This book solidified S. A. Barnes as an author I definitely want to keep tabs on. I really enjoyed their debut, Dead Silence, and Ghost Station provides a strong follow up. All the wonder and advanced tech of a sci-fi novel blended with the tension and anxiety of a good thriller. I enjoyed the characters and felt the plot moved along at a good pace. Ophelia is an especially interesting character and her twisted backstory adds a lot more depth to the overarching story. Barnes does a great job building so much paranoia into this book - I constantly found myself second guessing the things happening on the page, which played really well with the primary storyline. The body horror was top notch and it was difficult not to itch while reading!

Added bonus: some great conversations surrounding mental health and trauma. Very unexpected in this context, but ended up being a very well-executed surprise.

The only thing keeping this from being a solid five stars is that I did want a little more from the ending. It felt a bit rushed at the very end and I wasn't entirely settled afterwards. I'll be eager to see what other reviewers think about this.

4.5 stars! Top tier creepy things happening in space - highly recommend!

Special thanks to Tor and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for review.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I would best describe this as fleeting moments of truly suspenseful events that were overshadowed by a rather bland story. I absolutely loved Dead Silence, and this was one of my most anticipated books of 2024. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. Without taking account for the last book, and how good it was, this one was just sort of forgettable with a story I feel like I've read before. Not horrible, not fantastic, just middle of the road book. There were a few chilling parts, but a majority of the book was not spent on those aspects.

3.5 rounded up

Dr. Olivia Bray has volunteered to go to space to observe a crew who has lost one of its members. Sealing with her own grief and trying to redeem herself in the eyes of her harshest critic, herself. When an unknown threat happens on an abandoned planet, can she keep the dysfunctional crew and herself together to survive?

So this is my first foray into "space horror," and my first time reading this author. The premise sounded amazing, but in some ways it was disappointing. The beginning of this book is so slow. I understand the need to build suspense, but at times I was bored and it left me wondering if anything would happen. Once the action picks up though, this is an excellent read. I think if the build up had been a little shorter, this would've been closer to a 5-star read.

Ophelia's character growth was well done and I did enjoy seeing her growth, as well as Ethan's growth. I liked the body horror and the psychological horror aspects, they left me unnerved. To say more would be spoilers, so I'll leave it at that. This book touches on things like corporate greed, the negatives of a capitalist society, grief, and loss. These were all pretty well done. If you like a slow burn space exploration mixed with psychological and body horror, this will be your jam

My thanks to Tor Nightfire, author S.A. Barnes, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

Terrifying story on alien first contact and full of body horror. This thing is nightmare fuel!

I think you’ll love the mystery and the complex characters. Ophelia and Ethan really leap off the page. The images are stark and compelling and the tension is palpable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy. These opinions are my own.

Interesting concept but too slow-paced. I ended up not finishing the book because I found the characters too unengaging and the progress to be sluggish.

This had a decent plot, but I hated the characters. They were all stupid and selfish and immature. And if they had communicated their problems earlier instead of just worrying about themselves, they could have resolved the life threatening issues earlier.

In S. A. Barnes' gripping novel, "Ghost Station," psychiatrist Olivia's journey to counsel a bereaving crew spirals into a haunting labyrinth of personal trauma and extraterrestrial treachery. The author skillfully weaves a narrative that captivates readers with its psychological depth and atmospheric setting. Olivia's past becomes a haunting specter, blurring the lines between reality and the uncanny as she navigates an isolated alien outpost. Barnes evokes a palpable sense of isolation and paranoia, leaving readers on the edge of their seats as Olivia fights for survival and sanity. Through Olivia's struggles, "Ghost Station" explores the complex interplay between personal resilience, the power of the mind, and the indomitable spirit that emerges in the face of adversity.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

This book sounded really intriguing,,,a space illness, murder, mystery all layered with horror vibes.. I don't know if I built the book up more in my head or if the execution was lacking, but it was just okay to me. Parts felt really slow and I just couldn't get fully invested. Some questionable decisions of our main character, Ophelia, and by the end of the book, I just was ready to be done.

2.5 stars

I haven’t read many sci-fi horror books and I think Ghost Station is the first space horror story that I’ve read. It turns out I really enjoy space horror! Ghost Station follows a crew of space explorers (and a psychologist) on an abandoned planet where strange things start occurring. When one of the crew members ends up dead, the remaining crew members seek to find out what happened.

I loved the mystery and the tension that spread throughout this story. I felt claustrophobic and a sense of dread as the story went on. I didn’t have a clue who or what was responsible for the horrific events that took place. The main character, Ophelia, is an unreliable narrator, so I didn’t know whether she had something to do with what was happening or not.

