Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes

13 reviews

bkwrm1317'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Middle of the line read for me. While I enjoyed the pacing and felt like this was a quick page turner, I didn't feel like the plot lines really resolved themselves/the sci fi space horror element really did enough for me. 

For example, the extraterrestrial sentience just... didn't matter in the end? There's no resolution for our protagonist with her family really? The weird moments of love interest don't turn into anything, even a major plot point?

This one was just not as good as the first novel, but I know the sophomore novel can be really challenging, and have a lot of respect for S.A. Barnes and the craft! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Self harm, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, and Alcohol

emilyatoz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Cursing, Terminal illness, and Violence

shedevls'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse, Dementia, and Alcohol

mice_are_nice's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Alcohol

leandrathetbrzero's review

challenging 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? Yes

3.25

After a small exploration crew loses one of its members under mysterious circumstances, psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray is assigned to join them on their next trip. Phe has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of ERS—a space-based condition that can lead one to experience paranoia and hallucinations, and they may become a threat to themselves and others, among other symptoms. The crew is less than happy to have Phe with them as they begin to establish residency on an abandoned planet, but that should be the least of their worries when it becomes clear that this planet has some secrets of its own...

Before entering this novel, it is important to know that this read is a slow burn. The tension and suspense come from atmospheric tension, environmental stressers, and strained relationship dynamics among the crew members. The novel eventually barrels you to the end once the true threat is established, but the book is far slower in pace compared to SA Barnes's Dead Silence. Elements I loved include the social commentary on corporate greed, the moments in which Phe feels she is being watched, and the bread crumbs we got surrounding Phe's life before she and her mother moved back on Earth in her childhood. With that said, I did find the depiction and development of interpersonal relationships to be weak and surface level in this narrative. This may be rooted in Phe acting as outsider, so she has only known the crew for this single brief trip. I found the romantic subplot in these pages to be forced and unnecessary; it was a bit awkward at times. While I appreciated the uniqueness of the threat the crew faced, I think I would have liked more answers/explanation surrounding that threat by the story's close. I also just wanted these characters to have more common sense. I would certainly try this author again, because I loved Dead Silence and ultimately liked Ghost Station for what it was. NOTE: I buddy read this with two friends who only had access to the audio, and we seemed to agree that I was the best one off with the ebook, as there are some information heavy passages.

Actual Rating: 3.25 stars 

Original Pub Date: 9 April 2024 

Reading Format: ebook

PREVIOUS BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR:

Dead Silence—5 stars 

Thank you NetGalley, Tor Nightfire, and Tor Publishing Group for an E-ARC copy in exchange for this honest review! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Self harm and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol

skywardstorytelling's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Pros: Very creepy. There were a lot of little details that all coalesced to create the horror, which was very effective to maintain tension. The novel covers a lot of good points re: mental health and dealing with trauma, using horror as a lens to talk about these things. The Big Bad was quite nightmarish and a well-conceived blend of a couple of sci-fi horror tropes.

Cons: Unlike Dead Silence, I felt as though this narrative didn't have a lot of force behind it. The stakes felt lower, despite being objectively higher - the foundations for the shock at the plot reveals and rooting for the characters were not as well laid here. I found Ophelia a frustrating protagonist - she is ineffectual at the best of times, which made her denouement feel almost out of character. The plot was more amorphous and I had a lot of questions left by the end of the novel, making some of the major scenes feel more like set dressing for shock value rather than major plot points. I also disliked the implied romance between Ophelia and Ethan - it follows a disappointly generic romance novel arc and yet has no real payoff. It seems like it was the only way the author could think of to get Ophelia to care about Ethan, even though their conversations were good setup for mutual respect and trust without lingering on the potential of "more" that we never see played out.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

maregred's review

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Death of parent, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

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

barometz's review

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Definitely a slow start, slowed down further by the amount of time that Ophelia spends mooning over Severin*. At almost no point could I take her seriously as a medical professional. But once the horror kicked off, I was still totally sucked in. Ultimately, I wished we could have had more time with

the alien entity

before the book ended.

*I think I jokingly whined to a friend who was also reading this book that it was too heterosexual for me, but it did make me very glad to see queer people included even if just as background characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Self harm, and Death of parent