Reviews with content warning for Blood - Dead Silence

| Characters « 8.5 »

When we meet Claire, she’s already known her crew for over two years. Despite the story being written from Claire’s perspective, I think Barnes nails keeping their interactions authentic to the amount of time they’ve known each other while still introducing us to each of the crew and their respective, distinct personalities.

| Atmosphere « 10/10 »

What is piece of horror media if it isn’t atmospheric? I think the use of the first-person perspective coupled with Barnes’ excellent descriptions definitely helped up the spook factor when necessary. The discovery and searching of the Aurora raised the hairs, for sure!

| Writing « 9.5/10 »

Not much to add here that I haven’t already brought up above. Normally, I’m not a fan of first-person written stories, but it worked out remarkably well for this. And the switching between “then” and “now” really tied the story together.

| Plot « 9/10 »

Lots of reviews amend the “Titanic meets The Shining” blurb to “Titanic meets Event Horizon“. I’d like to add to that. “Titanic meets Event Horizon meets Fallout (the video game franchise)”. If anyone who is familiar with the Fallout series reads/has read this, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

While perhaps not having the most mind-blowing twists (to me at least), I still thoroughly enjoyed the entire ride anyways.

| Intrigue « 10/10 »

One night last week, I already couldn’t sleep because of all the mom anxiety that comes with having a sick kid. So I started reading this and got absolutely hooked. I read probably about 50% of it then. Maybe the circumstances make me biased since just about anything is more enjoyable than the unpredictability of toddlers and their ailments, but oh well.

| Logic « 10/10 »

I have absolutely no idea about the science that goes into space exploration and colonization, but it was convincing enough that it made sense. HA. Nothing felt out of place in terms of plot, characterization, and all that. Overall, very solid to me.

| Enjoyment « 9.5/10 »

I couldn’t put this down. I needed to know what happened. Which was rather unfortunate because much of this was read in pitch black darkness. So just…read this in the daylight if you’re easily spooked.

Content Warnings

roses_posy's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

hauntthetale's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

skylarkblue1's review against another edition

Go to review page

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!

Content Warnings