There were some slow parts and I wasn’t a fan of the ending. I liked the build-up but the actual reason for all this stuff happening was kind of odd. It’s just not what I was expecting.

I do love the author’s writing and I will definitely be reading her other books. I’m looking forward to reading more space horror. 👩🏻‍🚀🪐🩸

If you’re a fan of space horror books or you love movies like “Life” or “Solaris,” you should pick up this book.

3.75 stars

There wasn’t a dull moment in this book.

When Ophelia Bray is added to a team going to explore an abandoned station on another planet, she has no idea what creepy hardships she’ll encounter. The isolation and the team dynamic is the least of it.

I loved the setting of this book, and the sense of dread in pretty much every page.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author, who have given me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

🛸 Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes🛸

Pages: 377
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Book Goal 2024: 43/100

Wow wow wow!

Thank you so much Tor Publishing for the arc copy of Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes! This book!!! Chefs kiss! 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼 S.A. Barnes you have made a masterpiece.

I went into this book blind and I have a few books on my TBR from this author but I didn’t know what to expect. I will be honest that at first the book didn’t hook me. It was a slow burn but then about half way through I was wondering what in the world was going on! Was it paranoia? Was it aliens? Was it ERS? I couldn’t tell!!! I really wanted to know what was happening. I also loved the relationship building! 👌🏼😍

This story is dark and anxiety inducing and I kept feeling my heart rate sky rocket during certain scenes! It was a very wild space ride and I’m here for all the Alien vibes.

I highly recommend for friends who like sci-fi and who also like thrillers! This book will keep you wondering what’s going to happen to Dr. Ophelia Bray!

#0to100 #books #reading #readmore #bookworm #ghoststation #sabarnes #netgalley

Ghost Station is the new entry in space horror by this horror and I definitely liked it better than the first book. I am fascinated by the concept of space travel and exploration, and love the idea that we are not alone out there and those who are out there are not always welcoming and may be far superior to us. Space exploration can be deadly, yes, but it can also be lonely as well as exciting. You have to depend on others to survive so what happens when you don't necessarily have confidence in others on your team?

The story revolves around Ophelia, the ship's psychologist, who is sent to assess the mental well-being of the crew on an isolated planet where one of their crew mates has died. Wanting to do good, she is surprised when she is given the cold shoulder as the crew understands that a poor evaluation could get them sent home and make them unemployable. Ophelia is a bit of a mess during this book and I enjoyed her journey as she explored the impact her past had on her choices and her behaviour, but the fact she is ignorant of the impact she could have on the crew mates blows me away. She constantly talks about how different she is from her family, but doesn't really consider the implications of why she is sent there in there in the first place.

The first half of the book is quite slow as it deals a lot with Ophelia and her family and the secrets she has kept from everyone; there is so much going on in her head that it sometimes becomes repetitive. It's not that the introspection wasn't interesting, but it has to balance more with the action and this didn't happen until the second half of the book. A lot of the information was important to the second half of the book, but you had to be really patient for the action to start happening.

As mentioned previously, the plot was quite slow in the beginning, but I did enjoy the build-up of the tension. It revolved mainly around Ophelia's issues and whether what she was seeing was real or not as well as the issues she was having with other crew mates. I listened to the audiobook as well as read an ARC kindle version, and I really enjoyed the audiobook. Zura Johnson did a great job narrating the book and the other crew members were easily distinguishable. Personally, I preferred the audiobook.

Once the action picked up in the second half, it was good and there was a big secret to be revealed, something I already suspected. I wish the author had kept up this kind of tension and pace throughout the novel as the last quarter was the best of the book.

Ghost Station was an improvement for me as I DNF the last one, but it did get bogged down in the first half with too much introspection. With such an intriguing narrative, I wish the author had balanced the mental health aspects of doing such a job with the action a bit more as I felt like they were two separate things in this book. I definitely enjoyed it, and am looking forward to reading more by this author in the future. And I will also be searching for more by this narrator as well.

What an utter disappointment!

I'll be honest, I couldn't even properly finish "Ghost Station". I was so bored that I just ended up skimming the rest of the novel after getting through half of it, and nothing I saw convinced me that I needed to actually read the rest. It's not even an awful book, but it's just so bland and boring.

