Such a fun read, coming together beautifully in the end. I was a bit confused in the beginning, but like the main character, I think that was the purpose. I found joy when they did, through each sphere, parts of them coming to understandings. What a fun and fast read!

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me a copy of this book!

A speculative story about an unknown narrator processing an existential crisis while travelling through pocket dimensions within a space station.

I do appreciate weird and wacky stories like this. SFF in general I feel has leaned more and more into seriousness and respectability, and I'm pleasantly surprised when a story refuses to explain itself. Yep, the flowers can talk in this dimension, what about it?

I do also enjoy the concept of different spheres, and while initially thrown into it, I felt like the basic concept was explained without too much fuss by the first few chapters.

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In terms of things that did not work for me - this is a very lean story. I am aware that it is a novella, but I felt like the concept was too big for its medium; or at least the number of spheres and ideas that were gone through.

I also felt that there could have been more to the main character. We are given absolutely zero information about them, which I assume was an intentional choice, but I wish it wasn't a choice that was made. I appreciate a strong concrete character in an otherwise abstract and fluid setting.

The prose is a little purple, which could be ignored in a beefier story, but the lack of character writing* has me grasping for crumbs and the crumb in question is that this is a character that uses "effervescent" as if it's an ordinary part of their vocabulary.

"Hello," I began excitedly. "Do you want to know my name?"
YES!!!

Space Station is a fever dream about a character who goes to a space resort made up of self-contained spheres. The spheres each contain their own mini wonderland acid trips that dive into the human psyche and help explore insecurities, anxieties, and the human condition. To try and explain it feels futile. The book carefully captures the weirdness and strangeness of entering into a contract proposed by the disclaimer.

“* Needs are subjective and not always based on reality. Guests may obtain new perspectives, uncover emotional trauma, or develop a better outlook on life.

† Experiences may lead to altered brain chemistry, physical changes in the brain, a distortion of reality, and irrational fears. Please warn your loved ones ahead of time that you might return to them a fundamentally different person.††

†† We also advise guests to warn their loved ones that they may decide not to return. We offer generous packages for our residents that wish to remain on the Space Station indefinitely.

‡ Once on the space station, you must remain there until your journey is complete. Failure to do so may cause temporal incursions, brain damage, or fatality. The Space Station does not claim fault for any galactic or personal injuries incurred during your visit.”

The main thing you’re not allowed to do? Stop the process. Its first-person perspective serves to envelop the reader into the journey. The protagonist remains nameless, and the baggage they carry is undefined. If you buy into it, Space Station takes you on the journey. It is written stylistically to emulate a lucid dream and feels very reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland. If you ever wanted to attend a therapy-themed amusement park, this might be for you.

The functional exploration of the protagonist’s mind is a bit messy. Although the writing is very evocative and pretty, it can be hard to follow, and I found myself rereading sections repeatedly to pull away the core messaging. But, the theming and setting of the story is really fun (I love the feeling of walking from sphere to sphere and was always excited to see what was behind the next door. I am a sucker for any story that feels like it transports the protagonist to a surreal city of dreams where nothing is what it seems.

Gadeken’s writing fits well with the themes she explores. No grand ideas are explored here, and the book is not subtle about what it’s digging into. The opening chapters mirror the Garden of Eden, a sort of state of innocence. Since this is a place to experience emotional and psychological change, it casts you out into the maze and collection of spheres that constitute the space station. You wander its halls, encountering rooms that hold secrets and, on the surface, indecipherable oddities. Gadeken writes with a light hand regarding the protagonist’s thoughts and feelings. They come through sparingly, allowing the sights, sounds, and experiences to speak to the reader and allow them to interact with them on their own terms. The prose enables the weirdness to feel natural, even if it’s still out of place for everyday contemporary life

I don’t have a lot more to say about Space Station as it feels like a deeply personal read that is hard to pin down. The book is light, and some might even say it’s cozy, despite my trepidation around that term. You’ll get out of it what you put into it, which I think is true for most books, but it feels extra pertinent to point out here. Space Station doesn’t overstay its welcome and is crystal clear in its priorities. The result of all of this is a quirky short book that left me feeling refreshed, even if it didn’t change my life. Space Station is fun and did a great job encapsulating what I want when I crack open a novella. Its experimental vibes and the fascinating setting were a nice break from our current reality. Change can be hard, and while the world will change without you, you still have the choice to make changes within yourself. Structures exist and will push you around, but you still have some agency. Seize it.

