Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

20 reviews

spaghettii's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This will spoil the entire fucking plot so do NOT read the rest before finishing the book 🗣📢‼️

Immediately you have to question the validity of what the narrator says, which was actually well written for this book. At first I thought that she was having hallucinations, but when she described Reed's grandfather I slowly warmed up to the idea that she could see the dead. It hurt to go in knowing (or at least under the impression) that all the crew dies and trying not to get attached. I very much got attached and subsequently emotionally destroyed.  When Kane was scared to give her the screwdriver, I think that was my breaking point. This also implied that he knew he was talking to a hallucination of Nysus and chose to speak to him anyways. I love scifi horror and confined horror and this was so fun. My favorite characters were unfortunately Voller and later Reed before the murder incident. Idk what that says about me but I don't want to think about it too much,,,, I also loved Nysus but we didn't get to see too much of him. I always think I want a book where main characters die but then when it happens I regret wishing for it. I've actually been waiting for a book that uses the out of hearing range sound-induced hallucinations. I learned about it a while ago and thought it was pretty useful to know.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Bullying, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Classism

efortier's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting

cait's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

dattmay's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Overall this was a fun enough sci-fi story that was a quick read. If you're looking for horror, though, this is not the place. While there are a few moments that can be considered 'creepy' and some gruesome imagery used, the story is much more toned down than I expected coming in. 

Bad future super corporations doing bad things and screwing over the little people is the name of the game here, and even the haunted ship of the dead idea doesn't really overcome what we've seen in the past. The framing used in the book, that of the main character relating what happened in the past to her interviewers, robs the story of a lot of its surprise as she frequently reveals outcomes of events before we even know they happen. 

To dip a bit into spoiler territory,

the eventual reveal of what's causing the spookiness on the ship fell entirely flat for me. From that point on, it was really just a wrote sci-fi adventure with quite a few loose ends (why was Claire seeing what she did? What/where were the actual device? Why did Lourdes gouge out her eyes when everyone else seemed to go for their hearing?).

So while I had a decent time with the book, I don't think it'll stick with me in the long run. I mainly just wish it was a bit more horror focused than it ended up being. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, and Alcohol

gracefulraven's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Suicide attempt and Alcohol

crownoflaurel's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Classism

babyfacedoldsoul's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book wasn't for me and that's okay. I highly recommend checking out the content warnings before embarking on this book as it has the potential to be triggers ahoy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

roses_posy's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

skylarkblue1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Just read this book. If you’re ok with the content warnings, just go read this. It’s a wonderful representation of mental health and how it gets demonised alongside being the scariest read I’ve ever read!

Claire Kovalik is on her last space mission of her employment. After she goes back to earth, this is it for her dream life - floating in space away from people surrounded by the vast emptiness of space. But right as they’re about to meet up with the ship to go home, a distress signal comes through on the old emergency line - it’s the first (and last) luxury cruise liner that mysteriously vanished over 20 years ago.

This book was so masterfully written, I’m shocked to learn it’s the author’s debut in horror! The tension and mystery were gripping and somehow even managed to write jumpscares, something I didn’t think was even possible in books!

The characters were really good, the MC’s confusion and unreliableness was interesting and despite the narrative being all over the place from them it was coherent enough to understand and follow along just fine. The other characters were actually quite well rounded despite how many there are and how short of a time some of them had.

If you like Alien, Dead Space or horror/sci-fi in general, this is a must read. It’s honestly the best in the sci-fi horror genre I’ve seen out of any game/movie/book so far!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Classism

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

knottedsword's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really enjoyed this one. I don't typically love first person writing style, but in this case it actually worked really well to build the unreliable narrator aspect. The suspense and description of some of the haunting visuals were very strong. I love the concept of this story. But I almost wish there was more blatant horror like I was expecting, but I liked the building tension and spookiness, and I genuinely didn't know how it would play out towards the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Schizophrenia/Psychosis