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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: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Blood, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Mental illness, Death, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Dementia
bibliomania_express's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
4.5
Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes is a skin-crawling space horror that delves into the psychological effects of trauma, grief, survivor's guilt, corporate greed, and the unknowable. Ophelia is a psychologist, trained to treat space exploration teams for psychological conditions.
This book has a great blend of science, alien horror, and a creepy, cold isolated setting. Ophelia is wracked with guilt, still carrying trauma from her past, and determined to help this team who absolutely don't want her help.
There are parallels with Barnes's first book, Dead Silence - the isolated setting, the critique of corporate capitalism, the use of auditory and visual hallucinations paired with internal conflicts, the hint of romance. But this book shows that Barnes excels at what she does. I felt Ophelia's fear, paranoia, and her intense longing to help. I understood the team dynamics and what motivated each character. My skin crawled at the whole alien part of it. The worldbuilding felt full while not relying on info dumps.
There are some thing I wish had been expanded on, particularly at the end. The epilogue ends rather abruptly, just to tie up the story, but we don't really get to see the fallout or return to some of the side characters we met at the beginning.
I also wanted a bit more from the team. Obviously, some characters, like Ethan and Birch, are more prominent due to their roles in the story, but the action kicks off rather quickly, so there's not a lot of time to get to know each character before the plot is happening.
Perhaps part of it is that I wanted more answers. I have so many questions about details. I suppose some are unknowable, but I wanted a little more space for the characters to breathe at the end.
If you want a isolated space horror that features discussions of mental health, secrets from the past, dystopian worldbuilding elements, and a fight for survivial (plus literal skin-crawling), you might enjoy this book.
This book has a great blend of science, alien horror, and a creepy, cold isolated setting. Ophelia is wracked with guilt, still carrying trauma from her past, and determined to help this team who absolutely don't want her help.
There are parallels with Barnes's first book, Dead Silence - the isolated setting, the critique of corporate capitalism, the use of auditory and visual hallucinations paired with internal conflicts, the hint of romance. But this book shows that Barnes excels at what she does. I felt Ophelia's fear, paranoia, and her intense longing to help. I understood the team dynamics and what motivated each character. My skin crawled at the whole alien part of it. The worldbuilding felt full while not relying on info dumps.
There are some thing I wish had been expanded on, particularly at the end. The epilogue ends rather abruptly, just to tie up the story, but we don't really get to see the fallout or return to some of the side characters we met at the beginning.
I also wanted a bit more from the team. Obviously, some characters, like Ethan and Birch, are more prominent due to their roles in the story, but the action kicks off rather quickly, so there's not a lot of time to get to know each character before the plot is happening.
Perhaps part of it is that I wanted more answers. I have so many questions about details. I suppose some are unknowable, but I wanted a little more space for the characters to breathe at the end.
If you want a isolated space horror that features discussions of mental health, secrets from the past, dystopian worldbuilding elements, and a fight for survivial (plus literal skin-crawling), you might enjoy this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Moderate: Physical abuse, Confinement, and Mental illness
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Child abuse, Dementia, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
ezwolf's review
adventurous
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
3.0
Dr Ophelia Bray is trying to make up for the past, both her own and her family's. Part of this effort is done by joining a team going to survey a planet that was known to have life. Many space travelers have suffered from their prolonged experience in space and Dr Bray is there to try and help the team minimize these effects. She is not welcomed with open arms and when one of the crew brings up her past, it makes it even harder to trust her. But the longer they are on the planet, the more it becomes apparent that something is wrong and they may not be able to escape it.
Something I found interesting with both Ghost Station and Dead Silence do the portrayal of capitalism. I know sometimes it's nice to have an escape from reality, but I found it really intriguing to consider. In Ghost Station especially, capitalism is the source of a lot of the problems the team suffers, both before and during the story. Overall this was a fine book. It was suitably thriller-y and horror-y, the mysteries made me want answers. But we didn't get all of the answers in the end which is always something that bothers me, I am not a fan of loose ends.
And finally, this isn't really a spoiler, but if you have trypophobia (an irrational or disproportionate feeling of discomfort or revulsion at the sight of clustered holes or bumps) I maybe wouldn't recommend this for you. The lead up to the reveal had enough instances of it that I almost stopped reading, but wound up just skipped ahead past descriptions.
Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!
Something I found interesting with both Ghost Station and Dead Silence do the portrayal of capitalism. I know sometimes it's nice to have an escape from reality, but I found it really intriguing to consider. In Ghost Station especially, capitalism is the source of a lot of the problems the team suffers, both before and during the story. Overall this was a fine book. It was suitably thriller-y and horror-y, the mysteries made me want answers. But we didn't get all of the answers in the end which is always something that bothers me, I am not a fan of loose ends.
And finally, this isn't really a spoiler, but if you have trypophobia (an irrational or disproportionate feeling of discomfort or revulsion at the sight of clustered holes or bumps) I maybe wouldn't recommend this for you. The lead up to the reveal had enough instances of it that I almost stopped reading, but wound up just skipped ahead past descriptions.
Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Body horror, Death, Blood, Violence, Child abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Cursing
Minor: Classism, Ableism, Child death, and Dementia
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