This was some amazing story-telling. The descriptions of the current life on earth were chilling and the descriptions of the ship made it like I was there with them.

But, this story was not for me. The flashbacks were too much and I was confused from the get-go, not understanding the 'fighting' they were involved in when they were strapped in a chair seeing the awful images.

Overall a really interesting story. Not my taste but I can definitely see why many love it.

Extinction Dream starts with an irresistible premise: a soldier deployed in orbit, stationed on the front line of a war not fought with guns or missiles, but with nightmares. Markus and his squad face an alien enemy they can’t see, one that attacks telepathically and turns their own minds into the battlefield. The setup is tense, claustrophobic, and right in my wheelhouse — I love when stories blur the line between waking life and dreams, and this book plays with that space.
That said, I wanted more of it. The dream-wake confusion is such a rich vein for horror and psychological unease, and while it’s present, I think it could have been pushed further to make the story scarier and more disorienting. There are plot points that require a hefty suspension of disbelief, and the reasoning behind what’s happening sometimes left me scratching my head. But here’s the thing — I still had fun.
Najberg delivers an atmospheric, high-concept sci-fi thriller that moves fast and keeps you guessing. Even when I wasn’t entirely sure where it was going, I was along for the ride, pulled in by the tension and the strange, uneasy vibe. If you’re a fan of nightmare logic and don’t mind a few fuzzy edges in the plotting, Extinction Dream is worth strapping in for.

WOW. My brain melted reading this. I loved it! 10/10.

The author presented the perfect amount of information along the way to keep me tethered (😉) to the story without bogging down the plot with explanations. Well done!

Huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Extinction Dream is the first book I’ve read by Andrew Najberg and I can say it has left quite the impression. Sci-fi horror is a genre that doesn’t get nearly enough love. What Andrew has delivered with a fast paced, total mind bending battle with madness. The world building is wildly original and while quite different, and perhaps it’s just me but I can’t deny this book give me a similar disturbing vibe as the movie Event Horizon. Thanks so much to the publisher for the ARC.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/extinction-dream-andrew-najberg/1147587755?ean=9781959798606&bvnotificationId=25330327-6ea3-11f0-9fcd-12ebf3d4cf4d&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/353217790

While nations on Earth battle as usual, the real war is taking place in space: Aliens are attacking our planet with their thoughts. Existing in other dimensions, they cause frontline soldiers - in orbiting space battle stations - to lose their ability to differentiate between nightmares, memories, and actual events in their lives. Imagine an enemy that can make you believe your worst fears are really occurring. It's gruesome and explicit, with attacks that leave the soldiers dead or worse. It's definitely not what everyman soldier Markus expected when he was assigned to the space station. As he and fellow space soldiers try to hold their own against the alien attacks, they begin to wonder exactly what's going on and what it means for the future of humanity.

"Extinction Dream" is a dark and troubling horror sci-fi novel by Najberg that was an interesting read, but repetitive in its horror: I eventually found myself skipping paragraphs of redundant, explicit gore and horrific imagery. The story would be stronger with an attempt to weave in more subtle horrors rather than endless gross descriptions of physical harm; sometimes something as simple as being in a childhood memory with a parent insisting they don't know who you are can be more terrifying than "tearing a limb off" or choking someone to death in a hallucination. Recommended for hardcore horror fans only.

A beautifully written sci-fi horror that was FULL of twists. This one really threw me for a loop: I was expecting an Among Us-esque space horror but got an existential mindfuck instead (which isn’t a bad thing!) Extinction Dream follows Markus, a soldier who has been conscripted to join the Orbital Forces, who are fighting a secret war against aliens in space.

But it’s so much more than that toooooo omg it’s about global warming and humanity’s innate anger and aggression, with the most realistic version of global politics unravelling I’ve read so far. The USA, China and Russia are all in a Cold War instead of magically coming together for the greater good, which is always a nitpick I have for these stories set in the future.

The middle did drag a little and I felt that there were too many flashbacks to bog down the narrative, same with Markus getting knocked out (it happens like 3 times in the book!). I wanted more answers BUT the ending really reminded me of Arrival, a movie I LOVE so I did love that.

Overall a great read but could probably be cut down a tiiiiny bit to improve the pacing and keep the STUNNING writing as a focus <3

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC!

