4 Stars!

When I saw the cover for Requiem by John Palisano, I knew I had to read the book. The description as a horror/science fiction novel in what is basically a cemetery in space piqued my interest even more and the fact that it was a Flame Tree Press release sealed the deal. I was eager to dive into the story and see if it could live up to the promise of that creepy cover.

What to do with the dead is a question that has been around since the dawn of civilization. Now that the stars are within reach, what better way to inter the dead than to send them to orbit the Earth for eternity. That was the thought behind Eden when the moon-sized cemetery was launched into space. Eden was manned by a skeleton crew to keep the station running and Ava, a musician who had been sent to Eden to write a requiem for the dead. It is to be the greatest song there can be to honor the dead. Unfortunately, the dead are not the only ones listening.

There is something other than the dead aboard Eden. An entity has entered the space cemetery and has set the souls of the dead free. Those souls haunt the space station and the workers aboard it, but they see a unique opportunity in Ava. The musician feels compelled to write a song, her requiem, and perform it for all the world to hear. She knows that it is something much more than a song, though. The entity on Eden has composed the song and it is the vessel that can set it free from the space vessel and unleash it on Earth. As the other people aboard the station begin to go mad, Ava must find a way to stop the entity and save Earth before it is too late.

Requiem is a haunted house novel taken to a new and unexpected location. I entered the novel without having any expectations at to where it was going to take me and Palisano starts the novel off by building the tension and setting at a slow burn. This was very important to the novel and is handled deftly and without making the story seem slow or dull at any point. It is a mix of a gothic horror and science fiction novel that is unique to this book and that was a new experience to me. I was expecting an alien to leap into the story at some point and was a little taken aback that this did not happen. That is not to say there is not an alien entity at the heart of the story. It was just present in an unexpected manor. The terror slowly ratchets up as Ava works on her requiem and, much like a musical work, the story slowly builds toward a crescendo that left me holding my breath while searching for answers. Requiem does a very good job of drawing the reader into the story and keeping the reader engaged while the terror of the situation weighs heavily on the mind.

This novel is heavy on the science fiction which may not appeal to some fans of the horror genre. But the true star of Requiem is the atmosphere and the sense of dread that lingers over the entire story. A gothic horror/science fiction novel was a new concept for me and Palisano proves that it can make for a compelling read. I found myself drawn into the novel and taken for a journey through the darkest corners of space and the human mind. Using a song as the story is lyrical in its own right and seems to pattern itself after a sad symphony that makes the reader explore their darker emotions. Ava must struggle to preserve the Earth, but the reader is left wondering if mankind is truly capable of saving itself from its own darkest impulses. Requiem presents a dark vision of humanity that lingers well after the final word. We may be capable of defending ourselves from an evil that comes from the stars, but are we able to save ourselves from the collective evil that lies within?

I would like to thank Flame Tree Press and NetGalley for this review copy. Requiem is scheduled to be released on May 13, 2025.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for allowing me to read an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Requiem was my first of John Palisano's work and I was drawn in by the premise of the book. A moon-sized cemetery in space filled with the dead? I'm in! I love a good space horror, and this one did not disappoint.

The majority of Requiem takes place on Eden - a satellite orbiting Earth holding thousands of people who have passed away. Each body is interred in a preservation chamber that faces out, so loved ones can look upon them with special viewing scopes. After a leak shut down operations onboard, a new team is being sent to Eden to get it working again. Captain Ava and her team -- including Dr. Poole, Ken, Sanjay, Midori (an AI/Humanoid), and Tessa (a musician sent to write Eden's new Requiem) -- almost immediately begin experiencing sensory issues and hallucinations onboard. Things go from bad to worse when one of the team dies and communications with Earth are cut off.

The book does a great job of creating a tense, paranoid, and claustrophobic atmosphere. The story is gripping, and the pace speeds up and slows down to follow what is going on, leading to keep you wondering what is really going on and unable to put it down. I definitely did not see the ending coming.

