a classic mystery novel, being surrounded by death doesn't make you a charming amateur detective, it makes you a suspect and a social pariah. So when Mallory gets the opportunity to take refuge on a sentient space station, she thinks she has the solution. Surely the murders will stop if her only company is alien beings. At first her new existence is peacefully quiet...and markedly devoid of homicide. But when the station agrees to allow additional human guests, Mallory knows the break from her peculiar reality is over. After the first Earth shuttle arrives, and aliens and humans alike begin to die, the station is thrown into peril. Stuck smack-dab in the middle of an extraterrestrial whodunit, and wondering how in the world this keeps happening to her anyway, Mallory has to solve the crime-and fast-or the list of victims could grow to include everyone on board....… (more)
Language
Original language
English
User reviews
LibraryThing member khenkins
Mysteries and science fiction books are my two favorite reads, especially since lockdown. However, I hadn't found any novels that effectively blended the two genres until Station Eternity. I had not read any other books by Mur and thought perhaps this was her first one because she throws so much
The main character believes she has a “power” that I'd never encountered in fiction before – her propensity to set off a murder in her proximity. Mallory is also able to sort through details to find each murderer. Having become the person no one wants around prompts her to seek residence on a sentient space station. We follow her point of view for the first half, learning about her past and also about the fascinating alien beings on the ship – some are huge and rock-like, others are like flying insects with a hive mind. Mur Lafferty interweaves each species' history, appearance, abilities and other facts (their food preferences!) when Mallory encounters them in the opening as she seeks information about the shiuttle from Earth bound for her space station, Eternity.
That flight ends in tragedy and Mallory and her fellow human Eternity resident, Xan, are off to investigate the situation amid intrigue and danger. Xan's past is revealed via his own memories in the 2nd part of the book --- actually too many memories and one event that seems critical to Xan's sense of himself but doesn't seem integral to the story line.
Thankfully, this book is the polar opposite of a noir murder mystery or a space station suspense novel – the fast action and in-depth characterization ride on a well-written, witty, almost lighthearted narrative that is well worth the reader's time.
I received a free e-copy of this book from Berkley Publishing via NetGalley. This is an honest review.
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into one story! After reading, I noted that she's a prolific author, and I'm certainly going to read more of her work because this locked-space vessel mystery was a fun, complex, engrossing novel. The main character believes she has a “power” that I'd never encountered in fiction before – her propensity to set off a murder in her proximity. Mallory is also able to sort through details to find each murderer. Having become the person no one wants around prompts her to seek residence on a sentient space station. We follow her point of view for the first half, learning about her past and also about the fascinating alien beings on the ship – some are huge and rock-like, others are like flying insects with a hive mind. Mur Lafferty interweaves each species' history, appearance, abilities and other facts (their food preferences!) when Mallory encounters them in the opening as she seeks information about the shiuttle from Earth bound for her space station, Eternity.
That flight ends in tragedy and Mallory and her fellow human Eternity resident, Xan, are off to investigate the situation amid intrigue and danger. Xan's past is revealed via his own memories in the 2nd part of the book --- actually too many memories and one event that seems critical to Xan's sense of himself but doesn't seem integral to the story line.
Thankfully, this book is the polar opposite of a noir murder mystery or a space station suspense novel – the fast action and in-depth characterization ride on a well-written, witty, almost lighthearted narrative that is well worth the reader's time.
I received a free e-copy of this book from Berkley Publishing via NetGalley. This is an honest review.
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LibraryThing member jennybeast
I loved the idea behind this book, and I love the setting so, so much. Sentient ships! Aliens who don't GAF about humans! A murder mystery sleuth who understands (deeply) how weird it is to encounter murder as often as she does. All the weird little connections that bind everyone together!
