Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones REVIEW

Summary:

Times have been tough for twelve-year-old Junior, his mom, and especially for his younger brother, Dino. When his dad makes a surprise visit late one night, Junior is desperate to make him part of their family again. The only problem is, Dad drowned eight years ago.

And bringing back the dead always comes at a cost . . .

My Thoughts:

Books by this author are either hit or miss for me, and this one happens to be a miss. Junior lives with his mom and brother off the reservation, and misses his dad a lot. One night, while Junior is sleepwalking, he awakes to see his father. Fueled by the need to see him again, Junior checks every night - only to find that in order for his father to stay, he has to take some of his brother's life force. Horrified, Junior decides to get rid of the shadow that looks like his dad to save his family.

This novella goes back and forth between past and present to tell the story, and we only really get to know Junior out of all the characters. However, even the character of Junior seems flat, and this shows in the time-jump epilogue to when he is an adult. And the decision he makes at the end seems contrary to the character we got to know - he's willing to sacrifice his brother to bring his son back. It makes no sense to get all that character development only to throw it away at the end.

My Rating: 1 star 

Cold Eternity by S. A. Barnes REVIEW

Summary:

Halley is on the run from an interplanetary political scandal that has put a huge target on her back. She heads for what seems like the perfect place to lay low: a gigantic space barge storing the cryogenically frozen bodies of Earth's most fortunate citizens from more than a century ago.

The cryo program created by trillionaire tech genius Zale Winfeld is long defunct, and the AI hologram "hosts", ghoulishly created in the likeness of Winfeld's three adult children, are glitchy. The ship feels like a crypt, and the isolation gets to Halley almost immediately. She starts to see figures crawling in the hallways, and there's a constant scraping, slithering, and rattling echoing in the vents.

It's not long before Halley realizes she may have gotten herself trapped in an even more dangerous situation than the one she was running from . . .

My Thoughts:

This was so good but too short. I wish some things were expanded on because a lot of it was intriguing.

Halley is on the run from her previous life as someone who helped a political candidate in their campaign. Her ex-boss used her as a scapegoat for the actions of an ex-employee, who started a riot to try to turn the public in their favor. Working on a ship full of bodies is a good way to hide - until it becomes clear that things are not what they seem. Celebrities' frozen bodies have been swapped out for lookalikes, and one of the AI hosts seems to be sentient and warning her to escape. But with a monster in the shadows and a boss that's all too eager to sacrifice her for his endgame, escaping seems impossible.

I do wish that we got more information on the history of the program's creator and his family. Other than a few descriptions of his actual life behind the public eye, we only know what the public knows. I think it would have been really interesting to explore more on the monster and how it came to be. Halley is a great character to root for, even though we don't know her full story in the beginning, and I do wish we got more about her life growing up (her family is part of what drove her to her previous job). The atmosphere was written very well to feel creepy and isolated.

My Rating: 5 stars 

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling REVIEW

Summary:

When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck—enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother—meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane.

Instead, she got Em.

Em sees nothing wrong with controlling Gyre’s body with drugs or withholding critical information to “ensure the smooth operation” of her expedition. Em knows all about Gyre’s falsified credentials, and has no qualms using them as a leash—and a lash. And Em has secrets, too . . .

As Gyre descends, little inconsistencies—missing supplies, unexpected changes in the route, and, worst of all, shifts in Em’s motivations—drive her out of her depths. Lost and disoriented, Gyre finds her sense of control giving way to paranoia and anger. On her own in this mysterious, deadly place, surrounded by darkness and the unknown, Gyre must overcome more than just the dangerous terrain and the Tunneler which calls underground its home if she wants to make it out alive—she must confront the ghosts in her own head.

But how come she can't shake the feeling she’s being followed?

My Thoughts:

Gyre Price has practiced cave exploring and lies to get the job, hoping to use the paycheck to look for her mother, who left the planet when Gyre was young. But the expedition isn't what she thinks it will be. Instead of having a team of handlers, there is only Em. And Em is not launching a typical mineral expedition. Gyre learns that the mission is to find Em's mother and crewmates, who went down to the area, never to be seen or heard from again. But what really upsets Gyre is the fact that she's not the first Em had sent down - and none were able to complete the mission. Most of them ended up dying in the caves. However, she is determined to be the last person Em sends down.

