Horror Sci-Fi? Sign me up.
Ghost station was an atmospheric, spooky thrill of a ride. I really enjoyed reading about the moral struggles of the main character and the isolated setting really amped up the intensity of the plot! What was really frustrating for me was the "romance". I could have done without the crush that was eluded to multiple times, I mean can't a lady just be a professional without getting the hots for her superior?I feel like that really didn't add anything to the story and was slightly distracting. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I will definitely be going back and reading previous work by the author.

A psychological space horror set in the point of view of a psychologist who joins a team of space explorers, this book begins to induce a feeling of uneasiness and paranoia all throughout. Definitely a slow start, and definitely something that will make you anxious if you are reading it alone at night, or really anytime that you read it at all. I think I have the same minor problem with this book that I had with the author’s other book in the same universe, Dead Silence (great book btw, helped me get into horror as a genre), which is that the society felt as if it was socially stuck in the late 2010s in terms of social things– there’s an offhand comment about how separating groups by gender is something that’s archaic, but it’s continued with them doing that, and although there is a line about it the characters don’t really have any actions that are against the norm of then– it’s futuristic only in terms of technology.

I enjoy Sci-Fi and Ghost Station is another one to add to the love list. This one gave me vibes of Pandorum and Event Horizon so I flew threw it.

I will say I had a hard time with Ophelia at first, but as time went on I understood her character a bit more and ended up liking her more.

The story itself was just plain fun for me. It has everything I enjoy...planetary mission far from civilization, mysterious beginning and chaos throughout with a satisfactory ending. I want to say more but don't want to give anything away.

Sci-Fi fans will enjoy this one. It doesn't release until April 9, 2024, so keep this one on those release radars. I sincerely appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was one of my most anticipated reads after reading Dead Silence and so it was disappointing when it started off slow. It took awhile for me to get into it but once I did, I read the rest in one sitting! It was such an incredibly thrilling ride of a story. I knocked off one star due to the beginning but otherwise thoroughly enjoyed the characters and plot development.

I personally think that Dr. Bray would have made a horrible therapist. I enjoyed the horror aspects of the book, but I just didn't click with the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Ghost Station.

I don't read sci-fi often; when I do it's usually because there's a horror element to it.

The main characters are generally being chased by an alien or a monster or a zombie or an alien monster zombie. That's how I prefer my sci-fi novels.

I requested Ghost Station because the premise was intriguing and I never read the author before so I was going into this with an open mind.

Sadly, this wasn't for me for the following reasons:

1. It's very, very slow. Like waiting at customs at the airport slow. I understand in any novel, world building and exposition is paramount to establish the context and characters and their motivations but it's slow going here. Waiting on line at the post office during the holidays slow.

The narrative mostly revolves with Ophelia's resentment about her wealthy family, her Daddy issues since he was a serial murderer, and struggling with personal issues related to all this family drama. This got repetitive and boring FAST.

Then, we get plenty of fodder about drilling on a remote alien planet, the equipment, blah blah blah, The writing is good, but almost technical at times.

2. Ophelia is unlikable so it was hard to care about what happens to her. She's indecisive, neurotic, and easily offended. It was hard to take her seriously, much less believe she was a therapist.

3. This isn't horror; no way no how. I wasn't scared. Yes, there are some gross scenes, and those with weak stomachs may want to look away but I didn't. It takes a lot to scare me so that's not the fault of the author.

I hoped the author had explained the alien entity more.

4. And that lazy ending? After everything the crew went through and they wake up like Sleeping Beauty and all's well?

5. A lot of discourse and monologuing about the evils of capitalism and corporations, etc, etc, etc. We get it! Big business is bad. Now entertain me!

The narrative was slow, not suspenseful, and dull.

This wasn't for me, or maybe it's a combination of factors; the author, the genre, and the story didn't work for me.

If I'm in the mood for something horrifying and suspenseful, I'll watch the classics, Alien, Aliens, and The Thing.

_Ghost Station_ by S.A. Barnes is an unsettling horror read set in space. It follows Dr. Ophelia Bray, who has dedicated her life to treating patients with a disorder called ERS, as she is assigned to a crew as they explore a deserted planet with ruins from an ancient civilization. Soon it’s apparent that something suspicious happened to the previous crew, and even to the ancient society. Mystery, murder, and secrets keep the reader intrigued and guessing the outcome.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the ARC of this book!

Another great edition to the "wtf is going on" genre, as I like to call it. It pulled me in almost immediately as we read about Ophelia preparing to take off on a space mission. She's volunteered to be the onboard therapist for a group of researchers after the death of a crew member. It perfectly blends the sci-fi genre with horror and leaves me wanting more from this author.

For all the Doctor Who fans out there, add this one to your TBR if you enjoyed The Waters of Mars.

Another awesome space horror! I really enjoyed this author's other book, Dead Silence, so I was so happy to get the chance to read another book written by them! This time it is Ophelia or Phe heading out to join a research group that had recently lost a team member on a previous mission. Ophelia has some dark secrets (that slowly are revealed and it is a doozy) and the team does too. That definitely adds a nice tension when they land on a new planet that holds its own secrets. So of course the body count starts rising and I found it super hard to put down as things kept getting worse and worse but also intriguing and I needed to find out the truth. Is it all ERS? Maybe, maybe not. :)

This was a good horror story and I am sure to read any other book the S.A, Barnes will write! Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of the book to read and review.

Ghost Station was hands down the most unique space horror l've read to date. Alma Katsu is on point when she calls this a haunted house tale in space, and it doesn't disappoint. Coming April 2024, preorder and prepare to watch your sanity float away along with the characters hope and last chances.
Solid read, perfect representation of what we've come to expect from Stacey Kade!

This was my first book from the author, and I went in with no preconceived notions. I never totally sunk my teeth into the story. I always felt a little disconnected, like I was watching myself read it. I could picture the action, but I couldn't identify with it. I think the author created an interesting world, and it could make for a compelling film. The main character felt weak and indecisive, and it was hard for me to root for her.

I liked this, it just didn't connect for me.

I received complimentary copy of the book from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being given freely.

I am such a huge fan of this author! I thought Dead Silence was brilliant, so I’ve been really looking forward to this book. As per her previous writing, Barnes is able to seamlessly meld sci-fi and horror/thriller. I was on the edge of my seat the entire read. I also very much appreciated all the psychology aspects given my line of work. Overall, would highly recommend!

Even better than Dead Silence. Ghost Station brings out S. A. Barnes' writing abilities. I loved the cast of characters, and the slow dread that sets in as they discover what they're stuck with. Not one to miss!

First, a thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.

I really waffled back and forth on if this was a 2-star or a 3-star read to me, but I finally landed on 2-star. Here's why:

1. The first 50% of the book was a real slog. It felt very slow, and honestly rehashing over and over and over again our MC's personal demons got old after awhile. It felt like that moment in Monty Python and the Holy Grail when the camera zooms out and the whole cast is shouting "GET ON WITH IT" to the skies. More than once I considered just DNF'ing this book entirely.
2. Similarly, I only got through the book with copious amounts of skimming - which seems like it defeats the purpose of reading the book.
3. This felt like a similar-ish in tone book to From Below - the spookies of the deep ocean and the spookies of space are fraternal twins, in my opinion - but that book left me curious for more at the end of each chapter. There just wasn't that... spark in this story.
4. The epilogue was very take it or leave it - to me, this added nothing to my overall enjoyment of the story or its resolution.

I think I would give Barnes' debut novel a shot, but maybe in a few years or after several books when I've forgotten the sting of this one. Overall, I'm not sure I would recommend this book to someone else, as I think there are other spooky space novels that do the concept more justice.

This had such fantastic suspense! Really electric tension, likable and interesting characters, and a really intense plot. There is some really nasty body horror as well.

I went into this book with such excitement following Dead Silence being my favorite book of the year last year. Unfortunately, this one did not live up to my expectation and left me needing more from it. By the end, I found that I did really like the overall story, but the journey to get there was kind of rough. I also am not sure I would call this "horror" as the horror elements were weak and felt more just like typical sci-fi at times.

The first half of the book felt very science heavy in a way that genuinely didn't need to be. I felt like I was really crawling through for the first half (part of me wonders if I was in a reading slump for a few days or if it was the writing that was not working for me... I think it was the writing.) I had a very hard time visualizing anything that was happening - partially due to the science/technology terminology and acronyms used. I found myself picturing scenes/locations/elements from other books or movies that seemed similar in order to give my brain anything to picture and imagine during this book. The planet, the hab, the ruins/towers, all of it was so difficult to picture in my mind without directly stealing mental images from other media to fill in the gaps.
The second half of the book really picked up for me and I felt like pieces were beginning to click. The eventual discovery of the anomaly they were facing definitely piqued my interest more than the majority of the story had so far and it had me wanting this discovery sooner so we could have explored it more. Like once they begin to figure out what is happening around them, the story is already on its way to completion and it left something to be desired there.
It took a long time for any of the interpersonal and/or past trauma experiences to become truly relevant and until the moment when it starts to make sense, it all felt kind of unnecessary and made the gradual reading experience harder to get through. Like Ophelia is a psychologist sent to work with a team dealing with recent team member death and it almost seemed like this plotline was forgotten for a while until it was needed to propel the supernatural/horror elements forward more.
The final 30% was a lot more fast-paced and interesting and I found that I liked where the story went, I just don't understand why it took so long to get there. And I do still think there were a lot of things that seemed like they should be important but ended up being ignored later on or fitting poorly into the full narrative.

I might be convinced to give this 3.5 or maybe even 4 stars if I were to reread it and see if knowing the ending makes me feel better about the beginning, but I also don't know if it would make a difference.

From the very beginning, I had a very difficult time getting into this book. I didn’t really like the writing, I feel like this book literally lost the plot like it was such a cool idea that she was there to counsel people after an accident and then (and I cannot tell you for sure because I skimmed the last 10%) it just feels like we never make it back to that plot. I am so sad I didn’t like this.

Psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray needs a change. Having been cleared of any wrongdoing, she is still distraught over the suicide of one of her patients. She decides to take an assignment with a small exploration crew that recently lost one of its own members to suicide. Knowing that ERS, a space-related condition, may be to blame, Phe wants to help. The small exploration crew docks on an abandoned planet to take samples. But after the death of another one of the members of the crew, Phe is terrified something weird is happening. Was ERS to blame? Or is something else going on?

I am not a big sci-fi fan, but I LOVED Dead Silence. So when the publisher offered this for ONE DAY, I downloaded it as fast as I could and put my device on Airplane Mode.

It did not disappoint. The anxiety of the setting itself - a planet where no one has lived or been in several years, a facility where it seems that the previous inhabitants left in a big hurry, and - oh, yeah - the planet is so far away that the team needs to be put in a "deep sleep" to reach it.

YIKES.

The characters were each unique, adding their own secrets and biases. Ophelia, the main character whose point of view we are enjoying the entire book, has a huge secret of her own. It seems every which way, something is off or amiss, but you're never sure what. Until you are.

One last thing - the ending. While I was nearing the end of Dead Silence, I kept chanting: please don't f*ck up the ending; please don't f*ck up the ending; please don't f*ck up the ending. And it was perfect. So was this one. In my opinion, there is nothing worse than writing a great book with a lackluster ending. Thankfully, Barnes does not have that problem.

So I know this hasn't even been released yet, but...when is the next one coming out!?!

4.5 Stars

Thanks netgalley for this. I loved this book! I would recommend. I love S.A. Cosby! I also loved the cover. It definitely intrigued me to read it. Dead silence was such a good book too. So if you liked that book, go ahead and pick this one up!

Dead Silence was one of my absolute favorite books in 2022 and I was super excited for Ghost Station. It gave me similar vibes and I had a blast reading it. It was missing *something* so it wasn't a perfect five star review but it was still such a great and creepy space horror.