All of
Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss
All of
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these things are great, and there were definitely some plot twists I didn't see coming. I think it gets a bit chaotic and messy in a couple of places -- trying to understand the evolutions of the Gneiss and the battle is difficult to track and confusing. I also find both Mallory and Xan less than sympathetic characters -- Mallory's a bit whiny, Xan has too many secrets. I'm excited to see that this is the first book in a series and very intrigued to see where it goes next. Also, I LOVE Mrs. Brown. Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss
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LibraryThing member kmartin802
Mallory Viridian fled to Station Eternity so that people would quit being murdered around her. The murders started when she was a child and continued until she left the planet. Mallory was able to make some good of it; she became an author who lightly fictionalized her cases and made her living
When she learns that Station Eternity is getting ready to accept more human visitors, she is getting set to run away again, but there is no place for her to run. She's one of only three humans surrounded by thousands of aliens. She has made some friends with a gneiss named Stephanie and an AWOLArmy soldier named Xan Morgan. The third human is an ambassador sent from Earth to negotiate for alien technology.
When the shuttle carrying new human visitors is attacked and Ren who is the symbiont of the sentient station is killed, Mallory is the only one who can investigate what happened since the regular law enforcement is busy trying to stabilize the station and save the residents.
I really enjoyed the worldbuilding in this story. The different alien races were well-developed, The rock-like gneiss, the hive-mind Sundry who look like blue and silver wasps, the Gurudev who look like a humanoid stick insect, and the phantasmagore who have chameleon-like abilities of disguise all have their own cultures and desires which may or may not play into the case Mallory is investigating.
It turns out that many of the shuttle's survivors also have connections to both Mallory and Xan and agendas of their own. We learn about some of those connections in flashbacks that fill in information about them all.
While this story was a mystery in that it had lots of mysteries to solve and actually did solve some of them, I think the real focus for me was the worldbuilding and all of the interesting life forms that lived in Station Eternity.
Science fiction fans will enjoy this story.
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that way. But being forced to move from place to place and being denied any opportunity to be a police officer or a private investigator, left her rootless and very lonely.When she learns that Station Eternity is getting ready to accept more human visitors, she is getting set to run away again, but there is no place for her to run. She's one of only three humans surrounded by thousands of aliens. She has made some friends with a gneiss named Stephanie and an AWOLArmy soldier named Xan Morgan. The third human is an ambassador sent from Earth to negotiate for alien technology.
When the shuttle carrying new human visitors is attacked and Ren who is the symbiont of the sentient station is killed, Mallory is the only one who can investigate what happened since the regular law enforcement is busy trying to stabilize the station and save the residents.
I really enjoyed the worldbuilding in this story. The different alien races were well-developed, The rock-like gneiss, the hive-mind Sundry who look like blue and silver wasps, the Gurudev who look like a humanoid stick insect, and the phantasmagore who have chameleon-like abilities of disguise all have their own cultures and desires which may or may not play into the case Mallory is investigating.
It turns out that many of the shuttle's survivors also have connections to both Mallory and Xan and agendas of their own. We learn about some of those connections in flashbacks that fill in information about them all.
While this story was a mystery in that it had lots of mysteries to solve and actually did solve some of them, I think the real focus for me was the worldbuilding and all of the interesting life forms that lived in Station Eternity.
Science fiction fans will enjoy this story.
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LibraryThing member hcnewton
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
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
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.
---
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
Show More
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.
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LibraryThing member bibliovermis
Oh I LOVED this, it was an absolutely chewy mystery in an incredibly cool sci-fi, humans-encountering-extraterrestrial-life scenario, with just the right amount of humor. The set-up—a woman who believes, due to mountains of evidence, that her presence literally attracts murderers, or even causes
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other people to murder each other, has run away to a space station with an exceedingly low human population—is superb. It's just a page-turning, engrossing, fantastic book, good for fans of Martha Wells and Murderbot, Daniel O'Malley, or Becky Chambers but with crime & mystery! Sign me up for any future entries in this series, I am absolutely there. Show Less
LibraryThing member lavaturtle
This was so much fun! I loved the colorful cast of characters and the gradually revealed connections between them. There's a good balance of silly and serious, and pretty much every character gets a satisfying ending. Looking forward to the next one!