Space horror fans will enjoy this read, and I will be recommending it to my book club and reading friends!

Requiem is very successful at creating a tense and gripping story that keeps you guessing all the way through. The premise of the moon sized cemetery and the AI running it is the perfect set up, and early on there’s a lot of a sense of impending doom that was done really well. I do think the back third or so of the book wasn’t quite as successful in delivering what I wanted in the end, but it was still an amazingly fast and compelling read.

Note: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I first saw Requiem available and that John Palisano had written it, I knew I had to read it and here we are!

Eden is a cemetery the size of the moon. Yep, the moon. It. Is. Huge. It floats in space, safely storing the earth's dead in such a way that their loved ones can look up and see them, (albeit only with their special telescopes.) But something has gone wrong and repairs need to be made. It is decided that a musician will come along with the repair crew to write a requiem for the dead, as a sort of apology/goodwill gesture to their dead guests and to their families. Once the crew and the musician arrive on Eden, things start to go sideways, and soon it's not only a question of saving the dead aboard, it's a matter of saving anyone at all. Will our small crew escape Eden with their lives? You'll have to read this to find!

This is the second space horror novel I've read in the past month, both of them about spaceships filled with dead people. I won't mention the other one here, and despite the fact that the theme is similar, that is all. In terms of plot and storytelling, these two tales are nothing alike.

The small crew in this story proved to be tough. Each member was battling their own inner selves, so to speak, as well as what was happening aboard ship. What made it interesting to me was the ship itself, Eden. Imagine the places a ship like that could take you-not only in space itself, but inside your own mind. If such an entity, cognizant of all your hopes and dreams had entire control over you, what might happen? This book answers some of these questions and more.

With a fascinating storyline and characters that were mostly interesting, Requiem seemed to be over in a flash. Everything held together nice and tight and the epilogue was a great touch. Requiem was a lot of fun and provided an entertaining escape from the news of the day.

Recommended!

*ARC from publisher

Thank you to Flame Tree Press, and NetGalley for the eARC of REQUIEM, by John Palisano.
All opinions are my own.

REQUIEM is a space-horror novel that introduces us to "Eden", a moon-sized cemetery floating around Earth. The concept is that the dead are interred in glass, fluid filled coffins (which preserve them), and are able to be viewed with special telescopes, by their loved ones on Earth. The more money spent, the longer your deceased will orbit at the top/viewing point.

I found the concept of this fascinating, and Eden--the computer system that takes care of everything on board--more than a little ... unsettling.

Ava is selected to lead a crew of specialists and one musician to Eden to get the ship ready to receive "occupants" once more, after a leak forced them to halt. A musician is selected to compose a new Requiem to be played on Eden, since the previous one now had a negative response due to the accident.

I did get a feel for Ava, and the trauma she had in her past, as well as most of the other crew members. The claustrophobic feeling of being up there in space, with mostly interred dead and a robotic system, made me glad to be down on Earth. When things first start to go wrong, there are subtle inconveniences . . . and then the Requiem begins to be composed....

The pacing shifted in regards to the situations. It was slow during contemplation, or when one of the members was having their own moments, and faster during the more harrowing parts. The end result was not something that I saw coming, and felt it was a nice "shift" from the usual antagonist angle.

Overall, a surreal horror in space that keeps you wondering until the very end.

Recommended.

John Palisano’s Requiem has a great concept: a small crew are aboard a moon-sized cemetery when they start being driven mad by visions brought on by a strange cosmic entity. Some of the horror elements are great, but I found the story losing me as it progressed, I think because I wanted the characters to be more fleshed out. Even main character Ava felt like a sketch to me. By the end, I found that I didn’t really care about what happened. But despite all that, this was a quick read with a strong start and I think plenty of people will enjoy it for the sci-fi horror elements alone—I personally just needed a little more characterization!

