Stacey Kade

Ghost Station is the new entry in space horror by this horror and I definitely liked it better than the first book. I am fascinated by the concept of space travel and exploration, and love the idea that we are not alone out there and those who are out there are not always welcoming and may be far superior to us. Space exploration can be deadly, yes, but it can also be lonely as well as exciting. You have to depend on others to survive so what happens when you don't necessarily have confidence in others on your team?

The story revolves around Ophelia, the ship's psychologist, who is sent to assess the mental well-being of the crew on an isolated planet where one of their crew mates has died. Wanting to do good, she is surprised when she is given the cold shoulder as the crew understands that a poor evaluation could get them sent home and make them unemployable. Ophelia is a bit of a mess during this book and I enjoyed her journey as she explored the impact her past had on her choices and her behaviour, but the fact she is ignorant of the impact she could have on the crew mates blows me away. She constantly talks about how different she is from her family, but doesn't really consider the implications of why she is sent there in there in the first place.

The first half of the book is quite slow as it deals a lot with Ophelia and her family and the secrets she has kept from everyone; there is so much going on in her head that it sometimes becomes repetitive. It's not that the introspection wasn't interesting, but it has to balance more with the action and this didn't happen until the second half of the book. A lot of the information was important to the second half of the book, but you had to be really patient for the action to start happening.

As mentioned previously, the plot was quite slow in the beginning, but I did enjoy the build-up of the tension. It revolved mainly around Ophelia's issues and whether what she was seeing was real or not as well as the issues she was having with other crew mates. I listened to the audiobook as well as read an ARC kindle version, and I really enjoyed the audiobook. Zura Johnson did a great job narrating the book and the other crew members were easily distinguishable. Personally, I preferred the audiobook.

Once the action picked up in the second half, it was good and there was a big secret to be revealed, something I already suspected. I wish the author had kept up this kind of tension and pace throughout the novel as the last quarter was the best of the book.

Verdict
Ghost Station was an improvement for me as I DNF the last one, but it did get bogged down in the first half with too much introspection. With such an intriguing narrative, I wish the author had balanced the mental health aspects of doing such a job with the action a bit more as I felt like they were two separate things in this book. I definitely enjoyed it, and am looking forward to reading more by this author in the future. And I will also be searching for more by this narrator as well.… (plus d'informations)

Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to treating ERS - a psychological condition linked to people who live and work within the darkness of space. Being in the darkness and on a different circadian rhythm can mess with people's sleep and, as one infamous tragedy shows, can be deadly.

Ophelia is assigned to work, and head out on a mission, with an exploration crew who just suffered the loss of one of their own. She is eager to make a difference regardless that they have no interest in her help to the point where it's clear the crew is keeping information about their colleague's death from Ophelia.

As they land and begin to make residency it quickly becomes apparent that something unexplainable happened on this planet. And when those inexplicable things begin happening amongst the crew, culminating with one of their deaths, Ophelia begins to question if it is the beginning of ERS or something else entirely. In order to survive they'll have to trust each other, but that trust becomes difficult when it's apparent that they've all been keeping their secrets.

Space is the perfect setting for a mystery because it’s so vast yet also so suffocating. You can’t just go anywhere you are at the mercy of your team and technology. And for Ophelia she can’t trust either. As readers it's put in our heads early on that we also might not be able to trust Ophelia's perspective on things. So there is this tension slowly building and running throughout as we kind of walk side-by-side with Ophelia as everything starts to go sideways. Who do we believe? Can we believe anyone?

I will say that there are quite a few too many feints without much forward momentum early on in the book. Yes, it is a slow build and I was completely captivated in the narration, but I also feel like the pacing could have been stepped up a little more while still maintaining that building tension.

In that regard, however, the narrator has a very haunting quality about her voice and listening to the audiobook lent itself well to keeping this eerie quality running throughout. I think the decisions made as far as tone of voice and pacing of the read was spot on. Even though the story is told from Ophelia's point of view, each character was distinctive on their own. When the dialogue changed I knew who was speaking without cues. Overall, impressive and immersive narration.

I don't typically read a lot of horror. But there was just something about the premise of this on that called to me I guess. If you're not super into the squishy, squicky moments that often pop up in horror, then I think you may like this. Don't get me wrong it certainly has its moments of that, but I personally felt like it was lighter than the other times I've read a true horror book. Maybe it's because it has a futuristic bent to it that lends itself well to not feeling overly gross like some horror tends to be.

I do feel like this is a good book to go into with very little knowledge of, so in order to avoid giving anything more away, I'll leave off here, but do want to say that I like and appreciate the way SA Barnes chose to tie everything up at the conclusion.

I've not read SA Barnes previous book, but reading this certainly gets me interested. Next time I'm in the mood for a thrilling sci-fi mystery/horror, I'll know where to look.… (plus d'informations)

This book promised the world to me as a sci-fi reader and didn't deliver anything.
All the characters are one-dimensional and underdeveloped. Nysus, for instance is a geeky guy. He sits all day in his room and "browses the forum threads" and that's all you'll ever learn about him.
The main character is the worst of them all. She is constantly on the verge of mental breakdown, suffering from an uncountable number of mental illnesses, stuck in her past, taking every opportunity to self loath over everything that can even remotely make her feel guilty. She is a Team-Lead (like captain, but lamer, I guess), who doesn't know anything about space flight. Every time she looks at some screen, she complains about not being able to "decipher abbreviations". Lady, how did you get your license?
I don't like the present tense narrating style. I get that it's supposed to immerse us into the story and feel like the things are happening right now, but it's not working for me when the author is describing the events that clearly have taken place in the past.
Another comment about the writing style (or maybe it's audio narrating's fault, or both) is that she tries to scare you by describing how the main character feels after seeing something scary. It's 2 sentences about the actual event that occurs (She saw a ghost in front of her. The ghost had blood all over it) followed by 3 pages of panicking and self-loathing from Claire.
The author seems to not care at all about describing the world or technologies they are using. To be honest, if you changed the setting from space to sea, nothing much would change about the book.
The romance element was so unnecessary and uncalled for. There is zero chemistry between the heroine and Caine (big guy that stands up for Claire every time someone hurts her feelings and she drifts off to some unrelated flashback from her messed-up childhood).
Verux corporation is just evil. That's the only thing that defines them. No description of any complex motives, nothing.
In general, I would say read it only if you are a big fan of the YA sci-fi genre and need something to quickly skim through without burdening your head..

P.S.
Take a drink every time:
1. Claire thinks she is incompetent/guilty/failed everyone
2. Someone "demands"
3. Someone "crosses their hands across their chest"
4. Something weird happens to Claire's heart, pulse, or skin.
5. Clair collapses to the ground because she sees something "in the corner of her eye"
6. "Something something something, or something something anyway"… (plus d'informations)