Audiobook Reviews: Dead Silence, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on December 9, 2022 | 0 Comments


Audiobook Reviews: Dead Silence, To Sleep in a Sea of StarsDead Silence by S.A. Barnes
Published by Tor Nightfire (2.8.2022)
Genres: Science Fiction, Adult, Horror
Format: Audiobook, 343 pages
Length: 12 hours, 50 minutes
Narrator: Lauren Ezzo
Source: Library, NetGalley


4 Stars

A GHOST SHIP.
A SALVAGE CREW.
UNSPEAKABLE HORRORS.

Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed—made obsolete—when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate.

What they find at the other end of the signal is a shock: the Aurora, a famous luxury space-liner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick trip through the Aurora reveals something isn’t right.

Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Words scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold onto her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora, before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate.

My thoughts

Are you a fan of space books? Are you also a fan of the movie Ghost Ship? LOOK NO FURTHER! This book is for you! And also, this book was 100% for me. I am a huge space horror fan, and it’s sooo hard to find them. Or good ones, at least.

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2022, so I was super jazzed when I got it as an eARC in late 2020 from NetGalley. And then I just…never read it. Until 6 months after it was released, oops. I suck. I think I was nervous to read it because I was SO excited for it and my expectations were sky high. I needn’t have worried!

This felt sooo much like Ghost Ship, but set in space. Which is AWESOME. That is one of my favorite horror movies of all time, and this book had the same vibe! Yet it was still entirely unique. I love that we only get super creepy snippets here and there, it made for a very suspenseful and atmospheric read! The pacing was perfect. When things start happening it’s hard not to be disturbed. There were a few scenes that made my skin crawl! This book had me at the edge of my seat and I was dying to know what happened.

I didn’t really care about the characters at all, but the chilling happenings paired with the creepy air of mystery made up for that. And that ending wasn’t what I expected at all! View Spoiler »

Overall Assessment

Plot: 4/5
Premise: 5/5
Writing style: 4/5
Originality: 3.5/5
Characters: 3/5
World-building: 4/5
Pace: 4.5/5
Feels: 1/5
Narration: 3.5/5
Cover: 4/5
Overall rating: 4/5

Audiobook Reviews: Dead Silence, To Sleep in a Sea of StarsTo Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini
Series: Fractalverse #1
Published by Tor (9.15.2020)
Genres: Adult, Science Fiction
Format: Audiobook, 880 pages
Length: 32 hours, 29 minutes
Narrator: Jennifer Hale
Source: NetGalley, Library


2 Stars

Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds. Now she's awakened a nightmare. During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she's delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn't at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope...

My thoughts

I originally got this book as an eARC on NetGalley. I tried to physically read it a couple of times and couldn’t get into it because the beginning is SO SLOW. I eventually tried again via audio and finally made it through! I’m going to thank the narration for that. It’s 10/10 the only reason I didn’t give up completely and DNF this book.

I had quite a few complaints about this book, but my biggest was the pacing. It was horrendously slow and painfully long and drawn out in the first half. The ridiculous length of this book is unnecessary and I feel like a couple hundred pages could have been whacked and it wouldn’t have changed anything at all. There’s almost no plot in the book. Things only get interesting when Kira makes contact with an alien relic and scores a wicked badass alien supersuit. Honestly, that is the only reason this book gets as many stars from me as it does. That concept is where 99% of my enjoyment came from, because it certainly wasn’t the uninteresting, flat characters. Or the nonexistent plot. Or the dull, awkward writing.

Overall Assessment

Plot: 2/5
Premise: 5/5
Writing style: 2/5
Originality: 4/5
Characters: 1/5
World-building: 3/5
Pace: 1/5
Feels: 0/5
Narration: 4/5
Cover: 4/5
Overall rating: 2/5

Jessi (Geo)

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