Excellent sci-fi horror set predominantly on a satellite established to act as a luxury mausoleum in orbit around earth, a concept so delightfully unexpected that I was sold from the start. This is a slow-burn, predominantly psychological horror (with moments of physical horror), with similarities to more conceptual speculative fiction like Arthur C Clarke’s 2001. Strong characters, with a tight focus on a small group of deliberately diverse individuals, and the character of the space station itself, give a grounding to what could otherwise become a little theoretical rather than emotional. Music - the requiem of the title - provides a through line and is the source of much of the creeping dread. Much to admire; I’m new to Palisano and will be looking for his back catalogue.

If you combine Michael Crichton’s The Sphere, Arthur C. Clarks’ 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, you would be reading Requiem by John Palisano.

This is definitely one of the best novels I have read in years. The entire concept of this story is nothing quite like I have read before. The writing style simply shines with all the dark eeriness you would expect in outer space. Just like the smooth requiem for the souls on Eden, in between the soft notes of music, there is an evil tempo ready to destroy everyone that hears it.

A group of individuals, all with specific skills, must find and fix what is happening on Eden. With the command of Ava, the group slowly unravels what wicked entity is taking over the space station. In between Ava’s memories of a horrible event in her past, we fall in love with her as she tries to come to terms with her past.

This is absolutely a novel you take your time with. Savor every word and fall into the minds of the unknown. You will walk away needing to read more by John Palisano.


#NetGalley #Requiem

This book has a lot going on. So ,uch terror in space. A creapy overall feel.
I'm usually not a fan of sci-fi, but this one kept my attention.
Claustrophobic at times because you're surrounded by...SPACE!
Pretty enjoyable.
Give it a shot.

I think I just wasn't the right audience for this one, DNF at 30%. High star rating anyhow because I realize that this was just me as a reader not clicking with this particular book. If you grab it I hope you dig it!

First, as always, thanks to Flame Tree Press, NetGalley, and John Palisano for the opportunity to read, and review, this novel in exchange for an honest review.

And honest it will be. Let’s start with a little background. I wasn’t familiar with John’s work until one of his stories came across my desk for consideration when I was putting together Dark Tides. I obviously liked his style since I included it. Since then, I have only read a bunch of short stories by John (and one novella with Lisa Morton), and not a full length novel. REQUIEM was my first – and won’t be my last.

REQUIEM is a space horror – no, not like “Jason X”, or “Alien”. More along the likes of “2001: A Space Odyssey” – only, it’s not the computer that’s the protagonist. In fact, throughout most of the book, you are never sure if what is going on is actually happening, or if it is, why?

The premise is this – there’s a gigantic cemetery (close to planet size) where the dead is interred in special clear caskets preserved for ever. Their relatives can view them from Earth with special telescopes that are zoned in on their specific loved one. An interesting concept, but a logistical nightmare. A crew is sent to make sure Eden (the name of this place), can be back up and running after an accident.

What occurs after will have you on the edge of your seat, wondering (sometimes out loud), “What the hell?!”

OK, so you’re saying, “Yeah, that kind of thing has been done before”, and you’d be right. In fact, as I was reading it on the treadmill at the gym, my random playlist started playing The Blue Danube started playing – and all I could picture was Kubrick’s movie, done to John’s writing. But that shouldn’t distract you from reading it.

John has a knack for character development that many writers can’t touch. He fleshes them out, and makes them flawed, but strong when needed. You actually feel for them. On top of that, his descriptive writing will make you feel claustrophobic at times – even if you’re not in real life.

Lastly, John knows humor. You’ll see a touch of it in the Epilogue – which also ties the entire story up nicely, but not gratuitously.

*Huge thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and author for a digital ARC of this one!*

Space horror. Science fiction themes merged with terrifying elements. When done well, it’s a subgenre that easily whisks away the reader and keeps them hooked no matter one. And one big key to that is the total isolation aspect. On solid ground, here on earth, if something horrible happens, a character can run away or get in a car and drive as far away as possible.