Excellent novella with big spacey Alice in Wonderland vibes. Very nonsense fiction, but also thought provoking. Reminds me of 50s/60s Space Age fiction. Did NOT see that ending coming.

I grabbed this book on a whim and the writing was just so easy to get lost in. I don't think I fully knew or understood what was happening, but it felt like that was intentional. As others have mentioned, it felt like a full body immersive experience. If you tend to like more structured novels and novellas this may not be for you, but if you enjoy something that is a little more different I think you'll enjoy this one.

The most interesting part of this book? The blurb. It promised something intriguing, but the actual story felt like playing one of those walking simulators - a girl stumbling through various simulated realities, solving puzzles and occasionally encountering cool imagery (shoutout to the pulsing ethereal light and the surprising tulip). The descriptions were often quite pretty and enjoyable but the ideas felt not all the way there, sprinting from place to place without fully landing. It was all one big metaphor, about life I think and perception and probably other things I didn’t pick up on after 3 cocktails. If you enjoy dreamy, abstract sci-fi, this might be for you. Personally, I was left wanting more.

This novella takes the reader on a beautifully written, existential journey following an unnamed main character who is exploring a mysterious space station. In my opinion and not going into any spoilers this story could be interpreted literally (in an absurdist Alice in Wonderland-like fever dream) or as an allegory of life itself. Although some of the experiences in the spheres are deliberately abstract, I felt the intention was for the reader to be able to incorporate and project their own experiences. I think this is one of those stories that would greatly benefit for being discussed in a group. I found the writing style extremely atmospheric, and while I would have preferred to explore this station in a longer novel, I would still recommend this to people who like a bit of a philosophical sci-fi. Also, on a personal note, I will definitely try to pick up more works by K.R Gadeken in the future.

3.5 stars

I fear at least 50% of this just went right over my head, and yes that’s probably a me problem, but what in the heck just happened?

We’re with an unnamed character, on a mysterious space station that claims to give you exactly what you need. Through a series of hallways, doors and chambers, we experience mind-bending moments, each designed to teach the protagonist an important life lesson if they can only unpick the weird and puzzle it out. Fortunately, our MC is a total oddball themselves so seems to piece most things together eventually, though we never really know whether it takes them a matter of minutes, days or years.

I’ve struggled to put my thoughts into words with this one, because my thoughts are all over the place. Some of the metaphors in this really shone and hit HARD, while I’m certain others were totally lost on me and I was sat there with a ‘huh’ face on, feeling like a dumbass.

Being in the MC’s head was honestly a little exhausting; they were just whiny and annoying most of the time, and it kinda felt like that was supposed to be a statement about human psychology. We do be moaning at the slightest inconvenience I guess.

The other characters though, I loved. Ethereal light that made no sense? Be my best friend. Sassy tulip that holds a grudge? You can sit with us.

I can’t come away from this saying I’ve learnt any major life lessons, but I had a fun time despite the constant confusion and the writing was beautiful.

Thank you to BooksGoSocial and Netgalley for providing an ARC of this title for me to review.

Space Station is a fascinating and thought-provoking read that explores big ideas in a unique and immersive way. The story pulled me in with its intriguing concept and kept me engaged as it unfolded. I really enjoyed the themes it tackled and the way it made me think beyond the pages. While it has a slower pace at times, the depth of the narrative made it well worth the read. A great book for those who love speculative fiction with substance!

4 stars

This book is such a surreal trip! I like the brevity of it overall; the writer hasn't drawn out any sections in weird or boring ways. Each chapter is a short story in the strange journey through the Space Station - each new area completely different in scope, appearance, smell, experience. But I think each of the experiences has to happen specifically for you/the narrator to learn something. Are you learning about yourself? Are you learning about how and why you ended up here? The jarring nature of not knowing what's going on is bizarre but your own mind's unbalance works well for the story. And just when I thought I was getting a handle on what was going on, the story pretty much ended! This book has been crouching in my subconscious for several days now as I try to untangle what I read; it's definitely not a trip for everyone, but if you enjoy being a little off-kilter through most of a book then give this one a try. It's short on length but not on personality.

Thanks to NetGalley, author K.R. Gadaken, and BooksGoSocial for giving me access to a digital ARC of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own and are provided here voluntarily.

Damn, that sure was one hell of a trip.

For being such a short novella, this story included a variety of different themes, with such a descriptive writing style that makes you feel like you yourself are trapped in one of the spheres. (Which is quite literally true if you understand the metaphors and their correlation to our lives.)

However, what this story lacked was context. You never really find out a lot about the space station itself other than the information provided in the blurb (and this information is also not the most accurate, since the memory swapping or witnessing of earthly events never even get mentioned). The vagueness might have just been the author's intent, since we do not get a lot of context before starting out our life on earth either. Also, because the novella was this short, some topics felt very rushed and didn't get the attention the whole setup deserved.

To sum up, "Space Station" is a short but fascinating read that can make you reflect on your own life if you are willing to overlook a lot of unanswered questions and immerse yourself in the situations K. R. Gadeken puts you in.

Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for providing me with this ARC in return for an honest review.

Space Station gave me an 'out of body' feeling. Think, a fever dream, Alice in Wonderland rabbit-hole type stuff, but a short story. We follow our MC as they navigate different 'spheres' of a space station. Unfortunately, we weren't given any explanation further than that or any real plot. I was very confused for a large proportion of the book and found the writing leaning a bit too young for me. Not all sections, but there were parts where I found the vocabulary very limiting, which pulled me out of the feelings the writer was trying to evoke. I'm not sure if this simplistic language was supposed to reflect the character - in which case this went over my head.

I liked the concept and wouldn't mind reading something a bit more fleshed out. I think this would suit a reader who likes the sound of 'Bunny' or 'My Year of Rest and Relaxation', but hasn't taken the leap or is a bit worried about the writing style suiting them. This could be a great book to test out that 'fever dream' feeling those books are known for.

Space Station offers a surreal, dreamlike experience that will resonate with fans of strange, thought-provoking sci-fi. While its beautiful writing and disorienting narrative style create a unique atmosphere, the lack of clarity and cohesiveness can leave readers feeling disconnected, unsure of what the story is truly trying to convey.

I noticed a few reviewers on different platforms found the book difficult to follow, and I can agree to some extent. The book feels almost hallucinogenic in its delivery, and we're limited in what we think and feel by our narrator who feels almost like they've just hopped off the boat and started being human, so to speak. Some things felt interesting or like they could have been explored a little more, whereas others received a sort of "anyway, that happened, and a while later..." treatment. One thing I can definitely give this book is that it succeeds in feeling like a dream or hallucination. Nothing feels grounded, and it hops from one topic and place to the next like you would during a bad night of sleep.

It's difficult to compose my thoughts about this novella. Part of it, at least in terms of syntax and overall writing quality, felt poor and strange, and in others felt fine. It was an extremely fast and easy read, though I don't know if that helped or hurt the message or delivery. There's several spots that felt a little weird for an editor or proof reader to have missed, misspellings and malapropisms mostly, and the bits of dialogue where the point of view character spoke aloud felt forced and/or unnecessary.

What an interesting little fever dream! It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland meets the Oculus game Red Matter. Space Station by K.R. Gadeken feels like a surreal, disorienting trip through a fragmented reality, blending eerie isolation with a sense of wonder.

This made for a really interesting read. I picked it up expecting a light, easy read, and in some ways, that is what this was. In others, it really makes you think.

The imagery in this book is beautiful and I was really impressed by just how different every one of the spheres was. Each one was really wonderfully described, and I enjoyed how much the tone shifted, both between spheres, and also within individual spheres.

The character's journey, and grappling with the realisations that some things will never make you happy, some things (like the Perfects) are not what they seem, and sometimes radical change feels like the apocalypse was very well-handled.

Sometimes, we just all need to have the bravery to set the world on fire!

Thank you to the editors and NetGalley for my ARC!

This was quite an interesting read, using a very unique approach to building the narrative within this novella. I'm not sure that I am the target audience because I didn't quite understand the flow, not I appreciate the creativity!

This was a very interesting book that took me on a ride and made me feel like I was experiencing the story rather than reading it. The writing style wasn't really for me but the plot was trippy enough that I remained engaged. If you want a unique sci-fi story, this one is for you.

Thank you NetGalley for a free digital ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

Another book this year for me that was more an experience than a story. I had no clue what I was getting into but I loved the cover so much I took a dive. This novella takes you through life lessons in the form of AI/simulated experiences on a space station.

I highly enjoyed the journey we went on with our main character. It was fun, enjoyable, and thought provoking. I just wish there was more. More of what I’m not sure but it feels as if a piece was missing.

Again thank you to NetGalley for the free digital ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

a very trippy, cerebral book. I liked it. The context surrounding the story doesn't make much sense, we don't learn much about the character and some of the metaphors/lessons of the book feel very on the nose but honestly great setting, idea and the writing really brings realism and weight to the whacky ideas of the book.