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eed8's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- 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
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Suicide, Death, Gore, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Death of parent, Confinement, Classism, Gun violence, and Violence
smilagros's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I listened to this on audio. I had high hopes for this one because I was OBSESSED with her previous book, Dead Silence. It took about 66% of the book for something to really happen. I still have no clue what was the big reveal. I have to acknowledge that S.A. Barnes knows how to write creepy ass scenes. Even though I was not obsessed with the book, her descriptions had me checking dark places and checking my arms to see if anything was on them. Even though I was not obsessed with this one, I will continue to pick up whatever she writes. Oh! Also, there was absolutely NO REASON to have any romance in this book. It did not go with the book. It changed the scene. I normally am a romance girlie but this time, I wanted no romance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Gore, and Gun violence
Moderate: Colonisation
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.
Content Warnings
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
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.
*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.
Content Warnings
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
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
Content Warnings
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
theartsybookwitch'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
3.5
"But I think if you let the past haunt you, if you can't accept it, it's that much harder to make better choices in the future."
Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes is my first read by them, and while I don't know what I was truly expecting, only knowing that it was a space exploration with a death, I felt like it was way more naturally science fiction than horror.
I did really enjoy Barne's writing style, but I think the main problem I had with Ghost Station was the pacing. The summary makes the main twist out to be near the beginning of the book, when it doesn't happen until at least halfway through. I feel like it had more of a focus on the team, and while the team is an important part, until around 60% in, the true danger wasn't a huge part of it yet.
I felt a certain disconnect with Ophelia, a psychologist who's sent to help with the team. To help escape her trauma, she comes along with the team to explore a planet, and is sucked right back in. There could've been a lot more understanding coming from both sides of her coming along, especially from Ophelia herself.
Ethan was probably my fav character. He just wants to help, and make the most out of a bad situation, but after the team's lies and deception, he feels frustrated and sad cause he blames himself for everything that's happened. He's just a huge teddy bear, be honest.
Overall, if you're a fan of sci-fi, horror, body horror, and Barnes, you will enjoy Ghost Station.
tw // Death, Blood, Violence, Gun violence, Medical content, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Dementia, Child death, Body horror
#space #sciencefiction #scifi #scifihorror
Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes is my first read by them, and while I don't know what I was truly expecting, only knowing that it was a space exploration with a death, I felt like it was way more naturally science fiction than horror.
I did really enjoy Barne's writing style, but I think the main problem I had with Ghost Station was the pacing. The summary makes the main twist out to be near the beginning of the book, when it doesn't happen until at least halfway through. I feel like it had more of a focus on the team, and while the team is an important part, until around 60% in, the true danger wasn't a huge part of it yet.
I felt a certain disconnect with Ophelia, a psychologist who's sent to help with the team. To help escape her trauma, she comes along with the team to explore a planet, and is sucked right back in. There could've been a lot more understanding coming from both sides of her coming along, especially from Ophelia herself.
Ethan was probably my fav character. He just wants to help, and make the most out of a bad situation, but after the team's lies and deception, he feels frustrated and sad cause he blames himself for everything that's happened. He's just a huge teddy bear, be honest.
Overall, if you're a fan of sci-fi, horror, body horror, and Barnes, you will enjoy Ghost Station.
tw // Death, Blood, Violence, Gun violence, Medical content, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Dementia, Child death, Body horror
#space #sciencefiction #scifi #scifihorror
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Gun violence and Suicide
Minor: Dementia
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.
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.
Content Warnings
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
heather667's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
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
gondorgirl's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Death, Blood, Violence, Grief, Gore, Medical content, Self harm, and Suicide
boogergoddess's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, Gun violence, Body horror, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Murder, Suicide, Vomit, Violence, Blood, and Death