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sophee_568's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Child abuse
bookcheshirecat's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Grief, Self harm, Murder, Violence, Blood, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse and Child abuse
j_squaredd's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Death, Blood, Gore, and Body horror
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Child abuse
quetzel90's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Self harm, Blood, Mental illness, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Murder, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Child abuse and Suicide
barometz's review against another edition
- 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
*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.
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Medical content, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, and Death
Moderate: Self harm, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent
aileron's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Body horror, and Death
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Medical content
Minor: Death of parent and Dementia
megandherbook's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Blood, Death, Body horror, and Mental illness
Moderate: Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Suicide, Self harm, Bullying, and Dementia
krysley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Dementia, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Self harm, Body horror, Child abuse, and Suicide
heather667's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Mental illness
Moderate: Bullying, Classism, and Child abuse
Minor: Child death, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent
audrian_crow's review against another edition
- 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
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
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