The big conceit of the Starfinder universe is that it takes place in the same world as Pathfinder, only in the distant future. How distant? Well, no one knows because of a literal missing chunk of space-time called The Gap. Era of the Eclipse is the first time in the game's 8-year history that we get a glimpse into the immediate aftermath of that event. And boy, howdy, is it a romp.
Disclaimer: Paizo provided me with a complimentary copy of the book. That has in no way influenced my review.
You Had Me At Tim Pratt
When I read about the book's release months ago, I knew I'd love it for one reason above all else. It's written by Tim Pratt. If you're not familiar, Pratt is a fantastic SF writer who has written what may be my very favorite short story ever: Impossible Dreams. I even used that short story in some of my literature classes when I taught to teach media literacy and pop culture. It's great, and you should read it.
When I saw he was on board as the writer, I was all-in immediately. I then found out that he's written some of the earlier Pathfinder novels, too, and those are now on my TBR list. I also very much enjoyed his novel The Nex, if you're looking for recommendations.
What Is The Gap?
I'm going to do this review with being as spoiler-free as I can be. I don't want to ruin any surprises for folks, but I also don't want you Starfinder fans going in there and expecting to find something that's not there. Like the people who experienced the Gap firsthand, you're not going to find any concrete answers to what caused it in this book.
You're going to find a number of things that could have led to it and a lot of chaos that was caused by it that people have to deal with, and that have shaped the gameworld. But you're not going to get the specific information and be explicitly told what happened or why.
You do, however, learn a lot of stuff related to the Gap, what kinds of forces had to be involved in causing it, and most of all, how people reacted to having parts of their lives simply torn away. There's a lot of talk about Lost Golarion (the setting for the Pathfinder RPG), and a lot of hints that the Gap deals with it directly, rather than its disappearance being a side effect. That's the most concrete info you get, and I don't think that's too spoilery, really.
In terms of how this book ties into the game, it gives a fantastic idea of scale and presence on Absalom Station that even some adventures like A Cosmic Birthday weren't able to manage. I personally feel a lot more at home when my party is there in our weekly game than I did before.
What We Do Learn
The book shines because of its characters. We learn everything as readers through one of three perspectives: Tyrcell the android, Astrachios the Hellknight, or Chk Chk and Dae, the modern-day Starfinder iconics.
The unreliable narrator Tyrcell and his merry band of miscreants that he picks up over the course of the book are a delight to follow around, even if I didn't agree with his actions or methods sometimes. I liked seeing how the android was able to bring people together and have a sense of identity even without knowing where he came from previously. Carn the ysoki Solarian is my favorite character in these sections, and not just because of his big smashy hammer made out of gravity.
I truly hated Astrachios the Hellknight, as I was supposed to. When anyone in that faction was around, I gritted my teeth because they were just plain nasty to read about. They're definitely going to be a part of my campaign at some point, just so I can give my party something truly vile to work against.
All the while, the iconic characters from the Starfinder Second Edition, Chk Chk and Dae, work as interstitial chapters that tie the present-day setting to the past. Honestly, their interactions were the best parts of the book, and I wish there were more of them. Not that the rest wasn't engaging and entertaining, but any time the death-metal poet bug had shenanigans with his influencer/pop star bestie, it was just golden.
Between these three perspectives, we see two major events unfold that are only related to the Gap by proximity:
The founding of the Order of the Eclipse of Hellknights, who play a big part in the game's adventures. While the Hellknights exist across both Pathfinder and Starfinder, the Order of the Eclipse started because of space-fascists wanting to control the flow of information to gain power (see? disgusting).
And the founding of the Starfinder Society. Not only the name of the SF organized play program, the Starfinder Society is a major faction within the universe, and it was super cool seeing the very beginnings of the Society being formed out of the chaos of the Gap. It has given me a lot of context as a Starfinder game master as I include them more and more in my sessions, and I love that.
What's It Missing?
The Gap. Like I said, if you're reading this book only to learn what happened before, during, and to cause The Gap…you're going to be disappointed. But you do learn tidbits like how everyone's favorite undead reality show host, Zo!, is the one to have named it the Gap in the first place.
The narrative is all about the Gap, and even if Pratt and the Paizo team don't directly say “this is what caused the Gap and here's what happened and here's exactly how long it lasted,” you do get a lot of information that makes the Gap more of a real event than a gameplay conceit to separate two different settings. That's genuinely nice.
Also, the book is short. At just 279 pages, I was able to plow through it pretty quickly. While that's a perfectly reasonable size for a novel, and the book definitely doesn't seem rushed or cramped, it surprised me. I'm used to reading Brandon Sanderson novels, so I did a double-take when I saw the page count. I have to say, though, it was nice being able to sit down for just a few nights and get the whole story from start to finish. It's definitely not too short to make an impact, and it's not long enough to overstay its welcome.
Conclusion
Honestly, this was a 5-star experience through and through. It's a media tie-in book, which I love thanks to the crazy number of Dragonlance and Star Wars books I've read over the years, and it's written by one of my favorite authors about one of my favorite game worlds. It tells a great story and never feels like it should have just been a chapter in a sourcebook like the Starfinder Galaxy Guide, either. All in all, if you're a Starfinder fan, grab Era of the Eclipse and learn a little more about the Gap and a lot more about Absalom Station, the Hellknights, and the Starfinder Society.
It was a great read, and I absolutely loved the Hellknights as villains. Even they had an arc of self discovery, and the way they go about naming the order of the Eclipse was hilarious. I couldn’t hate them, they are too lovable in their villainy.
The confusing thing about the book is that is offers Lashunta as a means of hatred for trying to scapegoat them into mind manipulation as an impulse on what caused the gap when people were first coming out of the effects- yet Tyrcell the Android isn’t scrutinized even once, not even by the Hellknights for being an Android.
For those unfamiliar Androids didn’t get full right as citizens or even an ancestry in comparison to organics without the help of Android Abolitionists several hundred years later. The fact Tyrcell was able to establish the society into the starfinders, and accomplish as much as he did to free Absalom station from the Hellknights, and never have to suffer the consequences and reality of what he is in terms of how society sees him is definitely the sign of unreliable narration you mentioned.
But, knowing that Dae and Chk-Chk never question this either even when confronted with the unreliable narration or the method of confirming the Hellknight’s end of the story later.