Ghost Station: Novel Review
Hey cuties! Back again for another review. It feels weird but natural to be back at blogging again.
Hopefully, your summer has been going swimmingly. Honestly, I hate the high temps we’ve been having here in Colorado, so I mainly stay in where there’s air conditioning and no chance of sunburn.
I did actually participate and finish a Tough Mudder a week ago. If you don’t know what a Tough Mudder is, it’s a marathon but also with obstacles. I did the classic 10 mile run with over 20 obstacles. Took me about 5.5 hours and I was so sore the next day but also super proud of myself for completing it.
Anyway, that’s my short little update about my life. Don’t forget, I had a recent story come out in a body-themed anthology, Welcome To Your Body, that you should definitely check out! “Wandering But Not Lost” is my tale about a doctor moving to a new small town caught under a strange spell. Super proud of this weird little tale!
Now onwards with the review. As always I keep the spoilery bits under the spoiler line.
The Author
S.A. BARNES works in a high school library by day, recommending reads, talking with students, and removing the occasional forgotten cheese stick as bookmark. Barnes has published numerous novels across different genres under the pen name Stacey Kade. She lives in Illinois with more dogs and books than is advisable and a very patient husband. — Barnes’ website
You can find S.A Barnes on her website or follow her on Twitter or Instagram.
The Novel
A crew must try to survive on an ancient, abandoned planet in the latest space horror novel from S.A. Barnes, acclaimed author of Dead Silence.
Space exploration can be lonely and isolating.
Psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of ERS—a space-based condition most famous for a case that resulted in the brutal murders of twenty-nine people. When she's assigned to a small exploration crew, she's eager to make a difference. But as they begin to establish residency on an abandoned planet, it becomes clear that crew is hiding something.
While Ophelia focuses on her new role, her crewmates are far more interested in investigating the eerie, ancient planet and unraveling the mystery behind the previous colonizer's hasty departure than opening up to her.
That is, until their pilot is discovered gruesomely murdered. Is this Ophelia’s worst nightmare starting—a wave of violence and mental deterioration from ERS? Or is it something more sinister?
Terrified that history will repeat itself, Ophelia and the crew must work together to figure out what’s happening. But trust is hard to come by…and the crew isn’t the only one keeping secrets. — Barnes’ website description of Ghost Station
Published in April, 2024 through Tor Nightfire, Ghost Station is a slow-burn sci-fi horror novel set far in the future where companies vie for planetary rights and a deadly space-induced psychotic condition threatens anyone daring to traverse the void between planets.
Ophelia is intent on studying and preventing that space condition, while also escaping Earth and her toxic family. What follows is a harrowing trip to an abandoned station on an alien planet — paranoia, fear, and a slowly unravelling mystery awaits.
The Review
If you’ve been a regular visitor to my blog or spooky co-ed with the podcast I co-host, Dead Languages, you know I absolutely love space horror as a sub genre. I was super excited when I saw this new release coming up and even picked up a hard copy when I happened to see it in store a couple days before its official release online (not sure how this happen, but I had it pre-ordered and then a bookstore has some copies for sale?)
I read it quite quickly. It is a slow burn for sure, really playing up the feeling of loneliness and isolation. Barnes takes her time building up the atmosphere and the immediate distrust the crew already has of the main character.
They land on the planet they are contracted to secure and set up in the abandoned station. It’s there that strange things begin to happen, the paranoia ramps up as the pilot ends up dead and the crew wonders why the station was abandoned in the first place.
Over all this is the speculation that the crew might be suffering from that space condition that essential drives people crazy and murderous.
If you want to know more, I dive into explicit details under the spoiler-line, you’ve been warned.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. It was a fun read though I wouldn’t say I found the ending as impactful as I would have liked. It was a bit too “clean”, if that makes sense. Still, Barnes threw in some twists I really enjoyed and truly developed the characters so I became really invested in them.
I will say, if you didn’t enjoy her other space horror, Dead Silence, you may not enjoy Ghost Station just because it does hit on many of the same beats. I’ll also say, this felt more of a psychological sci-fi/space thriller than truly horror. Still, I did enjoy the book and would recommend it for fellow sci-fi lovers looking for a cozy read.
8/10
x PLM
SPOILER LINE! BEWARE!
Everything beyond here is full of spoilers so beware!
So, as the crew investigates the station and its mysteries, it is revealed that an parasitic alien infested the previous crew, killing them, and has infected the current crew which the main character is a part of. It influences their minds and actions, trying to return back to its home, which are these ominous structures off in the distance.
That element of it felt very reminiscent of “The Thing” so didn’t exactly feel super fresh to me.
The ending also felt very convenient. Essentially, the remaining crew is infected and they decide the best course of action is to leave, go into cryosleep, and hope the company (sorry, totally forgot the company name, but it’s the one that the main character’s family owns) picks them up and cures them. As added insurance, they set up a communication to go out with the truth of the company coverup.
The book then ends with them being woken up, decades int he future. They are cured, the bad company is under new control.
Just a neat little happy ending. I don’t know, it felt too clean. Especially after spending so much time in the book discussing classism and a planet haunted by a hostile alien parasite.
