Way Station Book Review

I recently finished reading a novel that I hadn’t expected to read, by an author I had previously never heard of. It’s on me that I hadn’t. Clifford D. Simak deserves more recognition. Nevertheless, his 1963 novel Way Station somehow ended up on my TBR (my TBR is so long I can barely keep track anymore). So let’s get into the review because I’m excited about this one.

Like I said, this novel appeared in 1963, published in two parts in Galaxy Magazine. It won the Hugo Award the following year. The story follows Enoch Wallace, a man who served in the Union during the American Civil War, who mysteriously stops aging after serving. At some point, Enoch meets an alien he names Ulysses. This alien recruits him to maintain a way station that operates in Enoch’s house. In this station, aliens materialize as they travel through the galaxy, and Enoch meets an array of aliens along the way. Eventually, the CIA notices Enoch’s longevity and goes to investigate.

To start, I loved the premise of this book. I hadn’t previously read something with this idea before, and I enjoyed the fact that the way station was a novel idea that also appeared easy to grasp. The novel felt much more modern than 1963. I expected this to be a newer book that would be out of the norm for my usual book reviews. However, it came out during the tail end of the Golden Age, making it part of science fiction still introducing novel concepts.

I will say that the story moved pretty quickly, especially in the second half. So much so that a lot of information was being thrown in at once, which wasn’t fully described. It makes sense that this story was initially serialized, accounting for its format. It reminded me a bit of The Sword of Rhiannon, which I also reviewed. However, I appreciated the second half for the action.

“There were proud names that were the prouder now, but now no more than names to echo down the ages – the Iron Brigade, the 5th New Hampshire, the 1st Minnesota, the 2nd Massachusetts, the 16th Maine.

And there was Enoch Wallace.

He still held the shattered musket, and there were blisters on his hands. His face was smudged with powder. His shoes were caked with dust and blood.

He was still alive.”

I definitely need to read more from Clifford D. Simak. Feel free to put any suggestions in the comments! In the meantime, stay tuned for another blog post coming up this week. I also just put out another Writing Advice video, which appeared on the MetaStellar YouTube channel. See you all next week! Happy reading!

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