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keeganlr20 's review for:
Dead Silence
by S.A. Barnes
Another haunted “house” book; this time in space. I love media like “Alien”, “Event Horizon”, and “Dead Space” so I felt like this would be right up my alley. I feel like this book had a ton of promise through the first two acts and really fell flat at the end.
I guess the first thing to note was just how much of the plot was recycled from other media which did it better. From all aspects. The protagonist, struggling with mental health issues, trauma, and survivors guilt (along with some inexplicable supernatural precognition that is never fleshed out and only used as a convenient device when the plot required) is both wickedly incompetent and prodigal when needed for conflict. The ragtag space crew we get are all just rehashes of overdone one-dimensional archetypes (new, smart, hot AND smart, jerk) that lack characterization and some of the characters literally share names with characters in “Aliens”.
Additionally, the plot felt very one-note and every twist was telegraphed from miles away, so as a result, I felt the horror and suspense element was disappointing because everything just sort of happened. The only part I would have thought interesting to explore is skipped over and amnesia is used to just hand-wave the complexity of what happens. Again, likely just to hit formulaic story beats just to make the plot go in the uninteresting direction it already went in.
Furthermore, the actual climax/exposition was mind-boggling. Like for me, I almost DNFed with 15% left because I just figured: wow THAT’S what’s going on? Late Pierce Brosnan-James Bond film level convolution just to align with the premise. It felt like the premise and the protagonist were envisioned first, and rather than explore something more interesting, a plot was forced to fit the initial idea, and leaves several gaping plot holes that just happen without explanation.
Nevertheless, I always have a soft spot for an unreliable narrator and enjoy those perspectives. Plus, I always like to read more exploration of mental health issues. Though at some points the exploration felt a little surface level and kind of cheap.
There’s an interesting novel and horror story here, however it is hiding under derivative formula, one-dimensional characters, and sophomoric plot devices.
2/5
I guess the first thing to note was just how much of the plot was recycled from other media which did it better. From all aspects. The protagonist, struggling with mental health issues, trauma, and survivors guilt (along with some inexplicable supernatural precognition that is never fleshed out and only used as a convenient device when the plot required) is both wickedly incompetent and prodigal when needed for conflict. The ragtag space crew we get are all just rehashes of overdone one-dimensional archetypes (new, smart, hot AND smart, jerk) that lack characterization and some of the characters literally share names with characters in “Aliens”.
Additionally, the plot felt very one-note and every twist was telegraphed from miles away, so as a result, I felt the horror and suspense element was disappointing because everything just sort of happened. The only part I would have thought interesting to explore is skipped over and amnesia is used to just hand-wave the complexity of what happens. Again, likely just to hit formulaic story beats just to make the plot go in the uninteresting direction it already went in.
Furthermore, the actual climax/exposition was mind-boggling. Like for me, I almost DNFed with 15% left because I just figured: wow THAT’S what’s going on? Late Pierce Brosnan-James Bond film level convolution just to align with the premise. It felt like the premise and the protagonist were envisioned first, and rather than explore something more interesting, a plot was forced to fit the initial idea, and leaves several gaping plot holes that just happen without explanation.
Nevertheless, I always have a soft spot for an unreliable narrator and enjoy those perspectives. Plus, I always like to read more exploration of mental health issues. Though at some points the exploration felt a little surface level and kind of cheap.
There’s an interesting novel and horror story here, however it is hiding under derivative formula, one-dimensional characters, and sophomoric plot devices.
2/5