LibraryThing member yarmando
Murders happen around Mallory, so she flees to a space station where she is only one of three humans. But more humans are about to join her, and murder, as Mallory suspected, follows.
I started this in audio, but the performer spoke in a high voice register that bothered me, and her portrayal of the
I started this in audio, but the performer spoke in a high voice register that bothered me, and her portrayal of the
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main character interpreted her as more whiney than necessary. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookappeal
Features diverse species, a complex plot, some humor, a large cast of characters but a less-than-gripping murder mystery. Hopefully, now that the world is built, the next Midsolar Murder can spend more time on the murder mystery.
LibraryThing member Glennis.LeBlanc
Review to come
This framework for this is a locked room mystery but set on a space station where there are almost no humans. But when a shuttle of humans arrives then the murders happen. There is a human ambassador on the station, a woman who has lived with death always happening around her, and a
When word comes of a shuttle full of people to arrive, she panics thinking that murder will come back in her life. And of course it does when the ship is attacked before it can even dock. Now Mallory needs to work out what happened and figure out what is wrong with the station. A good solid read with lots of interesting aliens living together on the station. Hopefully there will be more in this setting.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
This framework for this is a locked room mystery but set on a space station where there are almost no humans. But when a shuttle of humans arrives then the murders happen. There is a human ambassador on the station, a woman who has lived with death always happening around her, and a
Show More
man that is hiding out on one of the ships on the station trying to avoid the ambassador and official notice of Earth. Mallory is a woman hiding from life, murder has happened so much around her that only she seems to solve that she has her own liaison with the state police. After one too many murders she appeals to the nearest space station and is allowed to live there. Her current means of support is allowing herself to be studied by one of the alien races that lives there, a hive mind that resembles Earth’s wasps. When word comes of a shuttle full of people to arrive, she panics thinking that murder will come back in her life. And of course it does when the ship is attacked before it can even dock. Now Mallory needs to work out what happened and figure out what is wrong with the station. A good solid read with lots of interesting aliens living together on the station. Hopefully there will be more in this setting.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
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LibraryThing member Gena678
This book was best when it focused on the main character's POV. It is an intriguing idea (someone who has murders happen around her) that I got into at first, but became more and more chaotic and confusing as the book went on. The second half added too many other POVs with all of them bringing
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strange subplots. So, the idea was great, but execution was shaky. I would read more in this series if they come out, I think the author has some great possibilities here. Show Less
LibraryThing member Shrike58
In as much as Mur Lafferty has become something of a rising star in the field, and I really don't read much short fiction, I figured that this novel was as good a place as any to start with the woman's writing. My basic reservation was that I'm not a fan of murder mysteries so, again, I had the
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attitude of "impress me." What I didn't gather, until I read Lafferty's dedication to Douglas Adams, is that this is very much a send-up of that particular genre. Lafferty is also quite prepared to offer a send-up of the first-contact novel, as her advanced alien races can be jerks as much as her human characters. Further, giving this novel some depth, is that Lafferty spends a lot of time offering mini-portraits of her characters; this novel does read like it was written by someone with a MFA, and I'm counting this as a virtue. As for downsides, there were points where the action could have been a little more gripping, and there could have been a little more sense of urgency. That said, seeing as this is apparently going to be at least a trilogy, there was a lot of set up work to be done, and I'm now looking forward to those follow-on works. Show Less
LibraryThing member macha
pretty chaotic book by any standard so if you're looking for a nice tidy mystery look elsewhere, but as sf it's really comic fun, with its quirky aliens and points of contact. the amateur central detective character, Mallory, believes herself to be a murder magnet, which leads her to a space
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station almost devoid of humans, and she casually chats up and befriends many diverse types of aliens in hope of solving her case. the narrative is overstuffed with both characters and plot, but it's all interesting stuff so i'll be looking for the next installment of the series. Show Less
LibraryThing member mahsdad
Mallory seems to attract murders, so she runs away to a sentient space station to be one of only 3 humans allowed, but then she finds that more humans are coming and is afraid that murder might be come with them, and... spoilers... it does. Fun story, besides the murders, its a first contact story,
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and a government conspiracy story. Lafferty introduces us to several aliens species that aren't your usual Star Trekesque humanoids with different noses trope. She also explores what it would be like to life on a ship that wasn't designed for you. Can you eat the alien food, can you breath the air? It appears that its going to be a series for Lafferty - The Midsolar Murders. The second book is called Chaos Terminal Show Less
LibraryThing member fred_mouse
What I expected was to adore this book, sit down and read it in a weekend, and then rave about it. Because that is approximately what I did with Six Wakes, and in so many ways this sounds like a very similar book.