I'm not even going to talk about how this is another case of bait-and-switch from S.A. Barnes because, just like "Dead Silence", this novel is marketed as sci-fi horror, but in reality it's a thriller. But the better question is, how is it possible to waste such a fantastic premise? An abandoned planet, a ghost town, a psychological syndrome that starts with paranoia but can escalate into murder... Sounds like a great setup for a sci-fi horror/thriller, right? Well, I thought so too. Turns out, this is filled with melodrama, corporate drama, and wooden characters, with a few tense, unsettling scenes here are there. I just couldn't bring myself to care about any of this - everything between those scenes was a chore to get through. On top of it all, the main character, who is supposed to a psychologist keeping the exploration crew in check, is clearly far from doing well herself. This is obvious from the very beginning, to the point that it should be also obvious to her. The fact that she's even out there, on this mission, is bizarre. Almost as bizarre as the interactions of the characters because this crew is as bland as it is dysfunctional.

The two stars are for the setting and the few great tense scenes only.
No more S.A. Barnes for me.

3.5 stars

This was my first book by this author and I thought it was pretty good. It was a slow burn, although I think it was to build suspense and to help us understand Ophelia better.

In terms of the characters, Ophelia was not my favorite. She was okay, but she didn't make the best decisions. While the author does a good job of helping us understand her by the end, it took half the book for us to better understand her decisions in the second half. That said, I thought the last 25% or so was very well done.

Ethan was someone who I did not initially like, but over time, I both respected him and liked him more. Ophelia did not make it easy for him. Liana's role was more the baby of the group, and I did like her, but I didn't understand why she had that role. As for the rest of the crew? I didn't like them for various reasons.

Overall, this was a slow burn of a novel with the last 25 percent moving at quite a clip. I did like who Ophelia became and the author did a good job of incorporating what she went through on the station with her personal growth.

While this was not my favorite of novels, I enjoyed it well enough that I would love to read more books by this author.

Thank you NetGalley and Ms. Barnes for giving me the opportunity to review "Ghost Station." This is the first time that I have ever read a sci-fi/horror novel and I simply loved it! The author does a wonderful job making the reader feel immersed into the story, Usually, I find space travel sci-fi novels boring, but Barnes finds a way to keep you wanting to know more. In many ways, I would also categorize this novel as a thriller also. I am sure fans of all three genres would not be disappointed in this novel.

This was a big disappointment after loving this author’s previous book, Dead Silence. That one had such a cool setting and atmosphere that Ghost Station was completely missing and I had a hard time visualizing the landscape and spaces the characters were in which took away a lot of my enjoyment. The paranormal/horror elements felt almost recycled from that first book which made it feel so much less interesting and novel. Lastly the characters fell really flat and by the end I didn’t care at all what happened to any of them. Sadly wouldn’t recommend this one, but I will try another book by this author if the next plot sounds interesting to me.

Very disappointed in this novel. I feel maybe this author isn’t for me. I couldn’t get through the last release but this one sounded much more my taste in books but it still didn’t work.

I devoured this one and it was the perfect book to help me fight off the remaining hold of my reading slump. Sci-fi is one of my favorite genres - mixed with horror and thriller as well, this one was *chef’s kiss.*

I loved that the MC was a psychologist as we were able to get inside the heads of her and the other passengers with it still feeling natural to do so. Learning more and more about the background of Ophelia and the other’s on the ship made their current situation all the more twisty.

I also really enjoy scifi that just kind of jumps into the world and assumes you can keep up without a lot of excessive world-building/patronizing explanations on technology. I am greatly looking forward to reading Dead Silence by this author which is available on Kindle Unlimited!

Check out Ghost Station if you like scifi, horror, and psychological thrillers that take place on creepy abandoned planets!!

**Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the eARC of this title!**

This was good! It was more psychological and "we are the ghosts that haunt outselves" than the tense, thrilling ride that was Barnes' first space novel, Dead Silence, but Ghost Station was still compelling and interesting all the way through. I did feel like there were some concepts (particularly with regards to the external threat in the book) that Barnes touched on but opted not to flesh out in lieu of stressing the need for our intrepid cast of characters to escape their imminent peril, but on the whole nothing vital we left out. And in the end, Ghost Station was really more about the psychological progress of our lead character, Ophelia, than it was about the specific danger faced by those trapped in the remote research station with her anyway.

In summary: Ghost Station is plenty creepy, though maybe not quite making it to "spine chilling", and a deeply human examination of grief, loss, guilt, trauma, and how we learn to live with the things we can't forget or forgive ourselves for.

I absolutely LOVED Dead Silence, so I knew as soon as I saw Ghost Station was being published that I needed to request it and I am so glad that I did! I love that the setting is in space and traveling to different planets. I feel like it just adds a different element to the story and creates a more terrifying atmosphere! This one was a little more of a slow burn compared to Dead Silence, but once it got going, it really got going and I didn’t want to put it down! I absolutely loved the narrator! I felt like she was able to keep my attention span throughout this audio book more so than the ebook did. If you enjoy science fiction or even darker science fiction, then I think this will be one that you will enjoy!