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laurelcloud 's review for:
Dead Silence
by S.A. Barnes
dark
mysterious
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
This was a fun read!
The characters all pretty much suck, though I enjoy the main character when she's angry. Everyone else feels like boring horror genre stereotypes. The pacing is kinda bad. I don't mind the time jumps between "then" and "now" but the period in between the two, the travel back to the Aurora, is TERRIBLE. The author just gave up on that section and was like three weeks where? This trip happens in one single night. Very bad writing.
The romance was unbelievably contrived and phony. It felt shoved in for marketability purposes or something, I don't know. It was so forced. And Kane is so nothing of a character that it doesn't even make sense for Claire to like him. He has blue eyes? That seems to be the only thing she likes about him.
I liked the corporate cover-ups going on. It was a bit heavy-handed but certainly not unfathomable and I liked the Max plot twist.
The story itself is really the best part, I had a great time reading it. I liked the overarching theme of disability, I think it was handled fairly well. I maybe wish a little more had been done with it, especially at the end, but it was still cool. The setting was awesome and it felt nicely fleshed out. I love space and horror and scifi so it's right up my alley even despite the characters being total trash. Almost all of them die anyway! The epilogue was a cheese-fest of epic proportions and that is not a compliment. It was so bad. I like a happy ending but that was way too much.
If you like a plot-driven space thriller with zero character development, I would recommend this book! It's a fun lil ride through the biggest terror of all: (dead) rich people in space.
The characters all pretty much suck, though I enjoy the main character when she's angry. Everyone else feels like boring horror genre stereotypes. The pacing is kinda bad. I don't mind the time jumps between "then" and "now" but the period in between the two, the travel back to the Aurora, is TERRIBLE. The author just gave up on that section and was like three weeks where? This trip happens in one single night. Very bad writing.
The romance was unbelievably contrived and phony. It felt shoved in for marketability purposes or something, I don't know. It was so forced. And Kane is so nothing of a character that it doesn't even make sense for Claire to like him. He has blue eyes? That seems to be the only thing she likes about him.
I liked the corporate cover-ups going on. It was a bit heavy-handed but certainly not unfathomable and I liked the Max plot twist.
The story itself is really the best part, I had a great time reading it. I liked the overarching theme of disability, I think it was handled fairly well. I maybe wish a little more had been done with it, especially at the end, but it was still cool. The setting was awesome and it felt nicely fleshed out. I love space and horror and scifi so it's right up my alley even despite the characters being total trash. Almost all of them die anyway! The epilogue was a cheese-fest of epic proportions and that is not a compliment. It was so bad. I like a happy ending but that was way too much.
If you like a plot-driven space thriller with zero character development, I would recommend this book! It's a fun lil ride through the biggest terror of all: (dead) rich people in space.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Sexism, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Pandemic/Epidemic