Thank you NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing for allowing me to read this book early. The opinion in this review is my own.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I've never heard of this author and the premise is one where if it's not done well it can come out cheesy but it was done very well. It sucked me in immediately and was a perfect example of showing and not telling. It had a very specific premise but the author showed you the world without “info dumping”. I'll definitely check out other work by this author.

Markus signed up to join the military mostly to be able to eat every day. He gets enlisted into a secret branch where humans are losing to an enemy that attacks telepathically. We have no idea how to defeat them and no one who has joined this branch has ever returned to earth. The enemy uses your own mind against you.

I highly recommend this book! If you're undecided at least try the first few chapters and you'll likely get drawn in like I did. The characters have so much depth and backstory. The storyline and dialogue are solid.

Total stars: 3.75

A man signs up to be a soldier, then is drafted into the secret war against an alien race no one understands. Each battle takes place within his own mind, as he is strapped to a chair along with the several others who were also drafted. No one who goes to space ever makes it back home.

Truly a masterpiece of deception and keeping the reader guessing at every turn. I probably swore aloud seven or eight times, as twists were taken and truths were revealed that lead to nothing but more questions. Even at the 90% mark, I had no idea what was really going on, even though it felt like I had enough clues to be able to put it together.

It all felt organic as well. It's a puzzle, but a story first, with a likable and very fleshed out protagonist. So many horror novels feel empty, but the relationships and motivations here felt real. It was a pleasant surprise, given the genre.

The science was also well done. A lot of emphasis in particular was placed on the physical and psychological effects of living in a gravity-free environment, which I found very interesting. Don't know to what extent the engineering described would actually work, nothing particularly stood out as being unreasonable. Sci-fi authors take note: just because your aliens are essentially magic doesn't mean your space ship has to run on magic, too.

Not to say this was a perfect book. There were some continuity errors that come across as genuine mistakes, not a part of the plot. Things like nameless characters suddenly having a name despite not being introduced and the protagonist saying he is fine with something in one line, then a couple paragraphs later mentioning that he doesn't like it. Nothing that affects the overall plot, but it felt like it could have used another comb through by editors or beta readers.

The environmental message also felt a bit heavy-handed. The story takes place 50ish years in the future, yet the planet is entirely transformed by global warming run rampant. The first description hits home, but after the dozenth complaint about how real trees have been reached by fake trees and heat stroke is everywhere, it gets a little stale. There are also many references to modern/late 1900s pop culture that feel forced in. Especially given the lack of any mention of music or movies the protagonist might have grown up with.

Finally, it's pretty hard to keep my attention with gore. As the book progressed, it grew more frequent while at the same time losing it's emotional punch, at least for me. Graphic descriptions of unusual deaths is basically part of the genre though, so fair enough. Just means this doesn't quite hit four stars for me.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this book and am happy I picked it up. Puzzling over everything was a lot of fun, and it was genuinely quite gripping. There were more than a few psychological punches as well, which is exactly what I'm after in a book. I definitely recommend for someone who wants something exciting, violent, and unreasonably confusing in the best way.

I devoured this book in one day. The pacing is great and I was hooked from the first chapter all the way to the end. The book often gives glimpses into what Earth is like at the moment from Markus' childhood until he deploys from orbital duty and intersperses it with the current timeline. I loved both the current and past povs; reading about Earth from Markus' pov felt so eerie because it feels like Earth could be on this trajectory. I believe this is only my second sci-fi horror so I don't have much to compare it to, but I found the tech easy to understand and yet the situation complex and interesting to explore. All around this book was a great time and one I'll be encouraging people to pick up.

Want to make sure I get a review in before this is fully archived!

I LOVE the cover. I am a huge sci fi horror fan.

I sampled 15% of it and really like the writing style, the hard science fiction, the character development, and the dialogue between characters. It is also realistic with a hint of horror,

This book is going on Kindle Unlimited it looks like so I plan to continue reading it on there if I do not finish this by August (seeing as I am already 12% in though I have a feeling this book will be inhaled soon).

I totally recommend this one to sci fi horror fans! It is hard to find good space horror, and this is wonderful!

Thank you for the ARC! I appreciate the opportunity to leave honest feedback voluntarily.

Now this is a sci-fi horror novel! The writing is fantastic and the entire book is just brilliant! What’s better than horror in space?!