But in space…

Well, you’re stuck. Sure, maybe you have an escape pod, but then what? Or maybe there’s a rescue ship coming? Well, that ship isn’t just around the block and you’ve certainly not used Uber to call it.

It’s that claustrophobic aspect of going where so few humans have gone before that always draws me in and makes for an unsettling read.

Now, with Palisano at the helm, I knew I’d be getting a lush, but ultimately unnerving experience. If you’ve not read any of John’s work before, you absolutely need to get on that. I suggest you start with his novella ‘Glass House’ which is haunting and heartbreaking, or dive into his dust-filled western ‘Dust of the Dead.’ Really, you can’t go wrong with John’s work, which made this one so enticing to me because – and as I just said – it’s in space.

What I liked: Set in the future, Ava is a space ship captain who has recently returned to earth, dealing with with PTSD from her last mission. She’s been assured she’ll not return to space for some time, but that’s thrown out the window when a huge corporation contacts her – and a group of scientists and a musician – for an important job. A moon-sized cemetery known as Eden has experienced some significant malfunctions and they need to head up, repair it and make sure it never happens again.

From here, John gives us a haunting look at isolation, madness, connecting with the dead and loss. It’s billed as a gothic story, but that is buried beneath the sheen of the sci-fi/horror surface. It’s only revealed as the story goes along and we see the true reality of what’s happening on Eden and how those who are managing to survive deal with it.

The story ebbs and flows, we get some jolting, intense moments bookended by some slow, visceral revelations and it’s within that scope that the mastery of what Palisano has done truly can be appreciated. It’s subtle, at times tough to put your finger on, but its there, pulsing throughout the whispered textures of each chapter.

The ending wraps things up ‘nicely’ and once you get there, you’ll know what I mean, and I appreciated the tongue-in-cheek-ness of the ‘epilogue’ portion.

What I didn’t like: The story is solid, the writing is solid and the characters are great, but – as with many sci-fi/horror novels – if you go in thinking that this won’t have a lot of familiar plot points and story aspects, you’ll be sorely frustrated. John doesn’t reinvent the plot here, but I also don’t believe that was ever his intention.

Why you should buy this: Palisano is one of the nicest guys in the horror world but also one of the most criminally under read writers out there. ‘Requiem’ just might be the book that finally tips those scales and gets his books all over IG and Tik Tok – at least I hope so – because what he’s done here is a powerful, philosophical look at death, what happens after and how the human race continues to push forward with technological elements without considering the long-term ramifications.

This was really well done.

The Setting - Eden, a cemetery in space
‘A burial among the stars.’
Year 2112

Thousands of people interred on the satellite. Each special casket facing out through windows - earth, the stars and sun. A mausoleum in space.

A crew has been sent to Eden to correct a mishap. Rebuild areas, write a new requiem music, a theme song, new musical branding for Eden to bring back confidence.

There was a nice, slow build. A tense pacing. I found it creepy, Something is listening, watching… what’s just around the corner? At times I felt the action scenes (painful sounds in their heads) were repetitive.

Overall I liked this novel. Very unique. But also a bit vague on what the crew’s actual tasks were. What would each do or fix? Why it would take six months? This was distracting to me. I would have liked more detail early in the novel on Eden, its purpose, more description of the satellite, how the structure was built, etc. The ending Wikipedia section would be great as the first pages of the story.

A great mix of technology, gore, suspense…

A visual story, the author really paints the scene with color, sound and action - and emotion! Painful human reactions.

Favorite quote:
“There are sounds inside the requiem… Sounds that aren’t supposed to be there.”

“The requiem plays, and all of the living, and all of the dead, listen.”

Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC of Requiem.

About the author - John Palisano is a Bram Stoker Award winning author.

I will post reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, etc closer to the publication date.