I really like our main characters. They are well developed and have a realistic dynamic. They go back and forth between liking each other and hating each other. It takes a while for Gyre to trust Em. I do wish we learned more about the Tunnelers - what they are and what they do. The presence of the Tunneler is probably the least terrifying thing throughout the book, despite the summary on the back. I did really enjoy this book and the bit of sapphic representation we get here, although I wish the ending was longer.

My Rating: 4 stars

The Black Farm by Elias Witherow REVIEW

Summary:

After the loss of a child along with a slew of agonizing misfortunes, Nick and Jess decide to end their lives. Unable to cope with the misery that fills their days, they commit one last act together and die in loving relief.

But when Nick wakes up, he soon realizes that death isn't the gentle darkness he expected. Panicked and horrified, he struggles to understand the twisted abominations and hellish world he's now trapped in.

Driven by desperation and a sudden will to survive, he sets out to find Jess and is unable to cope with the thought of her having to suffer through the terrors this new reality holds.

But nothing could prepare him for the nightmares he found . . . nothing could prepare him for the Black Farm.

My Thoughts:

Hats off to the author for making this the first book that made me sick to my stomach (it's a generally difficult thing to do). Nick and Jess suffered through the miscarriage of their baby, and when Jess starts returning to her normal self, they find out her sister has cancer. Reduced to shells of themselves, they decide to end it all together and escape the pain of living. But the Black Farm, governed by an entity known as the Pig, is not what they imagined for an afterlife. Filled with Pig-Borns who torture those who committed suicide, Nick realizes that he needs to find Jess (if she's there) and try to escape - or at least survive.

The writing style is pretty simple, but it packs a punch. If you are thinking about picking this up, definitely check trigger warnings. I think that this is a really interesting interpretation of Purgatory, and parts of it did make me want to puke. There are in-depth, gross descriptions of violence and gore, which I am usually fine with, but this book made me almost lose it. I would say that the first half of the book is filled with shock-value, but the second half made everything worth it. I do wish that we got more of Trent and Kevin though, I did really like them.

My Rating: 4 stars 

Ghost Station by S. A. Barnes REVIEW

Summary:

Psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of Eckhart-Reiser syndrome (ERS) - the most famous case of which resulted in the murders of twenty-nine people. It's personal to her, and when she's assigned to a small exploration crew who recently suffered the tragic death of a colleague, she wants to help. But as they begin to establish residency on an abandoned planet, it becomes clear that the crew is hiding something.

And Ophelia's crewmates are far more interested in investigating the eerie, ancient planet and unraveling the mystery behind the precious colonizers' hasty departure than opening up to her.

That is, until their pilot is discovered gruesomely murdered. Is this Ophelia's worst nightmare starting = a wave of violence and mental deterioration from ERS? Or is it something even more sinister?

Terrified that history will repeat itself, Ophelia and the crew must work together to figure out what's happening. But trust is hard to come by . . . and the crew members aren't the only ones keeping secrets.

My Thoughts:

Ophelia is trying her best to make a living for herself after cutting all contact from the majority of her family, the only exception being her sister. Being the only survivor of an ERS attack, she feels extremely guilty and wants to help prevent it from happening to others. The crew she joins recently suffered the loss of their crewmate Ava, and Ophelia hopes to help them recover and make sure nothing out of the ordinary happens. But no one wants to open up to her, except maybe Liana, who hesitantly agrees to a therapy session with her. As the crew starts their mission on the planet, they discover bodies that were previously unreported, and weird things start to happen. Ophelia thinks she might be hallucinating things, and when the pilot dies, she's not entirely certain she wasn't responsible. But is this ERS, or is it something else?

I loved reading Dead Silence by this author, so I had to pick this one up as well. While it took a little time to get into the story, I soon found it difficult to put down. Most of the characters were very well developed, and the isolation the crew found themselves in was creepy. My favorite character had to be Liana, and I wish we got more of her. I liked that we slowly got to learn about everybody's backstory and secrets they were keeping. The ending seemed kind up abrupt though, and I wish we got a little more of Kate's perspective and secrets.

My Rating: 3 stars