Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes
Space Horror on a Distant Planet
Ghost Station is a science fiction horror novel by S.A. Barnes. It’s set in a future world where humans have explored and colonized several extrasolar planets. Evidence of ancient alien life has been found, but current extraterrestrial civilizations have remained elusive.
The protagonist is a therapist, Dr. Ophelia Bray, who joins a group of grieving astronauts on a spaceship as they prepare to explore an alien planet. Bray is estranged from her family, who are controversial corporate space colonizers. The novel is written in third person, entirely from Ophelia’s perspective.
The astronauts have recently suffered the loss of one of their own, Ava, who died under mysterious circumstances. Bray believes that Ava suffered from a psychological syndrome, ERS, that often affects spacefaring astronauts. Ophelia is also concerned, to the point of borderline paranoia, that she or other crew members will succumb to ERS.
Ophelia isn’t a particularly appealing main character but, to be fair, I don’t think Barnes intended her to be likeable. She’s insecure and neurotic, not to mention erratic. There’s nothing inherently wrong with having an unreliable narrator, but Ghost Station has too many false alarms: instances where something big seems to happen, only for us to find out in the next chapter that it was all in Ophelia’s head.
Ophelia initially clashes with the crew commander, Ethan Severin, who blatantly tells Bray that he doesn’t want her on board. The two gradually develop a connection. Bray becomes attracted to Ethan, but their relationship doesn’t really go anywhere, nor is it clear whether Ethan reciprocates her feelings. Their quasi-romance is amusing, but feels unnecessary.
Bray has difficulty building a rapport with the rest of the crew, who react to her with skepticism and occasional outright hostility. She believes the crew is hiding something from her, and she’s right. But Ophelia has plenty of dark secrets of her own. After the group encounters a mysterious force, secrets are spilled and revelations emerge as the fractured remnants of the crew battle an enemy that they can barely comprehend.
Fascinating World Building
The crew is assigned to explore the ramshackle ruins of an ancient alien civilization, the Lyrians. These extraterrestrials were apparently wiped out by an apocalyptic event thousands of years earlier. The exact nature of their demise is left ambiguous, but an asteroid impact is the leading theory.
Ghost Station reaches its zenith during an extended sequence when Ophelia explores the eerie Lyrian ruins with Commander Severin. It’s possible for us to piece together tidbits of information about the Lyrian’s civilization, their similarities and differences to humans, and their tragic fate. I would have liked to learn more about them. Frankly, I found the ancient aliens more compelling than any of the human characters.
Barnes also does a solid job of worldbuilding when it comes to the astronauts’ ship and method of space travel. A fair amount of detail is devoted to the mechanical workings of the ship, as well as the process, known as “cold sleep”, that the astronauts use to hibernate while they are traveling to distant planets. This aspect of the novel is quite believable. It might even become prescient, if and when human space travel ramps up in the future.
Unfortunately, Barnes doesn’t put as much effort into the therapy aspect of her novel. Dr. Bray’s mental health knowledge amounts to little more than superficial pop psychology. Either Dr. Bray is really bad at her job, or Barnes simply didn’t bother to invest time in researching this part of the book.
An Excessively Tidy Ending
The crew’s desperate final struggle, which I won’t specify to avoid spoilers, culminates in an ending that feels a bit too neat. It’s almost as if S.A Barnes got burned out and decided to wrap things up as quickly as possible. It’s strange to put your characters into life-threatening peril and then supply such a simple resolution. It’s too safe, too clean, and doesn’t fit with the darkness and horror that came before it.
Rating
Ghost Station offers an interesting premise and intriguing world building, but loose ends and a rather abrupt ending keep it from achieving greatness.
Rating from 1 (avoid at all costs) to 10 (masterpiece): 7
