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priscillarobock's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic
theebster's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Deliciously creepy. Delivered on my expectations after loving Dead Silence! Really enjoyed the tension and unreliable narration in this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
bookcheshirecat's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
“That’s always the trouble, isn’t it? When you take on one thing outside of your control, suddenly everything is your fault. Nothing is ever enough.”
➽ S.A. Barnes is back with another Sci-Fi Horror! Ghost Station is about psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray who accompanies an exploration crew as they examine an abandoned planet. The problem is that the crew doesn't really want her there, as she's the mandated therapist because they recently lost a crewmate. I liked the tension, as Ophelia fights hard to establish herself as a confidante instead of an intruder. It was interesting having a psychologist as a main character, as Ophelia is aware of the mental state and dynamics in the crew, but still grapples with how to handle them. I loved that this story focused on mental health in space, as people are known to break down from different circumstances, such as the unnatural day-night cycle and the stress of the job. Ophelia is determined to counsel people before it gets to a breakdown, but she's also running from a scandal. Part of her wants to make up for it ... if the crew even lets her.
➽ I loved seeing Ophelia's inner struggles with her past mistakes and her overbearing, wealthy family who sees her as something to fix. Her new coworkers are suspicious of her without any of her secrets, so there is a lot of tension in the team. This is amplified by the stress of being on an isolated planet the previous crew abandoned in haste. It houses an extinct species of alien that used to live there, but it seems like it might be inhabited by something much worse. I loved the ominous atmosphere and sense of paranoia that crept into the story. The longer Ophelia and the others spend on the planet, the more intense the feeling gets.
➽ I still prefer Dead Silence, as Ghost Station was more of a slowburn. The story is rather slow-paced and while I liked the buildup, it definitely took its time to get me invested. I know not everyone will be a big fan of such a slow, introspective story. I also felt like the ending was very rushed compared to all the buildup. I still had questions, but the book just ended.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse and Domestic abuse
audrian_crow's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I was lucky enough to read Ghost Station as an audiobook ARC provided by NetGalley and Macmillan Audio.
The Good
After Dead Silence, I think SF Horror withlow-despair endings might be my favorite. I love the combination of horror, adventure, and science fiction. Many of the characters were awesome, some starting off that way and others growing on me. At some point, the surly Suresh became my favorite. As a mostly SF/F reader, the ending was satisfying avoiding the cliche horror or thriller ending of *everything ended badly and it's waiting for you* that usually ruins books like this. The chemistry between the MC and the mission commander is pretty solid as well.
The Bad
The book starts off slow. It took me longer to get through the first third of the book than the remainder. It just drags. I think two things cause this, both of which are classified as...
The Ugly
First, the MC Ophelia is too introspective and whines constantly. Towards the end, it even started to cut through the tension of the events because it was all so repetitive or predictable (not the events themselves, just Ophelia in the events). I understand that she is a psychologist, but she is always so much more focused on herself and her history that it almost makes any time she cares about someone else seem like an act at first, Ethan being the notable exception .
Second, and this is very subjective, but I hated the narration. It was soporific, which is not what I want in an audiobook of any kind but certainly not a horror audiobook. It also layered over the introspection in a way that just doubled the whining effect. The performance itself was fine, and the narrator has a lovely voice, but it's neither the kind of voice I want reading to me nor the kind of voice I want reading a book like this.
Also, Ophelia commits a classic SF/Horror blunder, specifically the"Oh, no! Not a gun! Better leave that on the floor because I can carry a gun. . It made me facepalm at her stupidity... twice.
That said, I liked the book as a whole, don't feel like I wasted my time, and would totally recommend it to others
The Good
After Dead Silence, I think SF Horror with
The Bad
The book starts off slow. It took me longer to get through the first third of the book than the remainder. It just drags. I think two things cause this, both of which are classified as...
The Ugly
First, the MC Ophelia is too introspective and whines constantly. Towards the end, it even started to cut through the tension of the events because it was all so repetitive or predictable (not the events themselves, just Ophelia in the events). I understand that she is a psychologist, but she is always so much more focused on herself and her history that it almost makes any time she cares about someone else seem like an act at first
Second, and this is very subjective, but I hated the narration. It was soporific, which is not what I want in an audiobook of any kind but certainly not a horror audiobook. It also layered over the introspection in a way that just doubled the whining effect. The performance itself was fine, and the narrator has a lovely voice, but it's neither the kind of voice I want reading to me nor the kind of voice I want reading a book like this.
