Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

4.59k reviews for:

Dead Silence

S.A. Barnes

3.82 AVERAGE

sarah_kinkade's review against another edition

4.0
An intriguing mystery space horror. I liked the dynamic of the crew, as well as the slow-revealing mystery behind the Aurora. I feel that some things were left unexplained (primarily with our protagonist, Claire); however, this is a small complaint for an overall enjoyable book.

ruhmannbocaj's review against another edition

3.5
adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
noturkiwi's profile picture

noturkiwi's review against another edition

3.25
adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
rouxellereads's profile picture

rouxellereads's review against another edition

I was already a little annoyed with the main character in the beginning (
Like, what do you mean you’re going to explore a distress signal and put yourself in danger just to because you don’t want go home?
), but I was going to push through it to see what happened. I slowly lost interest, though. There were so many descriptions to help build the world and tense character interactions, but I wanted more with the creepiness of the ship. I’m sure if I continued, I wouldn’t have hated the story.  I’m just struggling to stay engaged with the mystery of the ghost ship because of all the other little details. 

nonsean's review against another edition

3.0
adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
timsamoff's profile picture

timsamoff's review against another edition

3.25
adventurous mysterious medium-paced
piu_xoxo's profile picture

piu_xoxo's review against another edition

3.0
adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
Overall Rating: 3/5

Met my expectations pretty well (maybe because I set the bar too low!?).
Same annoying character arc, unnecessary romance, and side characters whose only purpose seemed to be dying gruesomely, this was a tale as old as time. But, the setting hooked me in, and I slipped right down the rabbit hole. Sci-fi is, was, and will forever be my kryptonite. That being said, let’s look at the winning and failing points of this book.

Gold Star Zone:
  • Unique genre-blending plot, aka sci-fi meets thriller.
  • Locked-room mystery vibe… in space.

Silver Star Zone:
  • Diverse characters, but still the same archetypes.
  • Thrilling, but without any true ‘horror’ elements.

Platinum Star Zone:
  • Too clean of an ending.
  • Unnecessary romance.
  • The middle section lagged with too many unnecessary descriptions and repetitive thoughts.

This was a good one-time read on an idle evening. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

olpgurl's review against another edition

2.5
dark mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

mnoreads's review against another edition

2.5
adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
m_lubbers's profile picture

m_lubbers's review against another edition

4.5
dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes