Space Horror, you say?

Sign me up.
This is my second book by S.A. Barnes. I previously read Dead Silence.

Ghost Station takes place on an abandoned planet when a small exploration crew begins to take samples from the planet they have landed on. Each crew member is bringing their own baggage. Dr. Bray dedicated her life to researching a condition called ERS that causes people in space to exhibit erratic and manic behavior. The rest of the crew has recently suffered a loss of their own. Together they will need to face and overcome their trauma, and maybe even something darker lingering on the planet.

I had a lot of fun reading Ghost Station. I will admit it started off a bit slow for me. There is a huge emphasis on past/childhood trauma. Some of it is very on the nose. The plot is intriguing and engaging, especially after one of their own dies and as a reader you want to find out what happened.

The end didn't come quite together as I was expected. In the acknowledgements the author writes that this story came together from interconnected dots and you can really feel that. Some parts don't feel as cohesive as others, especially the ending. It felt like S.A. Barnes wanted to stick to the story but didn't know how to end it. It was still a fun ride.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and Netgalley for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Great setting here. The weirdly claustrophobic feeling of space travel always makes me unsettled. I was uneasy through the entire book. Nothing is as it seems and no one is quite who they say they are. A long but satisfying read.

S.A. Barnes is back with another chilling space based horror. In this book, Ophelia, a psychologist joins a research team at a remote, abandoned space station. Quickly things start to go awry.
I was entertained by this novel however, it was not as good as Barnes last book, Dead Silence. The characters were too obnoxious and the plot slow to develop. I absolutely adored Dead Silence and I was disappointed with Ghost Station. Overall I think it was an enjoyable experience but she could have done so much more with the concept.
Thanks to netgalley and libro.fm for providing me advanced reading copies of this book.

I must say, I was really looking forward to this novel and I was not disappointed, even though it isn't as scary as I was hoping. I would say it is more thriller than horror. I love space horror...from my video games to my books. It gave me Dead Space (a video game) vibes, so I automatically wanted to read it. I must say from the start, the author did great in achieving the eerie, uneasy, spooky feeling...you knew something was going to be up sooner or later. The main character Ophelia and the supporting characters were all well written and were multi-dimensional. All of them have feelings, thoughts, and development.

The cons is it is a long story, which isn't bad and it does progress slowly. I found myself trying to just push on because of the slow progression, but even though it was slow progression, especially at the beginning, certain parts did make me laugh or go hmm. I didn't get bored for too long. It also focuses on the main character's research of ERS a lot, tends to repeat itself a lot, but then, it is a main point of the plot and that is indeed what she is passionate about. I would give it if I can 3.5 of 5 stars, but I'll round up.

I loved this book!! It was such good space horror and spooky lost civilization vibes with just the slightest touch of romance

Nothing can convince me that space isn't one of the best landscapes for horror. Ophelia Bray is a psychologist, who specializes in ERS, which is a space condition that led mass murder. We follow Ophelia and the crew as they are assigned to explore an old, abandoned planet. immediately things are not as they seem and Ophelia and the crew must figure out a way to survive while dealing with their own trauma and secrets. The setting of Ghost Station was immensely creepy and Barnes did a good job of setting the atmosphere and having us question the reliability of the characters, especially Ophelia. The way it is written allows for the layers of the characters to be unraveled. While this is a slow burn, I enjoyed exploring the planet with the crew and slow dissent into chaos and possibility insanity. 3.75 stars rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for an ARC.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for providing an e-arc of this title in exchange for my honest review.

Ghost Station was an anticipated read for me - I loved Dead Silence, and I was anxious to read the author's next book. I didn't think this book was as strong as that work, but it may depend on your expectations. Ghost Station felt more like a thriller than a horror story to me, and I think those expectations colored my experience.

Although I didn't think Ophelia was a terribly likeable main character, I did enjoy discovering the mystery of her past. The crew were all memorable and I enjoyed their interactions. The setting (an abandoned station on an abandoned planet) was suitably creepy. I just wanted it to be scarier than it ended up being!

I did enjoy the crew and the overall arc of the book. I would definitely read another book by the author. Recommended to fans of thrillers!

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the free ALC and eARC of this book which published today!

My rating 3.5 stars, rounded up.

Ghost Station is a decent sci-fi/horror read. While the premise of exploring a mysterious abandoned planet was intriguing, I found the pacing to be slow, and I struggled to connect with the main character, Dr. Ophelia Bray.

Ophelia is dedicated to studying Eckhart-Reiser syndrome (ERS) but outside of this I didn’t feel much depth to her character. However, the build up of tension and suspense is well done as the crew uncovers secrets of the planet and they face the threat of violence and mental deterioration.