Also, Ophelia commits a classic SF/Horror blunder, specifically the
That said, I liked the book as a whole, don't feel like I wasted my time, and would totally recommend it to others
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Dementia
lahars_little_library's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Vomit
ericarobyn's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.5
Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes is a space horror tale of isolation, cold, and inner turmoil set on a planet with many secrets. But it’s not just the planet itself that has a story to tell, it’s each of the crewmates as well. But will they share or will the secrets ruin them all?
Content Warnings:
Mental health, Suicide, Injury description, Death, Domestic Abuse, Violence, and Murder.
Mental health, Suicide, Injury description, Death, Domestic Abuse, Violence, and Murder.
Let’s dive in!
My Thoughts on Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes –
After the death of a crewmate, Ophelia is sent to treat a team in space as their on-site psychologist. But there’s something fishy about the assignment itself and when she arrives, she sees very clearly that the crew doesn’t want her there. They only want to continue their mission of documenting three more planets and then go home.
Struggling with her own very raw traumas, Ophelia is disturbed to find that various things on this mission trigger even more trauma from her childhood. Fighting her inner demons while struggling to remain calm and collected on the surface to do her job, Ophelia just can’t catch a break.
This tale starts with a scene that brings a deep unease into the reader’s mind. That unease only gets worse and worse as the story progresses. The author does an amazing job setting us up to distrust the main character while still hoping all will turn out well. I absolutely loved how readers are in the dark when it comes to various secrets. While it’s easy to see that everyone is acting strangely, it could be chalked up to their collected recent trauma. However, over time we get to slowly learn about everything that’s being hidden and with each thing learned, the tale only gets more and more twisted.
SO many scenes here had me holding my breath! I don’t think I took a solid breath in or out during my entire time reading, however, as the anxiety this tale spiked in me had me so tense!
My Favorite Passages from Ghost Station –
Ophelia grips her safety restraints tighter, teeth rattling in her head so hard she’s not sure she’ll have any left by the time they land. Her chest aches with the pressure of increasing gravity, and her palms are sweaty inside her envirosuit gloves. Correction: all of her is sweaty.
An enormous, enclosed environment with nowhere to run and thousands of places to hide.
The howl of wind around her rises to an unearthly shriek, an eerie, goose bump-inducing sound. From low to high, deep to shrill, like an animalistic moan of pain transforming into a scream. And it’s coming from the city ruins to her left.
No. Ophelia shakes her head. Not here.
But the back of her neck prickles with a chill of awareness, as if someone is just behind her, looming in the threshold, breathing just hard enough to ruffle the tiny hairs there.
Goose bumps spring up on her arms, and she whips around, hands up to defend herself from … something.
But no one is there.
But the back of her neck prickles with a chill of awareness, as if someone is just behind her, looming in the threshold, breathing just hard enough to ruffle the tiny hairs there.
Goose bumps spring up on her arms, and she whips around, hands up to defend herself from … something.
But no one is there.
There’s something—or someone—here. That’s what it feels like. As if she and Severin have just missed someone sweeping through, removing all signs of themselves and anyone else. It’s not a scent left hanging in the air, obviously; even if that were so, she wouldn’t be able to smell it. It’s not even a noise, echoing in the distance. Just a sense of not being alone.
For the thousandth time since the start of this experience, she feels she’s missing something important. Unspoken information that would make all of this make sense. It’s like feeling the breeze of a near miss but never learning what danger you just dodged or what to look out for next time.
Humans have been operating like they have the universe to themselves just because they haven’t found any other living civilizations. Doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.
This isn’t a bear or a saber-toothed tiger or even the sound of rushing footsteps behind her on a darkened street. But that primal part of her brain certainly recognizes it as a danger and wants nothing the fuck to do with it.
My Final Thoughts on Ghost Station –
Horror fans who enjoy claustrophobia-inducing tales, you gotta check this one out! I was so uncomfortable during my time reading this, but I was also totally captivated by the tale and couldn’t wait to see what horrors were to come next! This is such an amazing blend of isolation and the need for connection and approval.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail