The Good
After Dead Silence, I think this type of SF Horror might be my favorite. I love the combination of horror, adventure, and science fiction. Many of the characters were awesome, some starting off that way and others growing on me. At some point, the surly Suresh became my favorite. As a mostly SF/F reader, the ending was satisfying as was the relationship between the characters.

The Bad
The book starts off slow. It took me longer to get through the first third of the book than the remainder. It just drags. I think two things cause this, both of which are classified as...

The Ugly
First, the MC Ophelia is too introspective and whines constantly. Towards the end, it even started to cut through the tension of the events because it was all so repetitive or predictable (not the events themselves, just Ophelia in the events). I understand that she is a psychologist, but she is always so much more focused on herself and her history that it almost makes any time she cares about someone else seem like an act at first.

Second, and this is very subjective, but I hated the narration. It was soporific, which is not what I want in an audiobook of any kind but certainly not a horror audiobook. It also layered over the introspection in a way that just doubled the whining effect. The performance itself was fine, and the narrator has a lovely voice, but it's neither the kind of voice I want reading to me nor the kind of voice I want reading a book like this.

Also, Ophelia commits a classic SF/Horror blunder that made me facepalm at her stupidity... twice.

That said, I liked the book as a whole, don't feel like I wasted my time, and would totally recommend it to others

Initial Thoughts
I really had a good time with this book! I love that the story kept me guessing and I was never completely sure what was real. I liked all of the characters and really appreciated getting their backstories, especially that of Dr. Ophelia Bray. I listened to the audiobook and thought that the narrator did an excellent job with the narration.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Full review to be posted soon.

3.25 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I am sad to say that I was disappointed! I have loved this authors previous book, Dead Silence, so when I saw the cover and description for Ghost Station, I was so excited. Unfortunately, it was just too slow and repetitive for me. I had a hard time staying focused.

I will read other works by this author even though this one was not my favorite.

As a huge fan of Barnes’ Dead Silence, I was eagerly awaiting their next Science Fiction novel. Ghost Station is it and here we are!

Dr. Ophelia Bray’s latest assignment is as a sort of Ship’s Counselor,” (a la Deanna Troi), to a crew traveling to an abandoned planet to “take samples.” Ophelia wants to get away from her family, (LOTS of background there), and welcomes a chance to prove her usefulness aboard ship and on the planet. Her task is to be sure that everyone remains in good mental health. Unfortunately, the crew view her, (or any psychologist), as the enemy- any hint of mental illness might render them a risk and therefore unemployable. Upon said crew’s arrival on the planet, it soon becomes obvious that something strange has happened there. Why were they sent to this particular planet? What are their bosses hoping to find in this crew’s samples? What will Ophelia discover? You’ll have to read this to find out!

I find myself struggling to put into words how I felt about this novel and here’s why. The first half of the book is almost all taking place in Ophelia’s head. There’s an abundance of family secrets she’s dealing with, as well as what she sees as a major failure in regards to her work as a psychiatrist. I believe she’s dealing with PTSD from more than one incident in her life. Frankly, she’s a bit of a mess. I enjoyed the arc of her character but I also had issues with the length of time it took to relate all of the above. Seriously, it takes up the first half of the book. Yes, a lot of the information came into play later in the book and was eventually important, it just seemed like an extended period of time before any action began.

Once it did, there was a lot of Ophelia questioning herself, is this real, or in my mind? Once Ghost Station’s secret is revealed, the action takes over from there on out and for me, that was where this story lived. The last quarter of this novel hummed right by, with all becoming clear and the reader rooting for the crew to escape the horror. I just wish we had gotten there a bit sooner.

The narrator here, Zura Johnson did a great job, and she “felt” real as Ophelia cycled through one emotion after the next. She narrated the various crew voices in easily distinguished accents and timbre. I enjoyed her performance immensely.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed in this. The narrative was intriguing and exciting, I just felt it got bogged down in the first half. I definitely enjoyed it just the same and will eagerly await the next novel down the line.

*ARC from pulisher.*

What an amazing fantasy debut! This story has it all, court politics, poising, betrayal, brutal fight scenes, mystery, and, of course, dragons! This was a wonderfully written sweeping epic tale and I can't wait for the next book in this series!

As far as reviews go take this with a grain of salt as we are not generally sci-fi readers and don't have a good understanding of how this genre tends to work. That being said:

This book has quite the misleading summary. It presents itself as a murder horror novel. As genres go I would more place in among the psychological horror as there are some creepy things that happen, but it is more of a why is this happening and less of a "whodunit"

Sam's Rating: 3 stars
Morgan's rating 3.5 stars.

Highlights: The last half of the book is when the most exciting parts occur. It's when the action begins, and we really start to questions the sanity of the members of the crew. As we are told throughout the book there is a mental health disorder called ERS that can affect the crews that go on the various missions to different planets. Ophelia, our main character, is a big proponent of ERS as she is a therapist being charged with attempting to minimize the chance for the crew members to have this new mental health issue. The crew thinks that ERS is a made-up psychobabble and that Ophelia has no reason to be there. The real question comes down to....is ERS real? That is a question you will have to read the book to find out the answer.

Lowlights: Morgan was thoroughly upset with the romance sub plot. It felt thrown together and unnecessary. Sam was upset about the fact that there was a ton of background given about Ophelia's life back home all for it to culminate to not a great epiphany or conclusion. The epilogue also left the story feeling incomplete.

Overall, it was an okay novel. We are willing to try another sci-fi horror novel in the future to just see if this was truly a 3-star book or if it just isn't the genre for us.

2 out of 5 Stars

I didn't like it. Found it very boring instantly. I should really learn to listen when someone with very similar taste to me doesn't like something that I probably won't like it either.

I could absolutely see this book being made into a movie. Sci-fi, horror, and space exploration, sounds like a hit. This book was entertaining and honestly unlike most things I normally read. But I still enjoyed it! It was well written and engrossing. It kicked my anxiety into high gear, which tells me that I was fully wrapped up in the story!

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook.

Definitely need to read the physical book, long dead civilization planet setting team has a mission to help people with mission’s.

Loved loved Dead Silence more but still enjoyed following Ophelia. Just needed the pace to more faced paced.

I loved the narrator for Ghost Station. Zura Johnson did an amazing job of bringing not only Ophelia and the crew but also the planet to life. I felt like I was walking right alongside Ophelia as she and the crew began to question their sanity and discover all the secrets that were left behind when the last crew left.

I thoroughly enjoyed Ghost Station. From the moment we meet Dr. Ophelia Bray as she gets ready to go into cold sleep in preparation to join a new team for a mission I was hooked. At first, I wasn't sure how much I was going to like the team she joined, as they were in mourning for a friend/ colleague that was recently lost, they didn't want her there and made sure she knew it. But as the story progressed and we got to know who they were they all started to grow on me.
I loved the vibe of the abandoned station. It was creepy, and I could feel that something was off about it. Then as the stakes get higher, and the crew begin to act out of character the tension and suspense ramp up and I didn't want to put it down.
Ophelia is a great main character, she draws you in, and the more you discover about her the more you want to know. She doesn't always make the smartest decisions but I think that makes her feel more like a real person. Especially under the circumstances Ophelia and her fellow crewmates found themselves in.
I thought the atmosphere was great! It was creepy and had me on the edge of my seat.


I absolutely loved Ghost Station as well as Barnes's previous novel Dead Silence. She has quickly become an auto-buy author and I can't wait to see what she is going to write next!

I was hoping I wouldn't align with the mostly mediocre early reviews that have been coming out, but what it comes down to for me is that while I really liked the story elements of this book, the style it was written in was not engaging for me, and I had to push myself to finish it (and had a hard time paying attention while I was). Maybe also the audio narrator didn't help things, but at this point I can't really tell. They sort of melded together for me.

The style was slow, a little melodramatic, and certainly very serious, not to mention told in first person present tense, which it takes a pretty strong and unique writing style for me to enjoy that, so that wasn't helping here either. I wish there had been more humor, more variation in tone. I had much less of a problem with this after about the halfway point, but it was a real struggle to get there. This tone helped with the creepy vibe, but was a detriment to my enjoyment while reading.

I still really want to read this author's first book because it sounds more like what I was wanting from this one, and people overall seem to have liked it more.

Is it an abandoned planet or is something out there? Psychologist Dr Ophelia Bray decides to expand her study of the debilitating (and dangerous) ERS disease by joining an expeditionary team in exploring a seemingly empty station on the seemingly empty planet. But then one of the crew is found dead. When everyone this far out in space has something to hide, who can be trusted?
There’s a complicated and layered plot with some hijinx, gore, and romance thrown in for good measure. It’s slightly muddled but enjoyable. After reading it, I saw the book described as a sci-fi horror, but it truly isn’t scary. Or at least not the type of scary that keeps me up at night! I don’t enjoy horror but I did enjoy this book and look forward to more from S. A. Barnes.
My thanks to the author, the publisher, and to #NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of the audiobook in exchange for this review.

Thank you to NetGalley and S.A Barnes for allowing me to listen to this book via audiobook!

Let me just say that I have some serious feelings about this book. FIRST, n o o n e should've let Ophelia become a psychiatrist, and I mean NO ONE. The fact that she pursued that field without getting help for her problems is extremely selfish of her. She was never the best option for this job. Like I get it, you want to destigmatize and bring awareness to ERS, but girl you have too much trauma to be dealing with and trying to help with other people's.

Secondly, wtf was with her and Ethan, that weird one-sided romance was just...so unnecessary and goes back to my first point. She can't even handle her feelings to her supervisor and PATIENT. Did she blush when Julius gave her this kind of attention? Why was Ethan, taking care of a team member suddenly causing her to develop a crush? This did nothing to further the story, and was just like a here! Do with it what you will.

Thirdly, I dislike how not fleshed out this book was in terms of world-building, or worlds-building. So much more information could've been provided about the universe as it is now, and the literal planet that they visited. This book would've been so much more fun if they explored the planet instead of contracting the "disease" the first time they stepped outside. I guess that defeats the point of horror (which this was not), but I dunno, I needed more.

I think, being who I am, I will continue to read books by S.A. Barnes because I like sci-fi horror/thriller, it's just so much fun. Even if the books are not that great.

Ghost Station follows our female main character Ophelia Bray. She is a psychologist on a mission to help a team with their mental health and avoid the ever pressing condition known as ERS. That’s not Bray’s only mission though. She’s also trying to prove to herself that she is not just a name. Bray is one of the wealthiest families and Ophelia is the black sheep. With a trouble past and a tough start to her career, her only goal is to not leave this mission the person everyone expects her to be. The team is sent to an abandoned planet for further exploration and they are doing their best to put the loss of a teammate behind them. Bray being the transplant that she is, along with the career field she represents, doesn’t start off on the right foot with the team. As they continue to disregard her, strange things start to happen and it’s in everyone’s best interest to find out why before there’s no way for them to make it home.

As captivating as my synopsis of this story was, the book wasn’t. All of the characters are flat and have zero growth during the entire book. The FMC is whiny and extremely immature. She’s a doctor but acts like a high school student! She lets every comment bother her and is shocked by her own reactions to things like, “I’ve never acted like this.” *gasp* The “scary” parts of the story are swept away or written off and it’s “all in her head”. I’m not sure if this is a common element in horror, but this very weak, half baked “romance” is just cringy in this book and literally added nothing to the story.

I’m so disappointed right now. This was one of my most anticipated reads for 2024 and all I got was a soggy bread story. Even the “plot twist” made me mad. Like, that’s it?? Go back to the 2000s with this regurgitated plot. 2/5 stars.

The ONLY saving grace for this book was the narrator. That’s truly the only reason I trucked through it. The narrator made me feel emotion that the words on the page weren’t giving. She deserves 5 stars.

Enjoyed this one just as much as Dead Silence. Please never stop writing space horror!

Tysm for the ARC!

I loved Dead Silence by this author and I was so excited to receive this audiobook through #NetGalley.

Listening to this heart-pounding thriller was such an experience! The action and the story pull you in right from the start and the pace does not let up through the entire book. I did not want to stop listening once I started because I just had to know what was going to happen next.

Ghost Station is even better than the previous read I read by this author and I can't wait to read more from S.A. Barnes.

Fans of horror, thriller, or even science fiction should give this one a try. You won't be disappointed.

I didn’t trust anyone, so I was constantly trying guess what was going to happen next. I never guessed anything close to right! By the end of the book, I had made peace with several characters and enjoyed the ending. This was quite a ride! I just love the space thrillers that S. A. Barnes writes!

I had a hard time with this one. It was more sci-fi than horror and I am not a big sci-fi person. It took a while to get going. I felt like the storyline jumped a bit too much and I wasn’t following one sequence to the next.

The narrator was difficult to listen to. I had to bump it up to 1.5 speed, so she spoke closer to a normal speed. I was losing interest with how slowly she was reading and it made the book drag.

2/5 stars

Unfortunately I had to DNF this book around 25%. I liked the author's writing style and would consider trying their other books but this one was not doing it for me. The plot wasn't moving and the characters were not enough to keep me hooked. I was expecting more of everything from this book, and it just did not deliver.

I was also surprised at the quality of audio in my audiobook ARC. There was an alarming amount of sibilance coming from the narrator that I would have expected to be resolved with a pop filter and/or edited out afterwards. The entire audiobook did not come off as well edited after narration.

Unfortunately this one was a bit of a miss for me! I truly loved Dead Silence so I was super excited for another space horror. I think my biggest struggle was the pacing. The plot was a reeaaaalll slow burn for the majority of the book. It is definitely atmospheric, and there's a heavy psychological component to the horror. It's less in your face, and more - self-gaslighting/can you trust your own mind.

Because it was a slow start, it was harder for me to stay engaged with the audio. I found myself losing the plot a handful of times until about 70% in. The audio app also doesn't give you any options between 2x and 2.5x. I think that 2.25x would have been the perfect speed for this book.

This is a good book for someone interested in a low stress space horror without the gore and drama that's in Dead Silence. This one is more of a diet psychological horror.

I loved the idea of a mental health professional assessing whether the people are being affected by this strange disease that essentially causes them to hallucinate. When you can't trust any of the characters or the narrator, it makes a story fun for me to read.

Other than the pacing/slow start, this is a fun book. I usually enjoy this narrator so I will certainly listen to more books she reads. And I love SA Barnes so I will continue to binge her books too.