Wayfarer: AV494 was fun, though a clunky read for me. I'm a sucker for space travel exploration books and having the main character Kerys and her abusive ex end up on the same research station very far from Earth does sound like a recipe for major tension, but that is part of what was clunky for me. Abusive relationships suck. In that relationship, I couldn't make heads or tails of what Kerys' deal was with him... and though self doubt might be an issue, her internal experience and the way she behaved toward him seemed off. The other thing is when sh*t hits the fan in this book, it goes from a nice steady pace to OH-MY-GOD-HOLD-ON... which isn't a bad thing, but a sizable chunk of the book was unrelentingly violent and intense.

In this book, I wanted to know what happened next, ignored that Kerys's character didn't hang together for me, and made peace with not learning as much about the alien artifacts Kerys was there to study. I know that scifi/horror is a thing, but this was more scifi/violent without the creepy/frightening element.

Phew, an intense, dramatic page turner from start to finish, this tale of obsession on a distant planet takes a turn for the dark and gory and is only the better for it. When Kerys makes the tough decision to leave her family and the earth behind to go on an archaeological expedition on a distant plant, she never dreamed that she would bump into her creepy and stalker ex boyfriend. Determined to make the best of an awkward situation she throws herself into her work and makes some startling and dangerous discoveries. When she starts to notice people on the outpost are starting to behave out of character and become increasingly aggressive and paranoid, she begins to fear for her life, and it soon appears she may well be right.
At first I worried that this would turn out to be a romantic melodrama set in space, but it really became a lot more, action packed and tense as we follow Kerys in her encounters with her fellow crew. and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep the pages turning. Kerys is a well developed and interesting character, I thought it was particularly good that despite only getting brief descriptions of her previous life with Will, she clearly is demonstrating many characteristics of a victim of abuse, but is still clearly a strong ,smart and determined woman. The pacing throughout is excellent, and there is a real sense of claustrophobia as well as a creeping tension as the book races to its dramatic conclusion.

Wayfarer: AV494 by Matthew S. Cox is an awesome book I requested from NetGalley and the review is voluntary.
As all of Matthew S. Cox's books are, this was awesome! It has a distant planet with an artifact that proved life. There is corporate greed, suspense, great sci-fi, a female lead, never boring, and I couldn't tear myself away from it! A real page turner! Very creepy and exciting! I loved it! So many twists and turns, I guessed wrong so many times. Another winner by one of my favorite writers!

Wow! This book was nothing like what I thought it would be! From start to finish it pretty much surprised me at every turn. Well, okay, so there were some plot elements that were pretty obvious. But there were literally dozens of other instances that did not turn out how I would have expected them to go.

There were many peripheral characters who we didn't learn much about and of whom I had a hard time keeping track. But Kerys and the central band of players in her immediate orbit were fairly well-developed, believable, and most were somewhat endearing.

The book was a bit too bloody and gory for my personal taste. And I definitely do not recommend reading it if you are adverse to such things. The violence was, however, rather central to the story. It did not seem to be included just for gratuitous inclusion.

There were a few points that really pushed my willing suspension of disbelief to the limit. Also, the explanation of a few key points was rather lacking, and it felt like it all just wrapped up too quickly towards the end. There were many more things about which I would have liked answers.

Otherwise, however, it was a creative story, with lots of action and intrigue, that really held my interest and drove me to keep reading so I could find out what would happen next. I definitely recommend it for fans of Sci-Fi and mild Horror.