Overall, this is an engaging sci-fi/horror that just fell slightly short in keeping my attention. I listened to the audio version narrated by Zura Johnson and would recommend this format if you are interested in reading this one!

I requested a copy of the ARC from the publisher, Tor Nightfire, on NetGalley and was approved in exchange for consideration of a review. All opinions discussed are my own and are subjective to myself as a reader.

After seeing so much hype surrounding DEAD SILENCE, the previous release by S. A. Barnes, I jumped at the opportunity to get eyes on this one as soon as I discovered it listed on NetGalley!

The premise for GHOST STATION in a nutshell is that humans are not built for working and living in space. We're not - but the trying is what makes books like these so doggone exciting!

Sadly, for me the premise was the only exciting part about this book. I did not like any of the characters - granted, I believe readers are set up to not trust the crew that our main character, Ophelia is sent to treat. Ophelia herself - I wanted to like her, and I think I would have - except she's a therapist who clearly is in no way fit to treat patients.

There was no intrigue or suspense. This book took me 7 days to get through and I normally devour this size book in 2 days, tops. I was so bored. I wish more time had been spent on exploration of the hab and the planet the crew from Resilience was there to investigate. The atmosphere was the one shining glory about this book for me.

There was an uptick in pacing and excitement in the last 30-35% of the book, but after one big thing is left unexplained and a convenient easy way out inserted, it left me deflated.

Even though this one didn't work for me, I am still excited to read the first book Barnes wrote, DEAD SILENCE. I saw a lot of potential in the atmosphere and writing style of S. A. Barnes, so this isn't an author I'd consider one and done.

In the book Ghost Station by SA Barnes we meet Ophelia Bray. She is a member of the renowned Bray clan but unlike the impression the name gives she is definitely the black sheep of the family. Not only do to the circumstances of her birth but because she wants to work instead of living off of the wealth the family has. And the fact she works for the families competitor does not make relations anymore cozier. This book is set way in the future and when we meet Dr. Bray she joins a research team going to the planet whose original inhabitants has gone extinct the aim is to get samples from the planet she is mainly there because they recently lost one of their crewmembers Ava. The official record is that she died from a E.R.C A disease that causes rage hallucinations and many more strange behaviors. Although she is supposed to be there to emotionally support the fellow crewmembers Ophelia has PTSD of her own put that on top of the chaos her family causes and other secrets that could be devastating for the crew to know and add that to the fact most of her coworkers don’t like her. All this before they even land on the planet and what happens on the planet needs a review all it’s own. This book was so good and so OMG I can’t believe this is happening type good in the ending is even better. To write a horror story set in space on another planet and not to have one alien in the book is a testament to this author‘s talent especially when the book is so good the main character is so complex this was just an awesome awesome read! I want to thank Tour Nightfire publishing for the free arc via Net Galley all opinions are definitely my own and the mistake so please forgive them I am blind and dictate my review.

This follows an exploration crew being sent to an abandoned planet along with ERS expert Dr. Ophelia Bray. She is there to evaluate the crew after the death of a teammate from a previous job. To say the crew is not very welcoming to her is an understatement. Putting that aside, right from the start Ophelia feels something is off in the hab. Talk about suspenseful.. it was all that and more. I felt a strong sense of foreboding I couldn’t shake.. and for good reason.. as Ophelia’s intuition is right. She does discover a bone chilling sight inside her office. So how does that fit into what’s going on? There seems to be a contagion affecting everyone that Ophelia is trying to get figured out. Or is it something other worldly.. are there extraterrestrial behind what’s happening? I had to find out more to the story, and if Ophelia and the crew would survive. The author kept my interest peaked by slowly revealing more intense details the further I read. I felt very much at unease as the eerie and disturbing scenario unfolded. I don’t read a lot in this genre but after finishing this book I plan on looking for more. — Pub. 4/9/24

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Cinematic is the first thing I will say about Ghost Station. The next thing I will say is that I will never accept a doctor, psychiatrist or psychologist on merit alone. I will never look at a doctor again in the same way. Also Capitalism is bad. The lyrics to “ I’m Every Woman” started revolving in my mind in the middle of reading this. Iykyk. It’s all in me. ARC was provided by Tor Nightfire via NetGalley. I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

4.5/5: A psychologist out in space? What could go wrong? This was a really fun read. Unpopular opinion: this space horror is better than Dead Silence. While reading this, I could not shake the sense of dread. Every page turn increased the butterflies in my stomach. There was a certain eeriness throughout the entire novel. We also get to follow a psychologist who starts to lose her mind, along with the entire space crew. It’s great! We don’t know what’s real, which really added to the spookiness. As someone who’s deeply terrified of space, reading this at night was dangerous!

