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Assault on Absalom Station: A Starfinder Novel
Seven years after the galaxy awoke from a period of collective amnesia known as the Gap, the citizens of Absalom Station have established a new normalcy living at the hub of recently discovered interstellar Drift travel. But all is not well for the founding members of the Starfinder Society, as tensions between the living and undead inhabitants of the station come to a violent head. Now, the undead starships and invading troops from the dead world of Eox besiege the station, threatening everything the station’s inhabitants have built. Can famed android explorer Tyrcell and their companions survive the chaos of the Magefire Assault and restore order to Absalom Station or will this be the end of their Society and their home? Centuries later, what horrors of war will fledgling Starfinders Chk Chk and Dae discover as they pry into the past?
From Hugo Award-winning author Tim Pratt comes a sequel to the fan-favorite Starfinder novel, Era of the Eclipse, detailing another key moment in the history of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game’s Pact Worlds setting—a moment not all of the Starfinder Society’s founders will survive!
From Hugo Award-winning author Tim Pratt comes a sequel to the fan-favorite Starfinder novel, Era of the Eclipse, detailing another key moment in the history of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game’s Pact Worlds setting—a moment not all of the Starfinder Society’s founders will survive!
308 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 30, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 11, 2026
Tim Pratt has done it again. They have taken a TTRPG setting and turned it into a fun adventure. This book has a similar framing device as the previous one - in the present Dae and Chk Chk are reading the journal of Tyrcell the Android which takes place about 20 years before. The past portions of the book take place about 3-4 years after the events of the first book. Things have calmed down a bit since the events of The Gap and The Society (what eventually becomes the Starfinder Society) has been formed. The main portion of that story has to do with an attack on Absalom Station by Eox, a planet of undead.
The "present day" portion of the story continues on directly from the first book as the main characters continue to go on the hunt for Yaraesa's clues as to the location of Lost Golarian (the setting of Pathfinder).
The past deals with both the sad and hopeful things that happen when a community is under attack by an identifiable group. I think Pratt does a great job with that theme without getting preachy. The present continues to be a set of puzzles. To be honest, Tim always leaves me wanting more of the present-day story, but I know that the format works best limiting that aspect of the story. I also think that, potentially, we'll never get a resolution to that part of the story until Paizo is ready (perhaps as part of Pathfinder 3e?) to reveal what's up with Golarian.
I hope that Paizo continues to give Pratt the assignment to keep fleshing out the early history of the Starfinder universe. He writes compelling characters that are flawed enough to be realistic without tipping over into anti-hero. (Which I think matches the setting of this TTRPG quite well) Also, while I have some guilty knowledge of the Starfinder setting (just finished running my first SF2e adventure) I truly feel that Pratt writes this books so that anyone who enjoys SF can read it whether or not they play Starfinder.
Final thought - I think the plot of this book pairs quite well with the Guilt of the Grave World adventure path for Starfinder 2e. So if you're both a player and a reader, I would check that out.
The "present day" portion of the story continues on directly from the first book as the main characters continue to go on the hunt for Yaraesa's clues as to the location of Lost Golarian (the setting of Pathfinder).
The past deals with both the sad and hopeful things that happen when a community is under attack by an identifiable group. I think Pratt does a great job with that theme without getting preachy. The present continues to be a set of puzzles. To be honest, Tim always leaves me wanting more of the present-day story, but I know that the format works best limiting that aspect of the story. I also think that, potentially, we'll never get a resolution to that part of the story until Paizo is ready (perhaps as part of Pathfinder 3e?) to reveal what's up with Golarian.
I hope that Paizo continues to give Pratt the assignment to keep fleshing out the early history of the Starfinder universe. He writes compelling characters that are flawed enough to be realistic without tipping over into anti-hero. (Which I think matches the setting of this TTRPG quite well) Also, while I have some guilty knowledge of the Starfinder setting (just finished running my first SF2e adventure) I truly feel that Pratt writes this books so that anyone who enjoys SF can read it whether or not they play Starfinder.
Final thought - I think the plot of this book pairs quite well with the Guilt of the Grave World adventure path for Starfinder 2e. So if you're both a player and a reader, I would check that out.
September 8, 2026
4.5/ 5 stars, rounded up.
I rarely rate sequels higher than original books but this follow up novel to Era of the Eclipse was an improvement in almost every regard from its already excellent predecessor! I didn't expect to cry reading a TTRPG tie-in novel but boy did I!
There are some matters of personal taste when it comes to the style that holds it back for me but I don't by any means find this to be poorly written; the naturalistic dialogue very much tickles my brain happily, even if some of the writing is otherwise a little plain for my liking. (I am a shameless purple prose enjoyer though, so I should not be counted lol)
Also, very happily: no typos that I clocked, especially not misgendering-your-agender-main-character typos, which is a Big big plus for me.
The plot itself was very fun, though I think I would like to see more action in the 'modern' timeline following Dae and Chk-Chk--the centerpiece of both novels thus far has been the 'past' portions where 95% of the action takes place. I love seeing the history play out and I want more of this for SURE (I am a sucker for Lore and the primary draw of these books are thr Starfinder lore for me), but it does make Dae and Chk-Chk feel a bit sidelined when they feature so heavily in the marketing of the books (they're prominently featured on the covers, after all). Maybe in future installments, we'll get to see them in action a bit more than we have so far.
This is a lot of criticism for a book I've rated so highly, I realize, but my previous review stands: this is a Very fun book and an absolute treat for Starfinder nerds and people looking for a fun scifi-fantasy romp. I think this follow-up is more fun, more emotionally resonant, and more tightly written than the first, and it makes me even more excited to see more novels in this storyline in the (hopefully very near) future!
I rarely rate sequels higher than original books but this follow up novel to Era of the Eclipse was an improvement in almost every regard from its already excellent predecessor! I didn't expect to cry reading a TTRPG tie-in novel but boy did I!
There are some matters of personal taste when it comes to the style that holds it back for me but I don't by any means find this to be poorly written; the naturalistic dialogue very much tickles my brain happily, even if some of the writing is otherwise a little plain for my liking. (I am a shameless purple prose enjoyer though, so I should not be counted lol)
Also, very happily: no typos that I clocked, especially not misgendering-your-agender-main-character typos, which is a Big big plus for me.
The plot itself was very fun, though I think I would like to see more action in the 'modern' timeline following Dae and Chk-Chk--the centerpiece of both novels thus far has been the 'past' portions where 95% of the action takes place. I love seeing the history play out and I want more of this for SURE (I am a sucker for Lore and the primary draw of these books are thr Starfinder lore for me), but it does make Dae and Chk-Chk feel a bit sidelined when they feature so heavily in the marketing of the books (they're prominently featured on the covers, after all). Maybe in future installments, we'll get to see them in action a bit more than we have so far.
This is a lot of criticism for a book I've rated so highly, I realize, but my previous review stands: this is a Very fun book and an absolute treat for Starfinder nerds and people looking for a fun scifi-fantasy romp. I think this follow-up is more fun, more emotionally resonant, and more tightly written than the first, and it makes me even more excited to see more novels in this storyline in the (hopefully very near) future!
August 23, 2026
Weaker than the first book, in my opinion. Most characters sound the same.
SPOILERS!!!
It seems it’s part of (hopefully!) trilogy, as it’s the second ending that doesn’t tie up any plot points and leaves the main plot way too open. Some minor resolutions that don’t really matter.
SPOILERS!!!
It seems it’s part of (hopefully!) trilogy, as it’s the second ending that doesn’t tie up any plot points and leaves the main plot way too open. Some minor resolutions that don’t really matter.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews