Review — Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes

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A great cover and an intriguing blurb almost always add up to a sale for me, so when I was impressed by both of those things with Ghost Station, my expectations were high for this book. I must confess, though, that my excitement vanished rather quickly, leaving me to slog through the final two-thirds of this one.

The first 100 pages or so set up the main character, Ophelia Bray, and the strained relationship with her wealthy family. She leaves it all behind to embark on a mission to investigate an alien planet. Her goal is to study an ailment known as ERS, while she continues her work as a therapist to the small crew on the ship.

Things bog down rather quickly, as Bray comes off as someone ill-equipped for her profession, as her head is filled with self-doubt and self-loathing, both of which are repeated ad nauseum, to the point that you end up not caring for the woman who is central to the entire story.

The whole ERS detail, which could have been interesting, fizzles away as we begin to find out that not…