What happened was I read about a third, was completely unenthused, and put it aside
The mystery part is really the B plot, although I'm not sure I can actually articulate the A plot -- complex politics and shenanigans in a multi-species alien space station.
What happened was I read about a third, was completely unenthused, and put it aside
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for some months. I came back to it and took about a week to read the remaining 2/3. The plot is great, the writing is good, the world building is fascinating. I really really struggled with the characters. I could not get invested in them, or their stories, and this story very much needed that. It did have the saving grace that I was able to step straight back in to the story, and remember what was going on. The mystery part is really the B plot, although I'm not sure I can actually articulate the A plot -- complex politics and shenanigans in a multi-species alien space station.
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LibraryThing member Kellswitch
A murder mystery in space, with many, many coincidences and points of view.
First, I did enjoy this book, it was fun, the world building was fun, the different species on the station were fun and I enjoyed the main characters. And to my surprise, the various many threads of plot points did all end
So far I have enjoyed each of the authors books but that being said, there are some unfortunate consistencies with Mur Lafferty's writing. One is that everything feels kind of shallow and there aren't any real surprises. The second is that in every single book I've ready by her, there is something, a scene or chapter or writing technique that is upsetting or shouldn't be there. And in this book just after the half way point in the book she began to insert several totally unnecessary POV CHAPTERS for minor background characters that don't really matter or chapters spent on a POV flashbacks to events that could have been summarized in a few short sentences. And every time one of these POV's started the book just slammed to a stop and became a slog to get through. It felt like the author had spent so much time on the world building and background characters that she just couldn't bring herself to let them go, even though the book would have been a thousand times better without them. It took me days to get through less than 100 pages.
Once that part stopped and she finally got back to the plot of the book, it started to flow much better and went back to being a fun read. And as I said above, for me the ending was satisfying. And I am looking forward to reading the sequel.
First, I did enjoy this book, it was fun, the world building was fun, the different species on the station were fun and I enjoyed the main characters. And to my surprise, the various many threads of plot points did all end
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up coming together in the end, and it was a satisfying end. So far I have enjoyed each of the authors books but that being said, there are some unfortunate consistencies with Mur Lafferty's writing. One is that everything feels kind of shallow and there aren't any real surprises. The second is that in every single book I've ready by her, there is something, a scene or chapter or writing technique that is upsetting or shouldn't be there. And in this book just after the half way point in the book she began to insert several totally unnecessary POV CHAPTERS for minor background characters that don't really matter or chapters spent on a POV flashbacks to events that could have been summarized in a few short sentences. And every time one of these POV's started the book just slammed to a stop and became a slog to get through. It felt like the author had spent so much time on the world building and background characters that she just couldn't bring herself to let them go, even though the book would have been a thousand times better without them. It took me days to get through less than 100 pages.
Once that part stopped and she finally got back to the plot of the book, it started to flow much better and went back to being a fun read. And as I said above, for me the ending was satisfying. And I am looking forward to reading the sequel.
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