Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes

12 reviews

mrsredfield's review

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Classism

booksmoke_kitty's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Medical trauma

lbelow's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

3.75

Ironically, the only reason I read this book to the end is because the author isn't very good at building the tension. I'm not a horror reader, so I liked that this felt more like a mystery than a horror book. I loved the interweaving of the main character's traumatic past with the present narrative. I found that this interplay really helped to ground me in the character. I also liked all the thought that went into the world building—the corporations, the psychological ramifications of space travel, the side effects of cold sleep, etc. All these little details really made the world come to life! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Murder

anarmandameg's review

dark tense fast-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

4.0

Ew.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Dementia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

machenn's review

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

quetzel90's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I loved this book. S.A. Barnes' work feels like it is tailor made for me. The book felt a bit more like a tense mystery then horror, but that might have just been me. The slower pace gave me a lot of time to get invested and to wonder about the mystery. I love just how much of a mess Ophelia is. Living proof being a therapist doesn't mean you've solved your own issues. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse and Suicide

aileron's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, and Medical content

Minor: Dementia and Death of parent

megandherbook's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This is my first S.A. Barnes novel and I am a fan. 

In the unspecified future, space exploration is a huge money making endeavor and there are two corporations that basically own the market. ERS is a space base condition that can lead to disaster and is a death sentence for someone's career. There's a famous case that ended with the brutal murders of 29 people and since, it's something that nobody wants to be associated with. Dr. Ophelia Bray is a psychologist that specifically works in the study and prevention of ERS in those that work in the space exploration field. After Ophelia experiences a work-related tragedy she decides to take her expertise on site. She's assigned to a crew that also has had a tragedy among them and soon finds herself in space with a group of people that clearly don't trust her or want her there. As they get to the planet they will be exploring things start to get odd - the previous crew clearly made a hasty exit from the planet. Then a member of the crew is found dead in a gruesome way and things go from odd to a nightmare. The crew must work together to find out what is going on but when everyone has secrets it's hard to know who to trust - especially when you might not even be able to trust yourself.

This book has layers! Set in the future it immediately gets you acclimated to this futuristic world. Though it's futuristic there are a lot of parallels to present day so it's easy to connect to. Dr. Ophelia Bray is the FMC that has layers herself. As you get to know her background, family, and motivations you get more questions surrounding Ophelia. Not only has Ophelia experienced a tragedy, the team she is assigned to has as well. This has left the team on edge and even more reluctant to trust Ophelia since psychologists can end someone's career without even meaning to. Any mention of ERS or symptoms that could lead to ERS can easily put someone out of work in the space exploration field. 

ERS itself is interesting. It reminds me of PTSD but stemming more from isolation instead of trauma. Which space would be pretty isolating I would think. How S.A. Barnes creates this whole mental illness into the book was so interesting and gave the book more tension. The motivation behind Ophelia's study of it is also so intriguing, though that's part of the mystery of Ophelia that you learn about as the book goes on.  Every character is interesting; there are things that make you like them or hate them but every one of them had me wondering what they're hiding. 

Overall the book is a great blending of sci-fi and horror. There's some body horror along with thriller vibes. Also, if you don't trust big corporations and those that run it this book won't make you feel hopeful for the future. 

The audiobook edition was easy to listen to but wasn't super entertaining. The narrator did a pretty good job but narrated in a pretty even tone even when scenes were a bit more action packed. I enjoy a good even toned narrator but I think this book deserved a bit more excitement. However, I want to say that I don't think the narrator was boring or hard to listen to. I just found that reading the ebook allowed me to do some scenes more justice rather than listening to the audiobook. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Self harm, Suicide, and Dementia

heather667's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

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 with

low-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

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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