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librarymouse 's review for:
Ghost Station
by S.A. Barnes
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
S. A. Barnes's Ghost Station is horrifying in layers. She has a talent for laying the groundwork for information that becomes vital later in the book. Augmented reality as refuge, becoming augmented reality as horror was a really neat way to psychologically horrify the characters and the readers.
Using Liana's innocence as a teaching moment to lay out the murder spree of "Bloody Bledsoe" as well as how the rest of the crew views the Bray family was a well-thought out tool to tell information directly to the reader. That scene in the shuttle was like watching an estranged member of the Kardashian family, who was trying to live a normal life have their identity called out by a blue collar worker upset with the comments Kim Kardashian made about "nobody wanting to work these days," and get pounced on with conspiracy theories by chronically online people, while a family member of the person Caitlyn Jenner killed in the 2015 car crash seethes quietly in the corner, plotting revenge. Not a one-to-one comparison, but close.
I had some issues with how the romance between Severin and Ophelia was built up, and with Suresh, in general, but I also don't think a book has to have likable characters in order to be good. I think my feelings with that aspect are a bit complicated. I fully thought the plot twist was going to be that Ava wasn't actually dead. I was fully banking on her being an insane stow away on the ship, who the whole crew was trying to hide from Ophelia. I didn't expect smuggling to be the culprit.
Ophelia's character is deeply complicated by her parentage, and I think it was an interesting take on an unreliable narrator to have a character who can't trust herself. The use of someone with whom the characters had a strong emotional attachment to lure them towards the towers was also a neat tool, allowing Ophelia to fight against the thing that the others are drawn towards.
I wasn't expecting Liana to die as horrifically as she did, though she was characterized as almost too good for this world, so I guess it makes sense. Birch dying first, and not sparking a witch hunt for Ophelia immediately was unexpected. Kate being willing to leave a crew member behind, after taking the for emergencies only gun out of its locked case while searching for the manic Birch early in the book, was not surprising. Same for Suresh's extreme vanity foreshadowing his disfigurement at the hands/will of the towers.
I wasn't expecting this book to have a happy ending, but I'm kind of glad it did. I wanted to know what happened to the Brays with the release of the proof Ophelia had found/Kate had revealed. But I also think it could have been spookier not to know what happened to them.
I had some issues with how the romance between Severin and Ophelia was built up, and with Suresh, in general, but I also don't think a book has to have likable characters in order to be good. I think my feelings with that aspect are a bit complicated. I fully thought the plot twist was going to be that Ava wasn't actually dead. I was fully banking on her being an insane stow away on the ship, who the whole crew was trying to hide from Ophelia. I didn't expect smuggling to be the culprit.
Ophelia's character is deeply complicated by her parentage, and I think it was an interesting take on an unreliable narrator to have a character who can't trust herself. The use of someone with whom the characters had a strong emotional attachment to lure them towards the towers was also a neat tool, allowing Ophelia to fight against the thing that the others are drawn towards.
I wasn't expecting Liana to die as horrifically as she did, though she was characterized as almost too good for this world, so I guess it makes sense. Birch dying first, and not sparking a witch hunt for Ophelia immediately was unexpected. Kate being willing to leave a crew member behind, after taking the for emergencies only gun out of its locked case while searching for the manic Birch early in the book, was not surprising. Same for Suresh's extreme vanity foreshadowing his disfigurement at the hands/will of the towers.
I wasn't expecting this book to have a happy ending, but I'm kind of glad it did. I wanted to know what happened to the Brays with the release of the proof Ophelia had found/Kate had revealed. But I also think it could have been spookier not to know what happened to them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, Abandonment