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Interstellar Species came with a few spells, scattered among the various species entries. I figured I'd highlight the new options and give some commentary, as I've done for several past books. Would love to hear what other people think of these new spells too!
Overall, there's some fantastic flavor and neat effects. For effectiveness, Change of Seasons and Crystal Mine seem like standouts.
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Artificial Geyser (Technomancer 2) There's already something weird going on with this spell, as its a 20-ft line, but has a range of 60 ft. There's no word on if the line is intended to work like the flexible line weapon property (you can start it from any point in range), so as it stands right now its a bit ambiguous. The damage is nothing special (rocket dash at the same level deals 5d6 in a line, vs. 3d8+1d6 burn for this spell), but its very odd that it deals slashing rather than bludgeoning dmg.
Biomechanical Symbiosis (Technomancer 2,4,6) This is an odd raxalite-related spell, granting a fairly unimpressive amount of fast healing and some electricity resistance. It performs a little better when cast on plants. Its key functionality is granting technomancers very narrow access to the remove condition line of effects (only when cast on plants). The situation where all these effects are needed at once seems like it should be pretty rare.
Change of Seasons (Precog, Witchwarper 2) Huge spell! Inflicts vulnerability to cold or fire, which equals +50% damage from that damage type. With a little coordination from your team, this can effectively amplify your team's entire damage output against solo targets by 50%. Particularly good because even if the creature saves, they're affected for 1 round. Can also be used to turn an immunity into a resistance temporarily, but I expect the biggest value will come from creating vulnerabilities. I can see this as a good filler spell at higher levels, performing really well damage wise in a lower level slot since it scales with the damage output done by your allies.
Change of Seasons, Greater (Precog, Witchwarper 4) Just amps the effect if the target had resistance or immunity. A fairly modest upgrade on a good spell.
Crystal Eruption (Mystic 2, Witchwarper 2) Some minor initial damage, but the key role here is to make a cone into punishing difficult terrain. At the end of the day the 1d4 damage from moving into an affected square is pretty forgettable, but if well positioned this can stack up. A cone shape is pretty good for jamming up wider corridors.
Crystal Mine (Technomancer 4, Witchwarper 4) While the mines are individually unimpressive, it seems fairly easy to place them such that an opposing melee combatant has to trigger all three on the way in to reach your allies. These are hidden too, and the DC to spot them is not a gimme, so it seems quite likely most creatures will just cause them to go off. 12d8 total damage across 3 10-ft bursts is quite good for this level. Heat Leech is a level higher and only does 13d8. The ultimate payoff is casting this spell when you want to entrench a position. The mines remain for minutes/lvl, so you can precast them if you are expecting foes to arrive at your defended location.
Memory Prism (Mystic 4, Precog 4) More a narrative spell than a practical one, but the 24 hour duration makes it difficult to ferry a particular memory to someone on the other end of a Drift trip. Very surprising that this is a 4th level spell when Share Memory is 1st. Am I missing something?
Mental Muscle (Everyone 2) Seems like it should be really broken, since it lets you use your mental stats in place of physical stats, but a combination of very short duration (1 round) and the way starfinder allows you to bump up several stats as you level means that builds that want this typically also aren't gaining that much from it (basically, if you're a technomancer wading regularly into melee, you probably have a decent STR score already to land those touch spells).
Mental Muscle, Greater (Everyone 4) Lasts somewhat longer, but costs a standard action and a resolve point. Duration really isn't long enough that you can precast it, and the benefits don't seem to be big enough to be worth the in-combat cast.
Phantasmal Maze (Mystic 3, Witchwarper 3) A solid and super thematic area control illusion. Even successfully saving against it you'll take a minor debuff, while failing will give a round or two of the victim slowly wading its way through with guarded steps. The only downside is that a cleverly described holographic image that foes fail their saves against will probably do just as well, without costing a 3rd level slot.
Preserved Path (Mystic 1, Precog 1) A minor spell, probably too niche to be of use in 99% of adventures.
Psychic Sonar (Mystic 1-6) For a "sonar", this deals considerable damage. Against enemy groups, this is a one-two punch over sequential turns (though it'll probably feel terrible if every foe saves successfully). Nowhere near as much damage overall in comparison to the premiere aoe blasts at lower levels, but at high levels its pretty potent. The utility of tracking the creatures hit by it seems pretty minor when all spellcasters can buff up with see invisibility.
Spell Redirection (Precog 1-5, Witchwarper 1-5) Does what it says on the tin, more or less, but can only redirect spells to yourself. Unfortunately, the precog and (especially) witchwarper tend to have mediocre fort and will saves, so its difficult to use this to consistently reduce the danger to your party as whole. May be good as a niche option to cover allies that are temporarily vulnerable.
Storm-deflecting Sphere (Mystic 3, Technomancer 3) Similar thematically to the spell Harness Lightning from galactic magic, but this provides only personal protection in the form of electricity resistance. It's "discharge" option is quite weak for a 3rd level spell, but it takes only a reaction. Resistant Armor at this level only grants Resist 5, but it applies to multiple energy types and is selectable. Given how narrow this is, I think I'd rather rely on resistant armor unless I absolutely knew a campaign would be lousy with electricity.
Volcanic Wrath (Mystic, Witchwarper 1-6) A nice, modest, scaling fireball. Damage is a touch lower, but it leaves behind difficult terrain. Polar Vortex is a good bit stronger (dealing 9d6 vs 7d6 damage for the 3rd level version) while also leaving difficult terrain, but it doesn't scale all the way up and down. Splitting damage between bludgeoning and fire might prove problematic if foes have both resistances and get to double dip.
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Spell Redirection makes little sense given the three different reaction counterspell options in Galactic Magic (Dampen, plus the one that neutralizes and the one that hijacks and lets you retarget).
Mental Muscle seems pretty fringe - if I'm investing a spell known and then spell slots for so few rounds of effect, maybe I just invest real permanent build resources for the same effect. I'm not going to cast it to boost my AC, reflex, or fort for a round. Why am I boosting a physical attack rather than using an attack spell to do it directly? It gives three flexible options, but all seem quite weak individually. If it worked on all three physical stats simultaneously for one round I'm not sure I'd think it worth it very often.
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Mental Muscle seems pretty fringe - if I'm investing a spell known and then spell slots for so few rounds of effect, maybe I just invest real permanent build resources for the same effect. I'm not going to cast it to boost my AC, reflex, or fort for a round. Why am I boosting a physical attack rather than using an attack spell to do it directly? It gives three flexible options, but all seem quite weak individually. If it worked on all three physical stats simultaneously for one round I'm not sure I'd think it worth it very often.
Haven't actually seen this spell yet, but my Str 8 / Con 10 Ysoki Technomancer has a nasty habit of getting caught in the front line (usually when we get ambushed after I stepped up to investigate or open something), so something that might help in such a situation is probably worth looking at (even if just getting it on a spell chip for emergencies)...
It’s a swift action and 2nd level slot for one round of duration. Changing that to a standard action cast (because spell chip won’t help you. The greater version is 4th level and lasts a while but takes a standard action and RP, so not great.
For an int class your just using it for strength for 1 round to hit something with a weapon. Why not use a melee spell that keys off your int for attack? You’d sub your presumably low charisma for a boost to fort save and one rounds worth of temp HP. That 2nd level digital shield reaction spell is a better investment.