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Will be posting my review on goodreads and later today on my TikTok @resurrectedbookworm.

When I read the summary for Ghost Station by S. A. Barnes, I was immediately excited. Space-based horror is one of my favorite sub-genres and Ghost Station does not disappoint.

Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of ERS-a space based condition made famous following a case that lead to the murder of twenty-nine people.

She joins a small exploration crew in their journey to an isolated planet, spending time in a company facility situated near the ruins of an extinct alien society.

The atmosphere is delightfully unsettling, the tension growing as the characters try to determine whether the situation they’re dealing with is the result of a deadly space-based condition or an outside source of danger.

Ophelia is an engrossing and relatable main character, the conflicting natures of her families’ dual backgrounds leading her to reject genuine vulnerability, while constantly seeking an unobtainable absolution. The focus upon the extent by which genetics may influence personal choices and the difference between accepting personal accountability and claiming responsibility to escape guilt or further punish oneself are also interesting themes that are explored.

The consequences of rampant capitalism and the desperate choices made by those caught up in it help to make members of the exploratory crew more sympathetic, though I do wish certain members had received slightly more development before things went so very wrong.

Nevertheless, Ghost Station was truly everything that I had hoped for. Thank you very much NetGalley, Tor Nightfire and S. A. Barnes for allowing me to read such an incredible eARC.

Ghost Station is an attention grabbing read with a questionably unreliable narrator and a cast of characters with secrets to hide. Right away, the reader knows these characters are keeping things from each other. This tension kept me engaged with the story as I wanted to find out more about those secrets and how they would impact the outcome of the story. The setting is vividly described and I felt like I could easily picture where the characters were and what they were experiencing. The characters go between feelings of safety to questioning whether the environment and/or each other can be trusted. These elements all came together to create a story that definitely entertained this science fiction horror fan. I look forward to reading more books from this author.

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.

This is the second Space Horror book I’ve read this week and I’m loving the vibes. This story had an immersive, atmospheric vibe with incredibly complex characters. While the story did have a slow start, once it took off, it was go go go! I wasn’t as scared as I had expected to be, but I mean, how scared can you make me about a setting in space? 😂 I did thoroughly enjoy the characters slow descend into madness, so that definitely made up for the lack of scaries. I really hope s.a.barnes sticks with space horror, because I’m loving these books she’s writing!

This is, I suppose, a perfectly fine book. It suffers from an ostensibly main character who is more of a glorified exposition dump (and not necessarily like-able at that), and an author who simply does not trust the audience to get it. Ophelia, the main POV, is a psychologist who is running from a Dark and Bullied Past (which we know because of irritatingly frequent flashbacks (spoiler alert: you will read the name "Anberlynn" more than once)) who signs up for a field trip with the Rugged and Blue Collar people who explore and claim distant planets. There is a lurking concern about space psychosis, competing megacorporations, and at least two Mysterious Events in the Past.

There is so much happening, and so many interruptions to the main storyline, that it is difficult to get the actual plot underway. And by then, if you're moderately genre-aware, you have probably long since figured out at least one "big twist." There is something underneath, but it is a lot of effort to get there.

Dr. Ophelia Bray is a psychologist running from her dark past. She's been working with patients suffering from ERS, a violent illness caused by space travel, and joins an expedition to an abandoned planet to watch the crew for signs of it. Not long after waking from Cold Sleep on the planet Lyria 393-C, Ophelia and her five crewmates realize something very strange is going on. When the crew discovers the body of their pilot, Ophelia is terrified that she has failed to prevent ERS from spreading amongst her team. Will the crew complete their mission, or has something far more sinister been set into motion?

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2024. I absolutely loved Dead Silence and was very excited to dive back into space horror with S.A. Barnes. From the minute the cast of characters arrived at their desolate destination, I could feel the tension, and got lost in the creepy atmosphere. The characters are very real and flawed, but you still want to root for them. I had goosebumps nearly the entire time I was reading, and I can't wait to return to space again with Barnes' next book. (Fingers crossed!) Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for the gifted copy.

Overall Impressions: Very creepy, with a building sense of ominous dread as the story goes on. I actually liked Ophelia quite a bit, even though she’s meant to be a flawed character, and was satisfied with the ending even if it didn’t answer every possible question. I particularly liked Ophelia’s backstory and her realizations as the book went on.

Worldbuilding: Fairly standard sci-fi capitalist space nightmare, without a ton of additional details. There was enough there to frame the story but I would have liked a little more about the main threat in the end.

Plot: Several red herrings, twists, and turns which left me wondering what was even happening at a few points. I generally enjoyed it.

Pacing/prose: A little rushed at the end but otherwise I thought the pacing was good and the prose was excellent.

Recommend/Read More? Absolutely.