Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes

13 reviews

shay43geek's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death, Violence, and Mental illness

Moderate: Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Body horror, and Blood

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. 

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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

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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

krysley's review against another edition

mysterious medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Dementia, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Self harm, Body horror, Child abuse, and Suicide

courtsport3000's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

This book solidified S. A. Barnes as an author I definitely want to keep tabs on. I really enjoyed their debut, Dead Silence, and Ghost Station provides a strong follow up. All the wonder and advanced tech of a sci-fi novel blended with the tension and anxiety of a good thriller. I enjoyed the characters and felt the plot moved along at a good pace. Ophelia is an especially interesting character and her twisted backstory adds a lot more depth to the overarching story. Barnes does a great job building so much paranoia into this book - I constantly found myself second guessing the things happening on the page, which played really well with the primary storyline. The body horror was top notch and it was difficult not to itch while reading! 

Added bonus: some great conversations surrounding mental health and trauma. Very unexpected in this context, but ended up being a very well-executed surprise.  

The only thing keeping this from being a solid five stars is that I did want a little more from the ending. It felt a bit rushed at the very end and I wasn't entirely settled afterwards. I'll be eager to see what other reviewers think about this. 

4.5 stars! Top tier creepy things happening in space - highly recommend! 

Special thanks to Tor and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Death, Body horror, and Gore

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Death, Blood, Violence, Grief, Gore, Medical content, Self harm, and Suicide

dana_naylor's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.5

It is horror, but as main character is a psychologist (unsure of exactly what certification, but not a medical doctor and a therapist), there’s a LOT of psychological horror as well.
I had fun with the book overall and will be looking for her next book to read.
I liked most of the characters and enjoyed reveals.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Death, Violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide, Gun violence, and Blood

Minor: Domestic abuse

caseythereader's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad 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

Thanks to Tor Nightfire for the free copy of this book.

 - Whew, GHOST STATION had me on the edge of my seat. Space horror is a new favorite genre for me.
- I loved the setup of this world. There was just enough to make it feel real without getting bogged down in the details of the corporate and social politics. I’d totally read more books set in this universe.
- The threat in this story was deeply terrifying, and I was genuinely right there with the characters as they tried to think their way out of the situation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Vomit, Death, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Violence, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

lahars_little_library's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Mental illness, Violence, Confinement, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Gun violence, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Vomit

bibliomania_express's review

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.

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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